Aloha Air Cargo launched a repair and maintenance subsidiary that will market its services to other airlines. Aloha Tech Ops, as it’s called, has signed deals with Alaska Airlines (to service the Boeing 737s it flies to Hawaii) and with WestJet Airlines.
Malaysia Airlines and Pratt & Whitney have agreed to open a nacelle repair facility in Kuala Lumpur within the next two years. The 50-50 joint venture will be part of Pratt’s Global Services Partners maintenance network to support CFM56 and V2500 overhauls, as well as Pratt’s own line.
The state of supply chain management in the aftermarket has reached a critical juncture. Aerospace and defense maintenance and overhaul supply chain practices lag years behind other industries such as global electronics or consumer packaged goods. Why? Several factors delay and complicate supply chain processes: long product life-cycles; highly engineered, often sole-sourced components; complex regulatory environments; and program-centric management.
Non-routine maintenance exacts a real toll. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation statistics in September 2009, U.S. airlines either delayed or cancelled 4% of their flights because of issues dealing with the carriers themselves. And about half of those—2%—pertained to maintenance.
Ameco Beijing inducted an LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767-300 for a C Check on Jan. 11. It also will overhaul United Airlines’ Boeing 747s, as well as the carrier’s 777s, for which it already does heavy maintenance. The 777 work, under a five-year contract signed in 2005, will be extended for a further five years. Heavy maintenance on the 747s will also last for five years. And, Ameco won a contract to provide C check services for Aeroflot’s four 767-300ERs.
The maintenance division of Adria Airways, Slovenia’s national carrier based at Ljubljana, is one MRO that has significantly benefited from its relationship with an OEM, in this case Bombardier Aerospace. Adria Airways’ place in Eastern Europe is noteworthy because it is the first Bombardier recognized CRJ heavy maintenance facility in all of Europe.
Ameco Beijing appointed Michael Delion executive director of its operations division. Delion, the former VP asset management product division aircraft component services for Lufthansa Technik, will work in his new role with his Chinese counterpart, Dr. Li Qiang.
Industry observers until recently predicted that Eastern Europe would become the “new China” of MRO services for Western European airlines and others looking to reduce maintenance costs. That glowing prognostication has dimmed somewhat for a host of reasons, but some remain convinced that Eastern Europe has significant potential for MRO.
StandardAero named Jeff Manion VP of global sales and customer service for its business aviation sector, Chris Bodine VP and general manager of its Augusta, Ga., facility, and Les McAfee regional sales manager for its south Texas bizav sales territory, based in Houston. Manion comes to StandardAero from Duncan Aviation, where he most recently was VP sales. Bodine had served as the Augusta facility’s acting VP and general manager since April 2009. McAfee joins StandardAero from Gulfstream in Dallas, where he was service center business office supervisor.
The creation and evolution of a blacklist of airlines banned from operating in the EU has been “a success story from every angle,” according to the European Commission. In a January report to the European Parliament and European Council, the commission says its blacklist, already updated 12 times since its controversial launch in March 2006, “is now regarded internationally as an effective tool in ensuring a high level of safety to the benefit of the travelling public by the enforcement of the relevant air safety standards.”
The terms “fuel cell” and “bladder” tanks are used interchangeably to describe a fuel tank that is completely removable from the airframe for servicing and not integral to the aircraft. While all but gone from commercial transports, they will likely see continued application in general aviation aircraft. Removable tank maintenance is frequently overlooked until a leak is spotted. Then, the only alternative may be a total replacement, according to Erich Hartwig, manager of Hartwig Aircraft Fuel Cell Repair in Hallock, Minn.
Photoluminescent Coating System A new paint system makes the dangerous tips of aircraft propeller blades and helicopter main and tail rotors visible at night and in low-light conditions. The AfterGlo coating system, developed by Defense Holdings Inc. (DHi) and manufactured by Sherwin-Williams Aerospace Coatings, stores energy from sunlight during the day to illuminate aircraft components for up to eight hours of visibility from as far as 40 ft. away.
Delta Air Lines plans to invest $1 billion in service improvements through mid-2013. Enhancements include installation of full flat-bed seats in business class on 90 aircraft: 14 Boeing 767-400ERs, 52 767-300ERS, 16 747-400s and eight 777-200ERs. Delta plans to equip 16 747-400s and 52 767-300 ERs with in-seat audio and video-on-demand in economy class, and to install first-class cabins on 66 CRJ-700 aircraft operated by Delta Connection carriers ASA, Comair and SkyWest. In addition, winglets will be installed more than 170 Boeing 767-300ERs, 757-200s and 737-800s.
Ameco Beijing and Lufthansa Technik Shenzhen will develop Pratt & Whitney PW4000 fan thrust reverser overhaul capability, providing Air China and Air China Cargo’s 747 and 767 fleets local repairs.
Rockwell Collins formed a strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia’s Advanced Electronics Co. to co-develop and market avionics products and services. As part of the deal, AEC will become an authorized repair and service center for jointly developed avionics and electronics. Parts/Components
A J Walter Aviation will provide power-by-the-hour component support for three American Airlines A320s for five years under a new contract. It is expected to expand the support to six aircraft in total by 2011.
Nordic Aviation Capital’s former CEO Niels Ulsoe returned to the role in January, when his successor, Jan Melgaard, left the company. NAC also added two members to its board: Kim Graven Nielsen, CEO of Denmark-based EDSA, and Niels deConinck-Smith, chairman of the board of Encase.
Contract maintenance has spurred a one-sided debate lately in the general media, including a certain U.S. newspaper that has frequently botched airline reporting and sensationalized issues. While I first dismissed the latest article as another piece of bad journalism in this newspaper, my phone keeps ringing. “What do you think?” “Does the public believe this stuff?”
Among upgrades planned for the French air force fleet of Boeing E-3F AWACS is new flight-performance software that supports analysis tasks ranging from preflight planning to takeoff optimization and inflight rerouting. Prime contractor Air France Industries (AFI) awarded a subcontract for development of the software to Berlin’s Pace Aerospace Engineering and Information Technologies, a specialist in developing engineering software for various transportation markets. When installed, the software will replace ground-based legacy programs and manual calculations by crew.
Air Berlin named Helmut Himmelreich chief maintenance officer on March 1, filling the post left open when Wolfgang Kurth, former CEO of rival low-fare carrier Hapag-Lloyd Express, left the airline on Feb. 10. Air Berlin CEO Joachim Hunold held the position in the interim. Himmelreich most recently was senior EVP at SR Technics.
The European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA) has urged new European Commissioner-designate for Transport Siim Kallas of Estonia to stop state aid to ailing national carriers. “In such cases the airlines in question must be permitted to simply exit the market for which they are no longer fit,” says ELFAA Secretary General John Hanlon.
