Plans for system to be available to commercial aircraft by 2020

SR Technics and Paris-based carrier Aigle Azur are setting up a line maintenance joint venture (JV) in France that will expand the MRO provider’s presence to four line stations in the country by yearend, the companies report. The JV, which will be based at Paris Orly Airport, immediately will support Aigle Azur’s four Airbus A319s, five A320s and four A321s. Assuming regulatory hurdles are cleared, SR Technics will open line stations in Marseille on July 1 and Lyon “within three months,” an SR Technics spokeswoman tells Aviation Week.

The FAA is calling for “independent inspections” after certain maintenance actions on a large number of CFM56-3 and -7B turbofans in the U.S. fleet, engines that power the Boeing 737 Classic and Next-Generation fleet. A proposed airworthiness directive (AD), to be published today, is designed to prevent total loss of engine oil from the turbofans in situations where mechanics forget to reinstall the “handcranking pad covers” on accessory gearboxes.

Aircraft replacements hold big implications for airline, parts and maintenance businesses.

British safety investigators are recommending that Airbus “formally notify” all operators of A320-family aircraft about a May 24 incident in which the two fan cowl doors on both engines detached from a British Airways A319 departing London Heathrow for Oslo with 75 passengers and five crewmembers. An interim report reveals that two safety nets designed to verify cowls are latched—mechanics’ procedures and pilots’ procedures—did not work as designed, as the aircraft left the gate with its cowls unlatched.

Regional airlines are undergoing a period of change in everything from ownership and partner relationships to route systems and aircraft fleets, and this is helping trigger a shake-up of maintenance models.

Uncertainty hits defense contractors, but civil airframers take up the slack

Qatar Executive has secured regulatory approvals to provide base maintenance services for Bombardier Challenger 604 and 605s jets and for Bombardier Global aircraft at its 6,400-sq.-meter hangar facility at Doha International Airport.