A J Walter signed up African start-up Senegal Airline for a five-year, power-by-the-hour component support contract for its first two Airbus A319 aircraft. The airline also inked a multi-million-dollar spares lease with AJW, for components positioned in Dakar, and a contract for integrated consumables management services.
TeamSAI promoted Tom Cooper and Michael Moore to senior VPs and principals from their prior roles as VPs and principals. Cooper joined TeamSAI in 2007 and brings 20 years of lexperience with Delta Air Lines and Foster’s Wine Estates; he is the consulting practice leader for certification, safety and technical services. Moore joined TeamSAI in 2009 and uses his 25 years of experience with Northwest Airlines, Timco Aviation Services and Associated Air Center to lead TeamSAI’s MRO consulting. Airframes
Baines Simmons appointed Ivan Christiansen head of its quality consultancy division. Christiansen joins Baines Simmons from Rolls-Royce, where he was head of global quality for On-Wing Care.
FL Technics in Vilnius, Lithuania, applied for EASA Part 147 training certification on the Airbus A320 family. It provides technical type training on Boeing 737 Classic and NG, Boeing 757, Saab 340, Saab 2000 and ATR 42/72 aircraft.
ABU DHABI—In 2009, both the passenger and air cargo sectors were hit hard as consumer spending fell to record lows. The financial consequences resulted in a permanent loss of 2.5 years of growth in passenger business and 3.5 years of growth in air cargo. By renewing fleets and deferring maintenance, airlines have tried to mitigate the downward effects the crisis generated, according to the recently issued International Air Transport Association (IATA) Airline Maintenance Cost Report.
The camera heads for the 5.0, 6.1 and 8.4 mm probes have an 1/6 in. color charge-coupled device CCD image sensor with a 440,000 pixel count. These cameras also have an added temperature warning sensor. The 3.9 and 6.2 mm probes have a 1/10 in. color CCD image sensor at 290,000 pixels. GE says the titanium camera head is eight times stronger than those that equip older borescopes. www.ge-mcs.com/microsites/xlg3-videoprobe/overview.html
Etihad formally signed an agreement to buy Engine Alliance GP7200 engines to power its fleet of 10 Airbus A380s, a deal with a list price of $1.5 billion; it was originally priced at $1.3 billion when the agreement was preliminarily signed in June 2009. At that time, the aircraft were to enter service in 2012 but are now set to begin operations in 2014. Etihad also will use a long-term fleet management agreement for engine MRO.
The governments of Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Panama established free trade zones where Coopesa, Aeroman and ST Aerospace Panama operate, speeding their access to parts. The strategy also provides a competitive advantage that other countries, such as Mexico and Brazil, can't offer due to long customs-clearing processes.
Anyone who has ever been to the circus has seen the nets strung below high-wire walkers and aerialists. As professional acrobats, the performers almost never need the nets. But on those rare occasions when they slip, those nets save lives.
A J Walter Aviation decided to locate its new aircraft engine services division in Wales. It says it is targeting $50 million in business in the first year of the facility’s operations.
Sukhoi’s Superjet 100 regional jet received type certification from the Russian aircraft certification authority, IAC AR, enabling delivery of the first aircraft. Armavia, which has two firm orders and two options, will receive the first. Sukhoi also conducted the maiden flight of Aeroflot’s first SS100 in the Russian flag-carrier’s colors. Aeroflot has 30 firm orders for the aircraft, plus 15 options. Noting the aircraft’s type certification, the OEM added it has been granted design organization approval certification from IAC AR.
Lufthansa Technik gained Cameroon’s Camair-Co start-up as a line maintenance and component services customer. Under the two-year line maintenance contract, Lufthansa Technik Maintenance International will provide initial staff to service the carrier’s Boeing 737NG and 767 aircraft at Douala, Cameroon; it subsequently will hire and instruct up to 10 local employees to take over the work.
The Senate and House have wasted no time moving forward on comprehensive FAA reauthorization legislation. The Senate brought a comprehensive bill to the floor just days after Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) introduced it in late January. The bill, the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act (S.223), passed the Senate Feb. 17.
Sabena technics renewed its agreement with Thomas Cook for line and light maintenance of the Belgian tour operator’s seven Airbus A320s for five more years from January 2011. The contract includes main base support in Brussels as well as component MRO and pool access.
CT Aerospace hired Björn Vandekerckhove as director of commercial programs for Europe, responsible for commercial engine and airframe sales and engine programs. Vandekerckhove worked at Sabena Technics and TPI Aviation before founding Jet Engine Trading & Support.
Phillips Service Industries acquired Skytronics Inc. Technology firm Phillips sees the acquisition of the California maker and repairer of aircraft ball screws, actuator assemblies and transmissions as an expansion of its reach into aerospace; it also owns Beaver Aerospace & Defense, Sciaky Inc., Mountain Secure Systems, Evana Automation Specialists and PSI Repair Services.
The number of flights over Europe likely will be 1.8 times greater in 2030 than it was in 2009, according to Eurocontrol’s latest 20-year forecast. It sees a range of scenarios that project between 13.1 million and 20.9 million flights in 2030, assuming average growth of 1.6-3.9% annually. A 2.8% per year average growth rate is the most likely, it says.
Lightweight composites soon will replace metals such as aluminum as the primary material for airframes. Advanced composites make up at least half of the Airbus 350XWB and Boeing 787 airframes, and these new, lightweight structures will drive the future of repairs. But until original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) release repair manuals for these materials, training organizations are doing their best to cultivate a workforce of mechanics and engineers skilled in developing designated engineering representative (DER) composite repairs.
Derco Repair Services and Universal Synaptics teamed together to offer a new product for detecting intermittent faults, called the Intermittent Fault Detection System. The device monitors electrical paths in the chassis of the unit under test to detect, log and isolate intermittent events then graphically displays the failing circuits to enable quicker, more efficient repairs.
If the aviation aftermarket had a pulse and we could listen to it through a stethoscope, what would it sound like? Perhaps it would echo the heartbeat of a marathon runner whose course includes a few steep hills? I think this is an apt analogy because I believe the MRO industry’s training, which has been occurring the last several years through diligent process improvements, has produced lasting, long-term benefits. While we periodically sprint, this is a long, competitive journey.
PROBLEM: Traditional borescopes require inspectors to change optic tips each time they find a defect. Plus, most borescopes take two-dimensional pictures that can make it difficult to discern the defect’s actual shape.
