SR Technics and parent company Mubadala Development Co. landed a January engine acquisition and maintenance deal worth several hundred million dollars that Mubadala Development Co.’s first foray into financing in line with its MRO subsidiary. The 10-year deal with Air Berlin is the first SR Technics has announced in conjunction with Mubadala that includes a financing aspect. One part of the agreement is Mubadala’s financing of 12 spare engines, themselves worth $100 million, in a sale-and-lease-back agreement with Air Berlin.
Fokker Services signed a manufacturing license agreement with Goodrich for Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 main landing gear spare parts that gives Fokker Services B.V. exclusive rights to manufacture all the main landing gear parts for the out-of-production aircraft models. The parts manufactured under the agreement will be used to overhaul the Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 main landing gear as well as spare parts provision. Joint Ventures/Acquisitions
Lockheed Martin Electronic and Fire Control received a $99.4-million firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance work on Army Apache helicopters. The work is part of the Sensors Flying Hours Program for 2010, and includes repair or replacement of units and modules in sensor systems. A-10C Software
FlightSafety International promoted J. Scott Hunter to director, maintenance training sales. Hunter, who joined FlightSafety International in 1994, takes over the role for Doug Bowen, who has been named director, maintenance training services.
US Airways renewed a three-year heavy maintenance contract with ST Aerospace. The renewed agreement started in January and covers heavy checks for the airline’s Airbus A330s and Boeing 737, 757 and 767 aircraft. ST Aerospace’s facility in Mobile, Ala., will complete the work. ST Aerospace has completed maintenance on 206 US Airways aircraft in the past seven years. Contract terms weren’t disclosed. Military
The Pentagon awarded Bell-Boeing an $11.8-million contract for work on the Suite of Integrated Radio Frequency Countermeasures (Sirfc) system, which provides protection for USAF Special Operations Command’s CV-22 tiltrotors. The work includes switch-out of two line-replaceable units and antenna radome design modifications. Sirfc was deployed with the aircraft last year in Africa.
When Michael Williams, a professor of business at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), first joined the aviation business several decades ago, computers were “unheard of,” he recalls. Today, however, an understanding of technology and computer programs is an essential capability of every maintenance manager. “Being able to use maintenance planning software, scheduling software, being able to communicate electronically—these [skills] are needed more than anything today,” he says.
The French government exercised an option with Eurocopter in December to upgrade five more Cougar transport helicopters to keep them in service another 20 years. The deal is part of a 27-helicopter upgrade package the government signed in 2008. With this deal, upgrades for 10 of the total are now financed.
Jet Aviation Dubai received U.A.E. General Civil Aviation Authority maintenance approvals on Hawker 4000 and Global Express aircraft, and parent company Jet Aviation signed a service center agreement with Jet Support Services under which its Basel, Geneva, Zurich, Dusseldorf, London-Biggin Hill, Dubai and Singapore facilities will provide scheduled and unscheduled maintenance services and supply spare parts to JSSI and its clients.
Voicing concerns for the survival of Europe’s airlines, the Association of European Airlines (AEA), which represents Europe’s most important network carriers, has called for a stakeholder summit on the European aviation industry.
Russian Helicopters, JSC, and Uzrosavia of Uzbekistan signed a five-year agreement in December to work together to service and maintain Russian rotorcraft in Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries.
The U.S. Navy awarded Chromalloy a five-year, $15-million Direct Vendor Delivery contract to to provide component repairs for engine blades, vanes, shrouds and seals for its LM2500 aero derivative gas turbine engine program.
The French Ministry of Defense renewed its four-year maintenance in operational condition contract with Sabena technics for two Airbus A319 CJs operated by the ETEC (Escadron de Transport, d’Entraînement et de Calibration). Sabena technics’ facilities at Villacoublay and Bordeaux-Mérignac will provide line, light and heavy maintenance; engineering support; technical and logistical assistance in France and overseas; and engine and component overhaul services.
ST Aerospace Mobile will carry out $90 million in airframe MRO for a U.S. carrier, the name of which wasn’t disclosed, starting in the first quarter of next year. The three-year contract covers C checks and heavy maintenance visits for a fleet of Airbus A320s and Boeing 767s, and it includes an option for a two-year extension. If the carrier exercises the options, the work could be worth $170 million. Engines
Rolls-Royce won a $720-million Trent 700 order for 10 Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330 aircraft, covered by a long-term TotalCare service support agreement. Trent 700 engines will power six A330s ordered by Virgin Atlantic and four provided by aircraft leasing company AerCap, increasing the total number of AerCap Rolls-Royce powered A330 aircraft to 23. Aircraft deliveries are slated to start in 2011.
Gulfstream Aerospace appointed Greg Laabs VP and general manager of its Appleton, Wis., large-cabin aircraft completions facility. Laabs had served as the site’s interim general manager since April 2009.
Line Operations Safety Audit, or LOSA, has long been a fixture in cockpits. Now, a committee is working to move that same program onto the ramp and into maintenance facilities.
Aviation Partners Boeing amended STC to install winglets, wing structural reinforcement and related system changes on Boeing 767-300 and 300F series aircraft, STC ST01920SE
Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies appointed Juergen Haacker COO, Paul Horstink VP of airframe services, David Hope VP of technical services and Talal Yahiya Al-Riyami executive VP of quality and safety management.
The European Union’s latest aviation blacklist shows improvements at EgyptAir, Yemenia, TAAG and in the Ukraine. But oversight problems in Djibouti and the Congo, as well as Sao Tome and Principe off the West Coast of Africa, led to an all-out ban on airlines from those countries. Yemenia was of particular note in the latest blacklist, since the prior edition was issued just days after the crash of IY626, an Airbus A310 approaching Comoros.
Russian Helicopters, JSC has announced that it will set up a regional MRO facility in Sharjah, UAE, for Russian-made helicopters, including the Mi-class, a military version that is in use by many Middle Eastern, African and Eastern European forces. International RotorCraft Services, a company formed in partnership with Airfreight Aviation Ltd. of the UAE, will run the MRO facility. Russian Helicopters, a subsidiary of UIC Oboronprom, is the umbrella company for all Russian helicopter manufacturers.
GE Aviation named Laura Schreibeis customer support director for business and general aviation. Schreibeis formerly managed powerplant engineering for GE On Wing Support.
