Consolidation continues to reduce the number of players in the business aviation maintenance, repair, and overhaul field, the survivors rendered down and grouped into a handful of MRO providers capable of complete nose-to-tail aircraft service. One of the principal drivers of this trend is the ongoing temptation of airframe manufacturers to vertically integrate virtually all aftermarket services under the OEM's in-house umbrella.
Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics&Surveillance Systems-Tactical Systems (NE&SS-Tactical Systems) announced in July the redelivery of a fourth and final P-3C Orion maritime surveillance and patrol aircraft upgraded under a 1996 $50 million Foreign Military Sales contract to the Norwegian air force (Luftforsvaret).
Rolls-Royce has formed a partnership with Chromalloy to provide advanced engine component repair services on RB211, Tay and Trent engines. Turbine Repair Technologies Ltd. will be based at Chromalloy's existing facility in Somercotes, England, and will employ up to 170 people.
FAA granted supplemental type certification for Aviation Partners Boeing's (APB) ``blended winglet'' 8-ft. winglet extensions for the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ). With the STC, Boeing will begin offering the winglets, which APB says extends the aircraft's range by 300 nmi. or increases payload by 4,000 lbs. APB is working on certifying the winglets for Boeing 737 commercial airliners.
Flight development started at BAE Systems' Warton facility in early June, in the hands of factory test pilot Gordon McClymont, of an RAF Jaguar equipped with an uprated Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca Adour Mk 106 turbofan alongside its standard 7,900-lbs. thrust afterburning Mk 104 engine. Some 122 Adour Mk 104s are to be uprated at Rolls-Royce's Bristol and East Kilbride factories as Mk 106s developing 8,800 lbs. thrust for take-off, for the RAF's Jaguar fleet.
Paravant's Engineering Development Labs, Dayton, Ohio, secured a $6.5 million contract from Israel's MoD to supply hover control systems for CH-53 helicopters. The company will install an altitude hold-and-hover stabilization system on the IAF's CH-53s over the next two and one-half years. The system is a variant of one designed for the USAF's H-60.
It's not unusual for large aircraft manufacturers to support and maintain their own products, but it's much more rare for a small engineering company to move into aircraft maintenance. So what made Inflite Engineering Services at London's Stansted Airport become one of the most unlikely providers of specialist maintenance services? The company built up its airframe expertise on a thriving business in aircraft parts manufacturing and has made its move into niche-market maintenance a simple and natural progression.
Like Boeing, Airbus Service Co. (ASCO), the parts and services subsidiary of the European airframer, also operates a modern training facility in Miami, where it trains personnel from all North American Airbus operators and the vast majority of crews from Latin American carriers taking delivery of new or newly leased A320s, A330s or A340s.
US Airways' board of directors approved construction of a new $10 million hangar in Charlotte to accommodate overnight maintenance of aircraft. The 46,000-sq. ft. facility will be constructed next to existing hangar facilities used for heavy maintenance. Completion is set for early 2001.
Lufthansa Technik (LHT) received an order from a Mideast head of state to acquire, complete and deliver a VIP Boeing 747-400, a contract valued at $300 million. LHT called the contract ``a first-of-its-kind all-inclusive program'' that covers aircraft procurement, writing of system specifications, supervision of manufacturing and overseeing of modifications and completion.
Lufthansa Technik delivered the second Airbus A319CJ it has completed and its fifth Executive Jet overall. The A319CJ, which was completed two weeks ahead of schedule, was delivered to the Italian government.
GERMANY-BASED ENGINE COMPONENT MANUFACTURER and engine repair and overhauler MTU was not included in the consolidation that created European aerospace giant EADS. Rather than being rolled up into EADS, MTU was placed directly under DaimlerChrysler. ``Being released from DASA means we have to create our own face,'' according to Dr. Klaus Steffens, president and CEO of MTU.
Crane Aerospace named Martin Baillargeon regional business manager for Canada. He most recently served as North American customer liaison engineer for Intertechnique.
Dunlop Aviation Services (DAS) has moved its main wheel and tire repair shop from London Heathrow Airport to the company's Coventry, U.K., headquarters. The move will increase working space by 50%, DAS said.
BAE Systems Regional Aircraft and West Air Sweden launched a jointly funded passenger-to-freighter conversion program for the ATP regional turboprop. Cargo carrier West Air Sweden has acquired six ATPs and has options on three more. Also, BAE Systems agreed to purchase Lockheed Martin's aerospace electronics systems business for $1.67 billion.
Airinmar signed a five-year agreement to provide component and overhaul services in support of BAE Systems' BAe 146, Avro RJ/RJX, Jetstream 31/32/41, HTP and HS748 aircraft.
AAS Landing Gear Services named Pablo Prieto president and Jay Palmer vice president of sales. Prieto most recently was president and general manager of Menasco Aerospace; Palmer was vice president of marketing for Cleveland Pneumatic Co.
BFGoodrich Aerospace had a very active Farnborough Air Show, signing several multi-year landing-gear support contracts, as well as deals to provide airframe MRO and completion services, nacelle construction and support, and wheels and brakes services. The highly diversified aerospace company's Everett, Wash.-based MRO division announced the opening of its new 90,000-sq. ft. VIP completion center along with two multi-million-dollar deals for the facility.
Smiths Industries Leland Electrosystems won a $6.6 million firm-fixed-price order under an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to repair 462 electric engine starters and provide 65 spares for AH-1W Cobra helicopters. Work will be performed in Vandalia, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by July 2003. The Naval Inventory Control Point, Philadelphia, Pa., awarded the deal.
Argentina awarded a five-year contract to Lockheed Martin to continue to provide maintenance support for Argentine Air Force aircraft. LM will build 12 Pampa jet trainers as part of the bargain.
Orenda Aerospace Corp. and National Flight Services have formed Orenda National Aerospace LLC, a joint venture to overhaul gas turbine engine components at Glendale, Ariz.
As the aviation e-commerce industry has taken shape over the course of the year, the noisiest entries have come largely from the big OEMs or their proxies, and second-level spare parts suppliers under those schemes have been at the mercy of those at the top. In addition, the little guys -- comprising 80% of aviation parts suppliers -- have been shut out technologically from the e-commerce/electronic data interchange (EDI) world.
