Aircraft Service International Group is moving in a number of directions, including a strategic purchase, designed to allow it to grow and diversify in an industry that is highly competitive. "We've always got our eye on strategically growing our business. There are opportunities in Europe and Asia and we have an outstanding network to grow here in the US," VP-Marketing and Business Development Dan Sellas tells AE&T.

It is said that the world's most dangerous work environment is the flight deck of a US aircraft carrier, but with an average of 0.10 deaths per 1,000 commercial aircraft departures, perhaps the airport ramp is next in line to take that dubious title. In fact, injuries caused by airport ground accidents tripled between 1996 and 2001 and cost the industry an estimated $5 billion, contributing to air transportation's having the highest loss of work days in the industrialized world.

Taking a page from Boeing's full-service playbook, Montreal-based CAE Inc. has gone full throttle into the flight training business by acquiring like companies and forming partnerships with OEMs and airlines in an attempt to create a more balanced, financially stable training services company.

While most of the aviation world was strapping down the lid of the cash chest as tightly as possible, Boeing decided last year that it so believed in the future of flight training that it spent hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure its position in the market. Locking in its control of FlightSafety Boeing Training International, Boeing bought out its partner last year and just last month announced that the company's name will be changed to Alteon later this year.