AAR has been supporting the supply chain of the U.S. military for many years through performance based logistics (PBL) programs. It supports 15 programs now. The Wood Dale, Ill.-based company, which offers supply chain, component repair and other services, recently announced it was expanding its presence in Huntsville, Ala., in support of the Army’s helicopter platforms. The program provides the U.S. Army with a single point of contact for rotorcraft support.
LONDON—Accountability comes with the job if you’re an aircraft engineer, mechanic or technician. For such is the safety culture in civil air transport that the source of errors, malpractice or poor processes must be hunted down to eradicate repeats. It’s therefore a concern that four engineers and a mechanic are due to stand trial for manslaughter over the Concorde crash at Charles de Gaulle that killed 113 people in July 2000.
AerCap in late July became launch customer for a new Airbus freighter, after signing a contract to convert 30 of its Airbus A320/A321 passenger aircraft with Airbus Freighter Conversion GmbH. The aircraft will be known as A320/A321P2Fs, the first of which is expected to be ready in 2011. AFC will ramp up to 30 conversions a year after that, to convert about 400 between 2012 and 2026. The conversions will be done by Irkut Corp. A platform for the P2F conversion is being prepared in Zhukovskij, a Russian aerospace center.
Lufthansa Technik is to provide Aer Lingus with component support for its fleet of 34 Airbus A320 family aircraft and nine A330s under a 10-year agreement covering almost all aircraft components. The fleet is expected to grow to 54 aircraft by 2013. An LHT representative in Dublin will manage services, set to begin Nov. 1. The Hamburg-based MRO says the contract’s volume exceeds €90 million.
TURKEY Northrop Grumman has been selected by the Turkish Air Force to provide its integrated fiber-optic gyro inertial navigation system, the LN-260, for use on Lockheed Martin C-130 aircraft. The LN-260 inertial navigation system provides platform navigation and low-noise navigation inputs to steady radar pictures, precisely direct communications antennas or guide sensors to enable highly accurate positions for ground and aerial targets.
Bell Helicopter Textron won a $12.6 million modification to a previously awarded fixed-price contract from the U.S. Navy for H-1 Upgrade program logistics and services. Logistics management support, technical material for maintenance, material support, design interface, technical data, configuration management, supportability analysis, aircraft acceptance discrepancies and contractor support, among other things, are included. This portion of the contract should be completed in May 2009, although contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. ◗
SR Technics landed a two-year agreement with Aegean Airlines covering component services for 10 Boeing 737-300s. The Integrated Component Solutions deal includes component exchange, maintenance, repair, logistics and access to its consignment stock in Athens. SRT already handles Aegean’s 737 APUs work. It further announced a four-year extension to an Integrated Component Solutions contract with Air Europa covering components on the airline’s Boeing 767-300 fleet, including management, maintenance, repair and logistics, effective July 1.
Bombardier plans to open a U.S. nacelle component repair station for Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies in Dallas. The manufacturer expects the facility to be open in 2009, and said it will function as an expansion of third-party product repair work already conducted at a facility in Belfast, North Ireland.
As with the airlines, corporate flight departments want to minimize maintenance down time. For the OEMs, that mandates new approaches to parts support.
International Communications Group (ICG) in July began producing its new NxtLink 120A and 220 Iridium communications systems. The 120A, a single-channel transceiver, combines two Iridium transceivers with an internal CTU that allows a regular telephone connection for voice and data. It’s a logical choice for flightdecks that demand MCDU dialing services and direct audio control panel connection, as well as require a dedicated voice channel, ICG says.
As the airlines continue to be roiled by high fuel prices and a slowing world economy, parts support has been cited, by an increasingly lean industry, as one of the few remaining places where there still may be fat to trim. Increasingly, that means off-loading more, if not all, of the parts management business onto OEMs, parts houses and third-party logistics services providers.
Bill Burchell, O&M’s European Editor (Commercial) raises some interesting questions about accountability in his Viewpoint on p.104. The French government is holding several individuals, including a mechanic, accountable for the July 2000 crash of a Concorde outside Paris by charging them with criminal offenses.
Component Control and Aeroexchange launched a new module of Quantum Control, to interface between Component Control’s ERP software and Aeroexchange e-business solutions. The module is designed to provide the full range of SPEC2000 messages needed for parts sourcing, purchasing and repair management.
Snecma Services began offering training courses for jet engine borescope inspection at its EASA Part 147 certified training center. The five-day course combines classroom and hands-on work.
Northstar plans to add 70 machinists and support staff at three of its North American sites in support of its CH-47 Chinook helicopter and Rolls-Royce programs. The increase in numbers comes at a time when some of the industry is cutting back headcount. The additional staff will aid in ramping up production of gears, components and spare parts at its Anderson, Ind., Chicago, Ill., and Windsor, Ontario, sites.
AMT’s Flightman Fuel Performance Analysis module became available in mid-July. The module, which has been implemented by bmi, collects, records and analyzes fuel uplift and usage data and can be installed as an add-on to the Flightman suite or as a standalone application.
DeCrane Aerospace named Stewart Toye director of business development for the Eastern hemisphere. Toye, located at DeCrane Aerospace’s England facility, has served as European business development and technical manager for DeCrane Aerospace Audio International and DeCrane Aircraft Seating.
Rolls-Royce is to supply Asiana Airlines with Trent XWB engines for 30 firm and 10 option Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, covered by a long-term TotalCare deal. Asiana will be the first Korean customer for the Trent engine. Rolls also announced total care agreements with Qatar Airways and Jet Airways to support their Rolls-powered Airbus A340 and A330 aircraft (respectively.)
Gulfstream appointed Todd Strong director, engineering and quality, for its Long Beach, Calif., facility, where he will manage final phase engineering, service center engineering, designated alteration station, quality control and quality assurance functions and personnel.
Joining Boeing’s Integrated Materials Management (IMM) program as a supplier should not only enable Long Island-based Seal Dynamics to grow its parts distribution business, but it may also provide the company an opportunity to get PMA parts into the IMM customer airlines.
United Airlines named Jim Keenan SVP of United Services . Keenan returns to United after six years at Pratt & Whitney, where he was VP and general manager of Pratt & Whitney Global Services Partners. Keenan, who previously spent 14 years at United, will report to SVP Operations Joe Kolshak. United also named Timothy Canavan VP of maintenance and aircraft appearance, responsible for its line maintenance and aircraft appearance teams.
The warehouse often is the last link in the supply chain. But what goes on inside the four walls can determine the success of repair operations. Three years ago, helicopter engine manufacturer Turbomeca USA began implementing Lean processes in its maintenance, repair and overhaul operations in Grand Prairie, Texas. As the company improved the shop floor processes directly related to engine repair, it noticed that its warehousing and logistics processes weren’t keeping pace. That, in turn, was slowing progress in Turbomeca’s push for improvement.
Airbus created a three-phase approach to manage its end-of-life aircraft—develop a sustainable aircraft dismantling process, set up an aircraft decommissioning center that incorporates these environmentally friendly techniques, and establish a network of authorized end-of-life centers around the world.
VEM Maintenance & Engineering delivered to TAM Linhas Aéreas its first Boeing 767-300, painted in the airline’s new livery. The painting of a second aircraft has begun in Rio de Janiero. VEM and TAM also signed a contract to handle 767-300 components, covering maintenance and provisioning of exchange and repair components, such as APUs, landing gears, avionics, pneumatics, hydromechanical systems and others. Engines
