College of Aeronautics, New York City, opened a $16.6 million addition to its Queens campus. Expansion includes 35,000 sq. ft. of additional classroom and lab space, mock flight control tower and 5,000-sq. ft. airplane hangar.
Hamilton Standard's Worldwide Customer Support unit established a spare parts distribution center at Frankfurt, Germany. Hamilton Standard Distribution Center-Europe will be managed by Lufthansa Technik Logistik.
AGES Group and Honeywell's Space and Aviation Control business entered into an inventory marketing agreement to dispose of Honeywell's surplus avionics. Honeywell will manage quality control and warehouse staff; AGES will handle marketing and sales.
U.S. airlines regularly use facilities overseas to maintain and repair their aircraft. These foreign repair stations meet rigorous FAA standards and regulations. Congress has reexamined the regulations on four separate occasions since updating FAR Part 145 in 1988.
British Aerospace Aviation Services will convert 10 Airbus A300B4 aircraft to freighters for C-S Aviation, bringing C-S' number of firm orders for conversions to 31 aircraft. Contract also includes 10 options and is valued at $85 million.
DataWorks Corp. and SF2K, a division of Telecom Solutions, are teaming up in a marketing and support alliance to team Telecom's Shop Floor 2000 control software with DataWorks' Impresa package for enterprise resource planning. The companies say that combining the two systems will allow aerospace organizations to ``significantly reduce the amount of paperwork generated, [making them] virtually paperless, and gain better control of the shop floor.''
Final approval was expected in April of the proposed $3 billion Improved Cargo Helicopter (ICH) program, for the upgrade by Boeing Helicopters of 300 U.S. Army CH-47D Chinook medium-lift helicopters, for extended service from 2002 to at least 2020. The ICH program will involve uprating 1,150 AlliedSignal T55-L-712 turboshaft engines to L-714A standards, with full-authority digital engine control (FADEC), providing 20% more power to 4,867 shp, plus improved fuel consumption.
Pride Aviation will paint aircraft for FedEx under a three-year, multi-million-dollar contract that encompasses potentially all jet aircraft types within FedEx's fleet of 600. Work primarily will be done at Pride's facility in Portland, Ore., with additional work at its New Iberia, La., site. Pride is a subsidiary of Aviation Group.
Aeroplex of Central Europe (ACE) is installing B-RNAV (basic regional navigation) systems on Malev Hungarian Airlines' Boeing 737-200 and Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft. Modification will enable the airline to meet stricter JAA regulations governing automatic navigation systems.
The new Bell 427 helicopter -- as near to being an all-composite helicopter design as is possible currently -- will have a maintenance system that takes advantage of the new capabilities intrinsic to the use of non-metallic materials.
AlliedSignal will supply 46 engine upgrade kits for the U.S. Army's CH-47 tactical transport helicopters under $26 million contract. Company expects to deliver 60 to 100 kits annually over the next decade.
Aviation Group has created an operating division devoted to component maintenance, and also acquired Aero Design, a manufacturer of aircraft batteries. New group is called Component OverhaulandService.
Korry Electronics will supply LED cockpit switches and indicators for all United Airlines 767s under $1.9 million contract. Products will replace Korry incandescent products currently in use.
All Nippon Airways and Air Pacific will install Inmarsat's Aero-I satellite service for voice, fax and data communications. ANA will install the service on 13 Boeing 747s, while Fiji-based Air Pacific will install it on three 737s.
Mercury Scheduling Systems Inc. granted Speedwing, British Airways' technology division, distribution rights to its suite of airline operations software.
A $200 million multi-service program known as Project Echidna will equip RAAF and RAN Lockheed Martin C-130Js, Sikorsky S-70A-9s, Westland Sea Kings Mk 50As and Boeing CH-47Ds with electronic warfare (EW) defensive systems. These will integrate ECM jammers, missile-approach warners and chaff/flare dispensers with BAe Australia's ALR-2002 radar-warning receiver (RWR). Apart from BAeA, potential prime contractors include Boeing's Rockwell/ASATA Defense division; Elta/Elisra; Lockheed Martin; Northrop Grumman; and Raytheon E-Systems.
Jet Maintenance Pty. Ltd., Singapore, was named a dealer for Honeywell avionics products. Jet Maintenance now will offer warranty and support services for business aircraft equipped with Honeywell avionics.
BBA Group PLC acquired H+S Aviation Ltd. H+S specializes in maintenance and overhaul of small aero engines. BBA also owns Dallas Airmotive and Signature Flight Services.
PrattandWhitney plans to buy a 51% stake in SIA Engineering's existing commercial aircraft engine overhaul business in Singapore. Joint venture will overhaul all Singapore Airlines engines, and will seek third-party work.
Devtek Corp. will produce and assemble spare parts for out-of-production Boeing aircraft under an agreement with the OEM. Company is establishing Devtek Aerospace Logistic Support Group at Kitchener, Ontario, to handle the work.
In the MRO business, the marketplace is proving that bigger is, if not better, at least more competitive. Bulk and its attendant financial clout lend a company a certain leverage in market penetration. Much of this has to do with being large enough to absorb the huge capitalization and labor costs inherent in maintaining aircraft, engines and related components. It also has to do with economies of scale.
British Airways will retrofit its fleet of more than 200 jetliners with the AlliedSignal enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS). Retrofit will cost more than $10 million.
The Spanish air force took delivery Jan. 21 of the first of its Lockheed C-130 Hercules tactical transports to undergo an avionics upgrade. Twelve C-130Hs, including a single stretched C-130H-30, are involved in this program, for which Spain's CASA, as prime contractor, received a $43.6 million contract in 1995.
AAR Corp. started its Super Spares program, which delivers critical airframe parts in as little as an hour (depending on location). Parts are stocked at four distribution centers near major airports: New York, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Miami. UPS subsidiary SonicAir will manage the warehousing and delivery of the components.
