Much of the industry’s focus has been on integrated planning, or sharing information across different functional areas and players in the supply chain. There are important initiatives underway to collect and use more data than ever.
L ike an eagle that uses its keen vision, strength and size to become apex predator of the aviaries, Pratt & Whitney believes its PW1000 geared turbofan will be the eagle in its nest to make its commercial production soar ( AW&ST May 26/June 2, p. 36).
The hangar-services-only days in Central and Eastern Europe are over—as is “hangar mania,” which is how former FL Technics CEO Jonas Butautis described the proliferation of basic MRO services that popped up there over the past few years and created overcapacity.
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.”
The FAA, acknowledging that flight crews need to be better prepared to combat flight deck fires, has drafted a policy that is meant to amplify and augment existing rules and guidance, but stops short of modifying its regulations.
Europe has enacted regulations that should make its decade-old centralized safety database more valuable to both regulators and state aviation agencies by expanding the amount of incident information available to its users. The regulation, adopted in April and taking effect late next year, opens up access to records in the European Central Repository (ECR) to safety agencies and investigators throughout Europe.
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.
