Sabena Technics' maintenance facility in Bordeaux, France, is performing heavy check and repair work on two Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330s. Several aircraft in the Libyan operator's fleet suffered damage during recent conflicts. Philippe Rochet, Sabena Technics' executive VP of airframe services, says the MRO sent a maintenance task force of 10 engineers to Libya to prepare the aircraft for ferry flights to Bordeaux.

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Fokker Services Asia has become a member of the ATR MRO network, which makes it a recommended provider of ATR services in Southeast Asia.

Marana Aerospace Solutions appointed Colin Buxton to VP sales and marketing. Prior to joining Marana, Buxton served as VP of customer business for Rolls-Royce.

Do the OEMs want to put the independent MROs out of business? The short answer is no, but OEMs want to increasingly capture the more profitable parts of the business. For economic reasons, OEMs will continue to push to increase their aftermarket business. This represents a continued and real threat to the independent commercial aerospace MRO business model, but not its end.

After validating assumptions on the manufacturing cost and efficiency of laminar flow, Boeing is proceeding with a baseline design for the horizontal and vertical stabilizers on the 787-9. Boeing’s patented hybrid laminar flow control (HLFC) system will be the industry’s first use of a drag-reducing technology that works by sucking in the air flowing over the skin to keep the smoother boundary layer attached to more of the chord. The result is a delay in the transition from laminar to turbulent flow, which cuts drag.

Competition in the airline aftermarket continues to be fierce, as evidenced by the fact Pemco and Aveos Fleet Performance recently filed for bankruptcy protection.

There have been major changes at the Sabena Technics MRO and aircraft completions company following yesterday TAT Group AGM.