T he aircraft parts aftermarket continues to transform itself as pure parts distributors feel increased pressure from the new asset-management model and some traders broaden their offers.
T he Icelandic banking collapse of 2008-11, followed by the eruptions from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010, took a strong Icelandair and crushed it. “I remember when we had to sell spare engines just to be able to pay salaries,” says Jens Thordarson, vice president- technical operations. “It was a very, very rough time for the company.”
W hen Tom Wessner joined Hawaiian Airlines as its first strategic procurement czar, he knew it meant swapping one form of resistance for another. He came to the carrier—and the industry—following 18 months of arm-twisting top-tier automotive vendors to supply a quirky Silicon Valley upstart named Tesla. At Hawaiian, he is changing a years-in-the-making purchasing culture by streamlining both the process and the number of suppliers, all in pursuit of improvement through simplification.
As the global airline fleet renews and new aircraft types—such as the Airbus A320neo, Boeing 737 MAX and Bombardier CSeries—take flight with engines such as the Pratt & Whitney PurePower and CFM Leap-1B, the aviation industry will see a big transition in powerplant technology. Expect to see more demand for on-wing services, including repairs such as compressor blade-blending via dedicated boroscope ports.
Everyone tries to get the right product at the right price. Procurement experts say it’s more important to get strategic about purchasing and inventory management. Most procurement and inventory management departments, including those at MRO providers and airlines, traditionally have focused on assuring that parts and supplies are available when they’re needed, where they’re needed and at the lowest possible price.
Everyone tries to get the right product at the right price. Procurement experts say it’s more important to get strategic about purchasing and inventory management. Most procurement and inventory management departments, including those at MRO providers and airlines, traditionally have focused on assuring that parts and supplies are available when they’re needed, where they’re needed and at the lowest possible price.
Everyone tries to get the right product at the right price. Procurement experts say it’s more important to get strategic about purchasing and inventory management. Most procurement and inventory management departments, including those at MRO providers and airlines, traditionally have focused on assuring that parts and supplies are available when they’re needed, where they’re needed and at the lowest possible price.
Everyone tries to get the right product at the right price. Procurement experts say it’s more important to get strategic about purchasing and inventory management. Most procurement and inventory management departments, including those at MRO providers and airlines, traditionally have focused on assuring that parts and supplies are available when they’re needed, where they’re needed and at the lowest possible price.
C alling the engine service market dynamic might be an understatement, given the bulging order books for new aircraft, a bevy of used surplus material that opens up workscope options, and engines such as the V2500 and CFM56 that should generate a surge in shop visits.
News abounded at Aviation Week’s MRO Americas Conference in Phoenix last month. Here are some highlights: AeroTurbine launched a suite of technical and consulting services called AdviseAer, designed to offer a full spectrum of services to support the management of commercial engines.
Europe Almost Perfect Three years into the bilateral aviation safety agreement (BASA) between the U.S. and the European Union (EU), few would dispute the pact’s benefits. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the FAA rely on each other’s judgment for certification and surveillance, and industry benefits from a more streamlined regulatory process. Still, reports Karl Specht, EASA’s continuing airworthiness organization manager, both industry and regulators see areas for improvement.
Washington Proactive Push The FAA’s transition to a sustainable, risk-based oversight system requires aligning many key elements. None is more important than comprehensive datasets to help the agency prioritize how it allocates resources.
A South American carrier and long-time CF6-80C2 operator approached General Electric (GE) recently with a request: help maximize the operating life of some engines with more than 20 years in service and optimize remaining life-cycle, rather than up-front, costs. GE and the airline created workscopes that factored in both service life, to maximize on-wing time, and operations metrics such as fuel burn, to boost efficiency.
Consultants have long recommended consolidation in the aerospace supply chain, especially in the aftermarket. By acquiring Goodrich Corp. in July 2012, United Technologies Corp. (UTC) moved in the recommended direction. But acquisition by itself is just a rearrangement of numbers on a ledger. Reaping the potential efficiency gains requires hard work to integrate newly acquired assets effectively.
