Aviation maintenance professionals are not an overly superstitious lot. But they do believe in ghosts. The “ghosts” in question here are phantom components, whose very existence is shadowy, ethereal. They manifest themselves when MROs and airlines go looking for parts. Sellers say they have the part on hand, but in reality, “they do not have the quantity they represent, or they don’t even have the part,” says Brian Tolley, president of PartsBase.
SEATTLE—Boeing faces a big challenge to prepare airline operators for the introduction of the 787, even though the new twin-engine jet’s entry-into-service is running nearly three years late because of seven delivery delays. The original delivery date was May 2008; it is now set for the first quarter 2011. The current expectation is that launch customer All Nippon Airways will take delivery of the first 787-8 in February.
One of the most notable changes Qantas has made in recent years was the reintegration of the MRO after it was set up as a stand-alone business. What was the thinking behind that?
AeroStrategy added Michael Holland as an associate consultant and Henry Julicher as a research associate at its Ann Arbor, Mich., office. Holland has worked as a contracts administrator for the U.S. Department of Defense, and Julicher worked with Deutsche Lufthansa AG. At its European office in London, the aerospace consulting firm added Peter Dalby, a specialist in public and political affairs consulting, as a research associate.
Painting an aircraft is a huge undertaking that requires a lot of patience. Between long lead times for last-minute projects and waiting for the many layers of paint that make up a new livery to dry, aircraft can be out of service for days while undergoing makeovers. But in the past few months, many paintings and coatings OEMs have introduced bold paint and coatings systems that reduce material costs and drying times in a big way.
For Canada’s WestJet, outsourcing deicing services has always been the preferred option. “It’s not our core business,” says Ian Anderson, the Calgary-based airline’s manager of ground icing and winter operations. “Calgary and Fort McMurray [Alberta] are our only stations where deicing and ground handling are done in-house. Calgary is our headquarters city, and at Fort McMurray, we had to step in when our contractor ceased operations there.”
Mxi Technologies will provide its Maintenix enterprise resource planning software to Ethiopian Airlines, which will be one of the first airlines to implement Maintenix for Boeing 787 operations following its introduction to its fleet.
As airlines continue to focus on core competencies, supply chain management is evolving into a prime outsourcing opportunity. Once associated mainly with start-up and low-cost carriers without mighty maintenance infrastructures, comprehensive component repair and management agreements are becoming more attractive even to the legacy carriers.
StandardAero reorganized its Cincinnati-based component services business unit, naming Jack Lane director, sales and customer service. Lane has been StandardAero’s sales director since 2002. With this change, the company also divided its sales and customer service organization into three units—GE/Americas, Snecma/MTU/Europe/Middle East, and brokers. Steve Maull, who most recently was North America sales manager for Airfoil Technologies International, joins the Dubai Aerospace Enterprise company as head of GE/Americas sales.
American Airlines named William Collins VP of base maintenance, effective Oct. 1. Collins formerly was VP of electric power for GE Aviation. American’s former base maintenance chief, Fred Cleveland, joined American Eagle Airlines as senior VP technical operations in December 2009. Cleveland originally came to American in 2008 after retiring from the U.S. Navy.
Chromalloy launched an online catalog for turbine engine parts and repairs that allows users to search by engine manufacturer, engine type, engine section, part number, part name or ATA number. The online catalog also notifies users if Chromalloy makes a PMA part for the part number they need.
Iberia Maintenance won a five-year Airbus A330 component support contract from Onur Air. The Turkish carrier operates three of the widebody twins. Under terms of the price-by-hour contract, Iberia Maintenance will put a main base component kit at Onur Air’s Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, base, and will give Onur access to a pool of LRUs, navigation and communications systems and other components. Repair work will be done at Iberia’s Madrid facility.
The maintenance world is familiar with the “Dirty Dozen”—the 12 most common causes of human factors-related maintenance errors. There is one more root cause that doesn’t appear on the list but should: attitude. When individuals and organizations develop the right attitude toward error reduction, it typically follows that errors decrease.
Aerostructures Middle East Services (AMES) delivered its first C-duct Trent 700 thrust reverser to Bahrain flag carrier Gulf Air on Aug. 19, following full repair and overhaul. AMES says it is preparing to ramp up operations in response to demand from Middle Eastern airline customers. Joint venture partners Aircelle and Air France Industries/KLM Engineering & Maintenance launched AMES at Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone on March 1, after receiving EASA Part 145 certification.
Leki Aviation now exclusively markets and sells Thompson Group surplus materials for Boeing 767, 757, 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft, including components, consumables and interiors, per a July consignment agreement.
AeroThrust in Miami auctioned off its assets in September after failing to find a buyer that met its expectations. Heritage Global Partners, which worked with Hilco Industrial and Counsel RB Capital to manage the auction, says potential buyers in the Middle East, U.S., and South America expressed “tremendous interest” in many big-ticket items, such as Pratt & Whitney JT8D and CFM International CFM56 engines, components and tooling.
Studies from Stanford University’s Structures and Composite laboratories show that the joint holes around fasteners account for half of all fatigue cracks in airframes. Alcoa has teamed up with Stanford scientists to develop a new structural health monitoring system (SHM) for commercial aircraft that can keep tabs on these cracks in real-time without deconstructing the airframe.
A host of hangars will spring up around the globe in the next few years, many of which will feature environmentally friendly features such as solar panels in sunny climates or strategically situated windows with glazing to allow natural light in without heat gain or loss.
Pemco Aeroplex reissued STC to convert a Boeing 757-200 series passenger configuration to a freighter configuration incorporating a new main deck cargo door, interior and associated systems, STC ST01920LA
Malaysia Airlines subsidiary MAS Aerospace Engineering signed a one-year agreement with Air Mauritius to perform heavy checks and paint six Airbus A340-200s and two A330-200s. The checks will be done at MAS Aerospace Engineering’s facility in Subang in Kuala Lumpur. The Airbus aircraft will be painted in Air Mauritius’ new livery.
OGMA promoted Pedro Costa Santos to marketing and sales director for engines and components services, effective July 1. Santos had been OGMA’s sales manager for commercial and executive aviation services for three years.
Amsafe Industries named Willard Hagan, the former president of its aviation division, president. He will work with CEO Terence Lyons while continuing to oversee aviation airbags and defense. Amsafe also promoted Herb Mardany from VP and general manager of Amsafe Aviation to its executive team as senior VP responsible for its worldwide seatbelt business. And, it named Ian Kentfield, formerly general manager of Amsafe Bridport for Asia and the Middle East, senior VP in charge of the commercial aviation cargo business.
