Commsoft won a deal to provide its Open Aviation Strategic Engineering System (Oases) to Latvia's SmartLynx Airlines under a five-year, 15-concurrent user deal. SmartLynx planned to go live with Oases to manage its eight Airbus A320s in May.
Fokker Services gained Colombian airline Avianca as the second customer for its FLYFokker Take Care flight hour-based component support program. Avianca chose a three-year program to support its 10 Fokker 50 aircraft. Fokker Services also signed a deal in April to provide AerCap with maintenance and C check services, including incorporating service bulletins (A320-57-1154 and 1155), for Airbus A320s.
Monarch Aircraft Engineering and Bluebox signed a memorandum of understanding to develop an embedded inflight entertainment solution based on the Bluebox wIFE (wireless IFE) product, designed to incorporate consumer-off-the-shelf devices and technologies. Parts/Components
Mxi Technologies' Maintenix software went live at LAN Airlines in April. Maintenix replaced LAN'an's legacy VISaer system and more than 20 internal sub-systems.
Chromalloy gained a new VP and general manager: Dennis Orzel, who most recently was COO of PAS Technologies. Orzel formerly has held leadership positions at Triumph and Pratt & Whitney.
A finished aircraft is a good lesson in perspective. A passenger on a long-haul flight may see the Boeing 777 as one finished behemoth, seamlessly constructed as though it rolled off the assembly line in one piece. But an aircraft technician knows that the devil is in the details, working for hours to make sure every fastener, bolt and wire harness is secure after maintenance. Before an aircraft exists at the component level, all of the individual parts must be made from raw material.
Dayton-Granger amended STC to install winglet and horizontal stabilizer end cap lightning protection kits on Bombardier regional jet series 100, 400, 440, 700, 702, 705, 900 and 1000, STC ST02241NY
SR Technics landed its first long-term contract in the Philippines: It will maintain 18 Cebu Pacific CFM56-5B engines in Zurich under a 10-year, $52 million deal. Avionics/IFE
Air Works Established: 1951 Number of Employees: 700 across 20 locations in the U.K., India and Southeast Asia Service footprint: Includes business and general aviation MRO, commercial aviation MRO, aircraft painting and avionics Maintenance Facilities: Authorized service facility for Agusta Westland, Bell Helicopter, Bombardier Aerospace, Gulfstream, Hawker Beechcraft, Embraer, Honeywell and Rockwell Collins. Qualified to maintain 50 aircraft types. Hangars at eight locations in the U.K. and India
Pratt & Whitney and PAS Technologies signed a long-term agreement making PAS Technologies a designated service provider for select repairs on Pratt & Whitney PW2000 and PW4000 and IAE V2500 engine families at its Hillsboro, Ohio, and Kansas City, Mo., facilities.
Pratt & Whitney signed a memorandum of understanding with the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China to cooperate on leadership training for senior executives and mid-level management, project management training and Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) training at the Pratt & Whitney Customer Training Center. Training is scheduled to begin at mid-year. IT
A J Walter Aviation gained Mexican low-cost carrier VivaAerobus as a power-by-the-hour component support customer. A J Walter will support VivaAerobus' 15 Boeing 737-300s from its Miami operation.
Delta TechOps received FAA Part 145 certification for its pre-merger Northwest Airlines hangars at Minneapolis-St. Paul in January, and Delta TechOps inducted its first customer aircraft, a North American Airlines' Boeing 757, there in April for an A check, says Tony Charaf, Delta TechOps' president. “Detroit (DTW) is next,” he says.
Barfield will provide avionics, hydraulic, instrument, accessories and cockpit seat component maintenance for Boeing and Airbus aircraft to US Airways from its Tempe, Ariz., facility under an April contract.
SR Technics signed a five-year, $36 million integrated component support contract with Garuda Indonesia to support its Boeing 737NG fleet as well as the Airbus A330s covered under existing agreements. The new contract covers 455 part numbers in Zurich, plus SR Technics-owned stock in Jakarta that Garuda will use on a lease basis.
Crane Aerospace & Electronics named Steve Reid senior director of site operations at its Elyria, Ohio, site and John P. DiStasio senior director of business development for microwave solutions in its electronics group. Reid previously held business unit leader, operations manager and marketing manager positions at Parker Hannifin. DiStasio joins Crane from Cobham–M/A-COM Inc., where he was director of field sales.
Airinmar appointed Tom Wilson COO and member of its board of directors. Wilson most recently was VP component solutions and business development at Aveos Fleet Performance.
American Airlines offers seat refurbishment services at its Tulsa, Okla., and Fort Worth, Texas, maintenance bases. It services seats that equip all of the aircraft types that American operates as part of heavy checks: Boeing 737s, 777s and MD-80s. American Airlines performs almost all seat work in-house. Its capabilities include upholstery replacement, deep cleaning and armrest replacement. www.aa-mro.com
AFI KLM Engineering & Maintenance inked a 12-year contract with Virgin Atlantic for Airbus A330 component support, including component repair, pool access and a main base kit at London Heathrow. It already completes engine, component and airframe structural maintenance for Virgin's Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340 fleets. For French airline Corsairfly, AFI KLM E&M will continue component support for two Airbus A330-200s under an extended contract. And it renewed its component support contract with Sunwing Airlines for 737-800 aircraft for six more years.
