Even if making money in the airframe maintenance business is hard to do, a lot of companies still want to get into it.

Lucerne, Switzerland

A Purdue program is researching the hangar of the future.

1. 5-Axis for Small Parts Manufacturer: Hardinge Group Applications: The recently announced Bridgeport GX-250 5AX is a five-axis vertical machining center designed for work on small parts that need to have fine surface finishes. Specifications: The C-frame machine features NANO Smoothing, a tool center point control and polar coordinate, cylindrical and helical interpolation, plus other features and options such as tool and part probes.

One goal: a consistent passenger experience across aircraft types.

If present trends continue, no airline pilot will fly without a tablet computer; nor will any aircraft mechanic attempt a repair without one. For the pilot, the devices represent the latest evolution in electronic flight bags (EFBs), which first made inroads, nearly two decades ago via the laptop computer. For mechanics, the far less bulky tablets will provide a new measure of mobility, as digital maintenance manuals can be downloaded and taken where the work is being done.

Dubai aerospace group, DAE, subsidiary StandardAero is introducing a new, robust array of service offerings as part of its “CompleteCare” strategy.

Southwest Airlines’ is reducing the residual values of all 156 of its Boeing 737-300 and 737-500 Classic aircraft from about 10% of their original cost to 2%, citing changes in the retirement dates and “future market conditions.” Southwest says the new valuation was driven in part by its decision to sublease 88 Boeing 717 aircraft to Delta. Because Southwest is not using the 717s, it will need to hold on to some of its 737 Classics longer than anticipated, which will lower their value by the time Southwest retires them.