International Aircraft Associates in Miramar, Fla., named Richard N. Sauro director, quality control, and Igor DeCamps director of information technology.
Sabena technics in early October will perform a C6 base maintenance check for Tor Air, a Swedish charter, wet-lease operator. The two-year-old charter company hired Sabena technics’ Brussels operations to complete the base maintenance check on its Boeing 737-400, as well as to overhaul its landing gear. Sabena technics did not disclose the contract’s value. Tor Air, based in Goteborg, Sweden, operates this one aircraft but hopes to add another to its fleet this year. Engines
SR Technics received EASA Part 145 base maintenance approval for Boeing 737NG aircraft in Switzerland, where it began offering C checks, modifications, landing hear and engine changes, and other support services in September. SR Technics’ Zurich Airport facility already offered line maintenance services for 737NG aircraft, in addition to cabin modifications and heavy airframe maintenance for Airbus aircraft.
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.
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 plans to add overhaul capacity in Dallas this fall. The carrier closed its Kansas City base, which employed 450 TWU-represented overhaul mechanics at this time last year, on Sept. 24. However, American has plans to shift much of that work, and many of the employees, to a site at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport with 125-150 open positions.
British Airways Engineering added 105 apprentices in London. BA offers three-year apprenticeships for 10-15 students at MRO bases in Cardiff, Wales, and Glasgow, Scotland, but the London Heathrow-based apprenticeships are the first offered there in 16 years.
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.
It has been interesting for me to watch innovation take shape across different industries and especially in aerospace and defense over the past 28 years. In the early days of product lifecycle management around the early 1990s, the industry was discussing drafting and ink on mylar and virtual digital product modeling for commercial and defense aircraft. Today we are focused on the convergence of physical and digital domains and integrated product and services management environments. The changes have been dramatic.
The Ford 300 I-6 4.9 liter engine is the standard to power most types of gas-powered ground support equipment (GSE) from tugs and belt loaders to deicing machines and baggage tractors in the U.S. But despite its widespread use, new, stringent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California air laws could make it difficult to continue using this engine.
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.
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.
Most airlines do it, but the MROs that maintain their flying machines don’t necessarily like it. The issue? Customized maintenance programs. More specifically, MROs must figure out how to keep turn times short and efficiency high while adhering to airlines’ differing directions. “In most cases, you’re going to work under [a specific carrier’s] maintenance program—work off their cards, their package. And that is a real problem for an MRO,” says Jim Ganopulos, Delta TechOps’ general manager of fleet management engineering for Boeing 757s, 767s and 777s.
Turkish Technic signed a 10-year contract with SunExpress for component pool services at the carrier’s main base at Antalya, Turkey. The agreement covers component stocks, logistic and engineering support and shop visits for 25 Boeing 737-800 aircraft components. Joint Ventures/Acquisitions
Congress is pushing Safety Management Systems (SMS) to the forefront in the U.S., adopting new deadlines for the FAA to take action. The recently enacted Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 calls on FAA to begin a rulemaking proceeding to require Part 121 carriers to implement a safety system. The law requires the release of a notice of proposed rulemaking within 90 days and a final rule 24 months later.
Air Works India Engineering Pvt. Ltd. signed an agreement with Denmark’s Scandinavian Avionics to create a joint venture avionics MRO company, SA Air Works India. The new entity will provide turnkey avionics solutions for inflight entertainment systems and communications, safety applications, weather systems and other airborne electronics, the partners said. SA Air Works India will be base in Gurgaon, New Delhi, and has EASA Part 145 certification and Part 147 and 21 support from Scandinavian Avionics.
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.
M7 Aerospace named Gary Merrill VP of quality assurance, responsible for QA programs in aerostructures manufacturing, MRO, government logistics support contracting, supply chain management, and aircraft parts and engineering. Merrill most recently was managing director of quality assurance and technical programs for US Airways.
Electronic Cable Specialists to upgrade the internal core software of the ACARS datalink management unit on Boeing 767-300/300F and 757-200/200PF series aircraft, STCs ST02859CH and ST02862CH
One industrial building specialist’s first LEED project—and its largest-ever single project in terms of value—is in the works now for a site adjacent to Honolulu International Airport. Rubb, Inc. is working with the state of Hawaii and Hawaiian Airlines to build a new, LEED Silver certified campus for the carrier that is comprised of an aircraft maintenance hangar and an air cargo building, says Gordon Collins, sales manager for Rubb. Another green building also could take shape on the site in the future.
Aircraft Systems & Manufacturing reissued STC to install a digital flight data recorder parameter upgrade using an SFIM ARINC 717 digital flight data acquisition unit on McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 aircraft, STC ST09741SC
BAE Systems Regional Aircraft delivered two BAe 146-200 regional aircraft to Aerolineas Star Peru, which now operates seven of the aircraft. Prior to delivery, BAE carried out a couple of engine changes on one of the aircraft.
