Gallery: Recent Aftermarket Action In The Americas

In late 2023 and early 2024, American Airlines announced plans to significantly grow workforce and facilities at its two largest maintenance bases in the U.S. It received $22 million in state funding to grow and upgrade its Tulsa MRO facility, which will include adding more than 300 new employees and updating hangar facilities and equipment. American is also planning to add more than 200 maintenance jobs at its Pittsburgh base.

FEAM opened a new 150,000 ft.² maintenance hangar at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport on March 28, which more than doubles its capacity at the airport. Chief Strategy Officer Dan Allawat tells Aviation Week the facility will provide opportunity to expand capabilities, such as into more heavy maintenance. The company plans to hire between 200-250 new staff to work at the new hangar.

Ascent Aviation Services broke ground March 29 on two new widebody hangars that will be home to its passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversions for Israel Aerospace Industries. Expected to be complete by the end of 2024, the 90,000 ft.² hangars will give Ascent capability to run two lines of Boeing 777-300ER P2F conversions simultaneously. The company says the site will also create more than 300 new aviation jobs.

StandardAero rolled out new maintenance work scopes for CFM Leap 1A and 1B engines in March, including high-pressure turbine shroud replacements. It is working to introduce additional Leap capabilities this year, including functional and performance engine testing and well as restoration. As part of efforts to build up Leap services, it launched an in-house aviation mechanic training program at its San Antonio site in 2023 and graduated its first class in December.

AAR Corp. closed its acquisition of Triumph Group’s product support business March 1. The $725 million deal included four facilities in the U.S. and one facility in Thailand with capabilities such as fuel valves, nacelles and flight control repairs. It also included Triumph’s catalog of more than 10,000 proprietary repairs. AAR expects the Triumph integration to take 12-18 months.

In late 2023 AAR also extended its airframe agreement with Alaska Airlines covering Boeing 737 heavy checks until 2030. Under the deal, the MRO provider will expand its narrowbody maintenance capacity and offer the airline six lines at its Oklahoma City facility. AAR plans to add a three-bay, 85,000 ft.² hangar at the facility to accommodate the work. 

In January, AvAir announced that it had acquired the complete inventory of airframe and engine parts held by shuttered MRO provider TAP Maintenance & Engineering Brazil. The more than four million parts include 100,000 part numbers comprised of consumable and rotable items from Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, Fokker and Gulfstream airframes as well as CFM International, Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney engines.

Financial firm Crosslake Group recently completed the acquisition of South Florida-based MRO companies Continental Aircraft Support and Magnum Aircraft Repair Services (M.A.R.S.). The companies will be integrated into its Aftermarket Aviation Parts Investment Platform, which provides manufacturing, repairs and overhaul, parts exchange and spares sourcing, and fleet management programs.

Mobile MRO specialist Argo MRT Americas acquired Montreal-based aircraft maintenance provider Techni-Air 2000 in early March. The acquisition introduces a second service line for Argo that will focus on line maintenance in Canada.

Embraer recently doubled its maintenance service capacity in the U.S. by adding three new MRO facilities located at Dallas Love Field in Texas; Cleveland, Ohio; and Sanford, Florida. It is also increasing its Mobile Response network by 28 teams and expanding its capabilities to include interior services, paint and component repairs. Embraer says the growth is happening in response to its growing Executive Jets fleet. 

Two major MRO workforce pipeline initiatives were launched In October 2023. United Airlines launched its Calibrate Technician Pathway program, aimed at attracting U.S Army reservists and students from three maintenance schools to give them a direct pathway to technician jobs at the airline. Amazon partnered with International AeroTech Academy, a Part 147 school in Lakeland, Florida, to offer a career training program for workers interested in pursuing a new career path in MRO.