Despite several challenges, MROs remain a good investment, according to an Oliver Wyman report.“I would say that private equity investors must have a deep knowledge of the MROs core, what they actually do and what their relationships with the OEM entails,” said Tim Hoyland, a partner at Oliver Wyman and principal author of Aviation MRO; The Next Place to Land for Private Equity Investors. “Investors also need to understand the strength of the engine, airframe and parts OEMs.
The Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office received an $18.1 million modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to exercise an option for engineering and logistics services for MV-22 Total Life Cycle logistics support.
P.G. MacKay, Canada's minister for National Defense and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, announced a new overland surveillance capability for the Canadian Forces (CF) maritime patrol Lockheed Martin CP-140/A P-3 Aurora aircraft. Valued at approximately $20 million, the project will deliver the mission systems required to improve the Aurora’s ability to conduct primarily domestic sovereignty and security missions.
Enhancements to its support structure for S1000D projects equip Inmedius’ S1000Dtransition V3.0, a tool for publishing structured S1000D data modules to common types of output and print. The new release adds several new Document Type Definition variants in addition to S1000D Issue 3.0 schema support, and new features allow Transition to better function with international applications. Inmedius, Inc., 4900 Perry Highway, Building II, 2nd Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15229
Duncan Aviation plans to open a new Provo , Utah, full service MRO facility for bizjets by August 2010. The base would be Duncan’s third center for airframe, engine, interior completions, exterior paint and avionics installation. Others are in Battle Creek, Mich., and Lincoln, Neb.
Boeing plans to acquire San Diego-based Tapestry Solutions, a services and software systems provider. The deal, which was expected to close at the end of October, would integrate Tapestry Solutions within Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems Global Services & Support segment.
Goodrich and SilkAir signed a long-term flight hour agreement to cover engine nacelle maintenance for the Singapore Airlines-owned regional carrier’s Airbus A320s. The 12-year deal provides for the Goodrich nacelles to be repaired at Goodrich Aerostructures Service Center–Asia (GASCA) in Singapore.
Pratt & Whitney is folding its commercial engine overhaul and aftermarket services organization under the leadership of its manufacturing division. The move is in response to customer feedback and gives Todd Kallman, president of Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines, a broader role as head of the newly formed Commercial Engines & Global Services.“ Customers want us to focus on the product line, to take a more integrated approach to selling engines throughout their lifecycle,” a Pratt official said. “They didn’t want us to separate services and engine sales.”
Take a money-losing MRO, add the sudden departure of its CEO and the loss of business, and the rumors start flying like plates at a Greek wedding. Example: the company is up for sale, desperately seeking partners or about to go out of business. Such was case with Montreal-based ExelTech Aerospace, whose CEO Derek Nice resigned this summer as chairman and CEO. Also finding the exit was CFO Roland Blais.
Finnair and Finncomm Airlines opened a 50/50 joint venture to provide maintenance services for regional aircraft. Finnish Aircraft Maintenance Oy (FAM) began operating at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport the beginning of August, after receiving an aircraft maintenance license from the Finnish Civil Aviation Authority. The partners aim for the Helsinki MRO to serve both international and domestic customers operating ATR turboprops and Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets. FAM plans to open a new maintenance hangar at Helsinki-Vantaa in the spring.
AP Labs launched AP Avionix , a new business unit that will supply inflight entertainment and communications systems among other integrated hardware systems for the commercial aerospace industry. Thus far it has signed deals with Row44 and Aircell.
: Boeing announced the successful first flight of a McDonnell Douglas (K)DC-10 enhanced with Boeing’s twin flat-panel Cockpit Upgrade Program (CUP). A flight crew from the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF), Boeing and Fokker Services completed the four-hour inaugural sortie of the aircraft at the Fokker facility in Holland on July 22. The RNLAF has a May 2005 contract with Fokker Services and Boeing to upgrade three aircraft: two (K)DC-10 air-refueling tankers and one DC-10 transport. Delivery of the first aircraft is scheduled this fall.
Endevco and Boeing Commercial Airplanes have jointly produced “pressure belts” for use on Boeing 747, 767, 777 and 787 aircraft, and the device is to be offered to other aviation and aerospace companies under a new licensing agreement. The pressure belts can be used to measure critical data, such as that used to calculate payload, engine efficiency, fuel economy and other operational parameters, without requiring modification to the aircraft wing.
Pratt & Whitney and Aviall Services reached an agreement under which Aviall will exclusively distribute JT9D spare parts through its distribution centers in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. Pratt says the distribution deal will streamline management of its inventory and supply chain, while adding value for its customers.
Three Lockheed Martin C-5M Super Galaxy RERP test aircraft successfully completed developmental flight tests, which paves the way for redelivering the three aircraft (one former C-5A and two C-5Bs) to the U.S. Air Force in support of operational test and evaluation, due to begin in late 2009. The three heavy-lift transports participating in the U.S. Air Force’s Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program (RERP) underwent tests for performance verification of the propulsion system, utilities and sub-systems, flight controls, airframe and avionics systems.
To learn more about what it takes to receive U.S. FAA Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) approval, I wrote to Shawn Raybell, director of sales and marketing for JAMCO America. The Everett, Wash.-based company installs new seats, galleys, lavatories and entertainment systems on commercial aircraft, and it manufactures galleys and lavatories for its neighbor Boeing’s new project, the 787 Dreamliner. ODA approval, which it received in late August, will allow it to self-certify most of the parts it produces, minus a few particularly safety sensitive exceptions.
LONDON—Moving into a well-established market has never been easy, but perseverance is beginning to pay off for Singapore Technologies Aerospace in Europe.
Boeing’s San Antonio military aircraft maintenance, modification and upgrade facility earned an ISO 14001 certification, and is the company’s first Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) site in 2008 to validate its environmental management system. Boeing is working to have all of its major manufacturing facilities certified to the ISO 14001 standard by the end of the year. Four other Boeing facilities—Exmouth in Australia; Everett, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; and Salt Lake City—already have achieved the certification.
technologies do not progress in lock-step. Even complementary components can evolve at different rates, so that some promising products languish and others die. So it may not be unusual that, to date, the existing methods for collecting and storing aircraft performance data have outstripped the ability to harness this bounty. The issue—less a nagging problem than a nagging opportunity—can be summed up in the slogan: So much data, so little value (so far).
Jet Repair Anywhere formed a strategic alliance with Blue Star Jets , to help Jet Repair Anywhere clients avoid maintenance-related delays via Blue Star’s fleet of 4,000-plus aircraft.
A new ultrasound tool from GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies marks an addition to its in-development Rhythm inspection software suite. Rhythm UT is the first element of the software suite dedicated to ultrasound testing, GE says. It should allow users to conduct more precise analysis, and better share and store data collected during inspections more easily.
