MRO News Briefs, May 17-23, 2020

China Southern and GAMECO Open Joint Maintenance Facility
China Southern Airlines and GAMECO officially opened a joint maintenance facility at Beijing Daxing International Airport. According to the airline, the 40,000 sq. m. hangar is now the largest maintenance hangar in Asia, with space to accommodate up to 12 Airbus A320 family aircraft simultaneously. The facility performed its first checks on an Airbus A330 last week.

SF Airlines Signs ADS-B Out Retrofit Contract
China-based cargo carrier SF Airlines has chosen Thales and ACSS to retrofit its fleet of 59 aircraft with ADS-B Out compliant airborne equipment. The installations will be fully implemented by the end of 2022 and the contract also covers future optional aircraft operated by SF Airlines.

Amerijet Chooses FLYdocs for Maintenance Records Management
U.S.-based cargo carrier Amerijet International Airlines has signed a contract to use the FLYdocs Aircraft Records Management Platform for management of its maintenance records. The five-year agreement includes an enterprise resource platform integration and digital migration of aircraft records to give Amerijet full digital aircraft compliance on-demand.

Air New Zealand Plans Downsizing of Engineering and Maintenance Staff
Air New Zealand has announced plans to eliminate about 300 engineering and maintenance jobs as part of its downsizing. The airline’s engineers are calling for it to bring back offshored jobs to protect its workers in New Zealand.

Finnair Modifies A330 Cabins for Cargo
Finnair has modified two Airbus A330s for cargo by removing economy class seats from the cabin. The airline’s technical operations implemented the modifications in fewer than two days to free up space for shipping supplies needed during the coronavirus pandemic, which will be secured in the cabin with cargo nets.

Dragon Acquires Financing For New Aircraft
Dragon Aviation Leasing has expanded its cooperation with The Export-Import Bank of China by entering into a loan agreement to finance three new aircraft purchases.

AEI To Convert 737 For AerCaribe
Aeronautical Engineers has signed a contract to provide Columbia-based AerCaribe with a Boeing 737-400SF freighter conversion. Modification on the narrowbody has already begun and will be carried out by Commercial Jet at its Dothan, Alabama facility.

MTU Maintenance Renews GE9011B Contract With Aerologic
MTU Maintenance has renewed its exclusive GE9011B contract with Aerologic GmbH by 12 more years. The contract covers MTU’s PERFORMPlus offering, including engine trend monitoring, spare engine provision, fleet management and on-site support.

SriLankan Airlines Gets Approval for A330 Cargo Conversion
SriLankan Airlines has been granted initial approval by the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) to convert the interior of an Airbus A330-300 for special cargo services by temporarily removing passenger seats. Once the modifications have been completed, CAASL will inspect the aircraft and require test flights before the aircraft can resume flying.