The new GEnx-2B jet engine for Boeing's new 747-8 aircraft has begun flight-testing on GE Aviation's 747 flying test-bed. During the five-hour first flight Monday (March 23), a single GEnx-2B engine demonstrated aircraft systems and instrumentation functionality, climbing close to 40,000 feet and establishing engine performance baseline. About 40 flights with the engine are planned for this spring and summer.

Dubai based Project Phoenix - the company converting used Bombardier CRJ regional jets into VIP business airliners has signed a partnership agreement with eJet Services Ltd. ahead of the first customer deliveries of the luxury conversion.

MRO giant Lufthansa Technik has revealed it expects the current economic downturn affecting the aviation industry to last well into 2011 - with the effects being felt for even longer

Jordanian MRO supplier, JorAMCo, has successfully won the contract for heavy maintenance services for Kuwait Airways long-haul aircraft.

Cyprus Airways has signed a five year power-by-the-hour contract with A J Walter Aviation, the aircraft support specialist. The contract is for eleven aircraft, nine A320's and two A319's and includes inventory management of the airline's surplus stock.

Lufthansa Technik who in November announced a massive deal with Saudi Arabia's NAS, has reorganised its international maintenance business, and has bundled it under Lufthansa Technik Maintenance International (LTMI).

Parker Hannifin purchased Solumina's Paperless Operations Process Management software to deploy across its aerospace group facilities. Solumina is a division of iBASEt.

For the past 25 years, most new production airliners have been certified with factory maintenance programs based on the Maintenance Steering Group (MSG) concept, known since 1980 as Maintenance Steering Group 3 (MSG-3). While commercial aircraft OEMs have adopted the evolving maintenance standard, most business jet manufacturers to date have not.