Despite recent encouraging signs pointing to a commercial aftermarket rebound, headwinds will be strong enough to limit significant growth in 2014, a Canaccord Genuity survey of major industry players concludes. “Based on current visibility within the industry, we expect improvement in 2014 over 2013, but a significant bounce-back after the weaker-than-expected 2013 is not expected,” writes analyst Ken Herbert in his first quarterly Canaccord Global Commercial Aerospace Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) survey.

Qantas Airways will close one of its two heavy maintenance bases in March, rejecting a union’s last-ditch proposal to keep the facility open. The decision to close the base at Avalon Airport, near Melbourne, means that Qantas will be left with just one heavy maintenance facility, in Brisbane. The Avalon base primarily handles Boeing 747-400 maintenance, but the gradual phase-out of this aircraft type is reducing its scheduled workload.

Airline alliances are slow to pool the aftermarket needs of their members.

Joint purchasing of MRO is not novel and did exist before the present airline alliances were formed, points out ICF SH&E's Vice President David Stewart.

Aviation's “Dirty Dozen” pinpoints the 12 most common root causes of human error in maintenance, but new human-performance research indicates several of these 12 are linked by one underlying problem: something psychologist Kaye Baron calls “mental debris.” Fatigue, stress, distraction, communication, awareness—all can potentially trace their roots to this single issue.

The writing on the wall is both clear and ominous: FAA's new normal is not working.

1. Fixer-Uppers Supplier: Pacific Aero Tech Offering: Pacific Aero Tech's focus has included repairing and servicing aircraft windows and other transparencies since 1987. The company also boasts one of the industry's largest and most diverse inventories of aircraft windows. The company's capabilities encompass servicing wingtip and landing lenses, windshields and cabin windows on most Airbus and Boeing aircraft. www.mcnally-group.com/pacificaerotech

StandardAero waits until engines need a significant volume of maintenance at full overhaul centers, not just warranty repairs.