Air New Zealand will go ahead and outsource the heavy maintenance of its long-haul fleet after all following the failure of unions to secure adequate support for a compromise proposal that would have kept the operation in-house. The airline had accepted the union's proposal late last month (ATWOnline, Jan. 31). ANZ CEO Rob Fyfe said he was "extremely disappointed" by the decision that will result in the loss of 507 maintenance jobs.

American Airlines and the Transport Workers Union representing its mechanics reached agreement on a goal "to obtain $150 million in value creation" at its Kansas City Maintenance & Engineering Base and to make the base a profit center by the end of 2007 through developing third-party business and implementing Continuous Improvement. The base, acquired in AA's purchase of TWA in 2000, employs 900 people. The goal was set by a joint team of base management and labor leaders who met recently under the carrier's Working Together initiative.

Air New Zealand, which had been prepared to outsource its widebody heavy airframe maintenance, repair and overhaul activities, said it accepted a counterproposal from union negotiators "that could see [the work] remain in-house through a combination of redundancies and comprehensive labor reform" (ATWOnline, Dec. 20). ANZ had set a target of achieving $32 million in savings from widebody airframe MRO over five years.

Royal Air Maroc announced creation of an A320 and 737 MRO subsidiary called Aerotechnic Industries to be based at Marrakech-Menara. RAM's initial investment of MAD70 million ($7.5 million) will be directed largely toward the construction of an 11,000-sq.-m. hangar with room for two aircraft.

Boeing and Air India finally put pen to paper on the carrier's 68-aircraft order in Mumbai yesterday, bringing to a close more than eight months of bureaucratic wrangling and controversy and ending a sales campaign that dates back more than a decade.

US FAA needs to increase its oversight of noncertificated aviation repair stations and should consider limiting the scope of work such facilities can perform on behalf of airlines, according to a report released last week by the US Dept. of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General.

Air New Zealand expects to make a decision on whether to outsource its widebody and engine MRO activities on Dec. 19, CEO Rob Fyfe said Friday. Speaking at a Star Alliance media briefing in Montreal, Fyfe said the airline's engineering union presented a counterproposal that is being studied by management. ANZ estimates it would save NZ$25 million per year by sending the work outside at current labor rates.

British Airways, after a two-year review, signed what it called "one of the largest engineering contracts awarded in the airline's history" with GE Engine Services. The 10-year, £1.5 billion ($2.6 billion) agreement will see GEES responsible for MRO on BA's RB211-524s and CFM56s powering its 57 747s, 21 767s, 32 737s and 10 of its 26 A320s. It replaces an existing contract due to expire at year end.