Lufthansa Technik (LHT), following a careful and slow expansion of its capabilities, can now handle three widebody completions simultaneously–ust in time for a peak in that market, said Walter Heerdt, senior VP-marketing and sales at the recent Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition in Shanghai. A Boeing 767-400 now being completed at LHT’s Hamburg facility will be joined by a 747-8, the first of that model, in September and another in December or January, Heerdt says.

Three years ago, Rolls-Royce & Partners Finance was leasing an engine for a large narrowbody jet for $120,000 a month. Today, a similar powerplant commands a rate of just $50,000. Underpinning the 58% price cut is a simple equation: supply and demand.

Powerplant OEMs seek aftermarket strength amid next-gen engine MRO capacity concerns.

A significant amount of airframe heavy maintenance work soon could be up for grabs in the MRO market. Air Canada had several lines of overhaul work at Aveos before the MRO provider closed its doors less than a month ago. In addition, AMR Corp.’s American Airlines previously performed much of its airframe work in-house, but as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization is seeking to close a heavy maintenance facility at Fort Worth Alliance Airport and possibly reduce work at its base in Tulsa, Okla.

DALLAS — Global military aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) spending was roughly $66 billion in 2011, but is expected to decline 2.7% this year because of reduced utilization and increased budgetary restrictions, according to consultancy ICF SH&E.

Southwest Airlines has aggressive plans to dispose of its Boeing 737 Classics over the next several years, but at the same time needs to keep pace, in a cost-effective manner, with the scheduled overhauls on the CFM56-3 engines that power those aircraft. The airline does not want to have to buy expensive new parts for engines that are unlikely to be in the Southwest fleet for more than just a few years.

The adage goes that good people are hard to find, and many commercial maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities are reporting difficulties filling technician positions with skilled workers. Given the outlook for the aviation industry, they have legitimate reasons to worry.

Sukhoi's SuperJet 100 (SSJ100) has a “window of opportunity” to break the regional jet Bombardier-Embraer duopoly.