Aveos is growing its training solutions capabilities and recently obtained EASA certification. It is now the only approved training provider in Canada for the Embraer 170 and 190 families and the only EASA-approved Canadian training organization to deliver this type of training in Europe.
Ramco Systems launched its new enterprise resource planning offering for aviation, aerospace and defense customers, Series 5 Manufacturing, in April. The manufacturing suite is designed to provide a single solution for engineering, supply chain, manufacturing, sales, service management, plant maintenance, human resources and financial operations.
LONDON—The European Aviation Safety Agency EASA is considering an innovative proposal that would allow commercial operators to outsource their continuous airworthiness management organization (CAMO) functions, enabling them to adopt, for example, Boeing's Goldcare maintenance model for Boeing 787 and 737NG operators. Boeing, which has CAMO approval, could manage its European-based 787 fleet from a central organization that would provide operators with airworthy 787s. Boeing staff would run the CAMO, while operators would use aircraft from a pool.
Fokker Aircraft Services will provide nose-to-tail maintenance and C checks for five Germania Airlines Boeing 737s. Following maintenance, three of the aircraft will go into Fokker Aircraft Services' Boeing storage program, and two will return to service until October, when they too are scheduled to go into storage. Engines
The IBS Group appointed Rajiv Shah CEO. He will lead IBS' business providing IT systems to the global air transportation industry. Rajiv's last assignment was with Wipro Technologies, where he was the chief executive of the securities and capital markets business unit and later the healthcare and services business unit.
Regent Seating Division offers complete overhaul and refurbishment of aircraft seats with its line of PMA parts for arm caps, tray tables and seat belts. It can install new fabric and leather seat cushions and dress covers as well as plan complete cabin reconfigurations. Regent is headquartered in Valencia, Calif., with a 90,000-sq.-ft. facility, and it has repair stations around the world. www.regentaerospace.com
Perrone Aerospace's All Leather Maintenance Division is an FAA Part 145 and EASA approved repair station that offers leather cleaning, maintenance and repair services in Fultonville, N.Y. Custom expedited delivery is available within a week, and the standard delivery time is 15 days. www.perroneaero.com/cleaning_maintenance.php
Pratt & Whitney formally launched its PureSolution service program for the PurePower engine family. (For more information, see O&M, April 2011, pg. 66.)
Fokker Services and Lufthansa Technik in May agreed to provide joint support for Boeing, Airbus and Bombardier components, including a range of pneumatic, hydraulics and avionics components, for the next five years. A separate purchase agreement covers the delivery of PMA piece parts for use in Lufthansa Technik repairs.
Killick Aerospace hired Paul Goffredi as VP business development. Goffredi most recently spent 13 years with Dallas Airmotive, serving as director of operations for the Pratt & Whitney PW100 engine program and as program director for all Honeywell engine programs.
Tell me about Air Works' transformation that began in 2006. Menon: We commenced the process to invite private equity, diluting our holdings to raise the capital required to fund our plans for the future. Global Technology Investment Group in New York acquired a 33% stake in Air Works, and then we got a second investor called Punj Lloyd Group, which is one of the largest infrastructure groups in the country with business interests spread across the Middle East, Europe and the Far East. We each hold a 33.3% share.
The landing gear overhaul business is about to surge as fleets delivered within the century's first decade reach the first removals of their landing gear for major servicing. In tandem, new aircraft delivered during the 1990s are about to hit their second removal period.
Aveos Fleet Performance CEO Chahram Bolouri left May 2, and was replaced by Joe Kolshak, a former executive at United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Bolouri, who joined Aveos in 2006, will stay as an advisor. VP and CFO Robert Comeau also left Aveos in May, and was succeeded by Peter Timotheatos, previously VP finance.
AAR Corp. and Gulf Technics partnered to provide an integrated supply chains and component repair solution for Gulf Air, including parts supply, distribution, IT and logistics. The five-year agreement commenced in April and covers Gulf Air's 14 Airbus A320s, 10 A330s and four A340s.
Packaging Systems International specializes in the distribution of chemicals, sealants, adhesives and coatings. It packages epoxy, urethane, polysulfide and silicone chemistry materials to customers' specific quantity requirements. Packaging Systems International has the capability to package materials in barrier and injection kits, dual-cartridge kits and Bipacks (bags of two blendable sealant materials separated by a removable clip before use).
AFI KLM Engineering & Maintenance made Alitalia one of its biggest GE90 customers with a long-term maintenance and support contract for its fleet of Boeing 777s. The contract also extends 777 component services for the contract period.
PAS Technologies added Brian Meyer as general manager of its Miramar, Fla., facility. Meyer joins PAS Technologies from AAR Landing Gear Systems, where he most recently held the role of VP engineering. Airframes
Industry groups are strongly urging the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to make some key changes to the emergency revocation review, saying the process must be altered to level to the playing field for certificate holders. FAA, however, disagrees that many of the recommended changes are necessary, saying NTSB should keep most of the current processes in place.
Delta TechOps landed a five-year, exclusive fixed-price, time and materials contract to maintain CanJet's CRM56-7B engines. Delta TechOps already provided component and inventory logistics support for the Canadian charter carrier's Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
Field Aviation in Ontario completed what it says is the first major modernization of a Bombardier Dash 8 flight deck on schedule for owner the Icelandic coast guard. A Transport Canada supplemental type certificate was issued on April 12, and Field Aviation says the process to obtain FAA and EASA certifications is underway.
MEMPHIS—The annual Avionics Maintenance Conference provides a forum for operators to air their equipment woes to the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), but April's gathering made for an especially heated environment. The topic of most contention was intellectual property, a concept that generates much confusion. Unhappy operators accused some avionics suppliers of keeping important maintenance information from them and citing intellectual property ownership as an excuse.
Lufthansa Technik Aero Alzey will provide technical services for some of JetBlue's more than 200 CF34-10E engines over the next three years under a non-exclusive contract signed in April.
Lufthansa Technik offers seat refurbishment and overhaul services as options alongside heavy checks at its maintenance facilities in Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, as well as European affiliates in Brussels and Malta. Capabilities include the Airbus A320 family, A330 and A340 and Boeing 737-300/-500 and 747-200/-400. www.lufthansa-technik.com
At jet engine maker GE Aviation's Hooksett factory near Manchester, N.H., thinking global means adapting someone else's idea to create a winning combination of reduced tooling and production costs for hard-to-machine superalloys. The story started in 2001 at GE Global Research in Niskayuna, N.Y., which passed on some intel from GE Global Research-Shanghai to Mike Lamphere about the way the Chinese were using electric discharge to speed up drilling of machined parts.
Leki Aviation offers seat refurbishment services at its 25 Repair Center for the following aircraft types: Boeing 737 to 767 aircraft, Airbus A320 and A330, and crew seats for the MD-80. Leki has refurbished and installed many brands of seats, including Weber, Brice, Recaro and Avio. www.lekiaviation.com
