1. #1 and Growing Supplier: AAR

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) are harmonizing their approaches to inspecting foreign aircraft under the European Union's Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) program.

MRO IT is still a patchwork at the world's top airlines.

Since he was appointed CEO of Thales earlier this year, Jean-Bernard Levy has repeatedly proclaimed that there is nothing wrong with the company's business portfolio, because all of its operational units are profitable, if only marginally. Unfortunately, this view is symptomatic of the way most European aerospace and defense (A&D) players fail to understand the value of dynamic business portfolio management.

Airbus, reasoning that the evolution of maintenance providers has rendered a manufacturer-led competency improvement effort obsolete, is disbanding its MRO Network, Aviation Week has learned. The 17 network members have heard directly from Airbus executives and received formal letters explaining the move, Airbus Senior Vice President-Customer Services and Support Tom Anderson tells Aviation Week. The network will be officially terminated in early 2014, following a contractually obligated notification period in the standard member contract.

While Boeing’s planned production rate increase to 47 Boeing 737s a month in 2017 will add pressure on its suppliers, the bigger ramifications may come on the aftermarket, an industry analyst suggests. Boeing is already set to increase 737NG rates from the current 38 per month to 42 a month next year. The widely anticipated move to 47 each month, announced last week, will put more 737NGs into service faster as Boeing ramps up a new assembly line to start delivering the 737 MAX in 2017.

Reports of landing gear vibration events on Boeing 737 Classic aircraft have risen sharply in the past several years, prompting the manufacturer to highlight its recommendations for preventing such incidents. While still infrequent, landing gear shimmy—caused when a single-axle main landing gear strut’s inner cylinder and wheels oscillate relative to the fixed, outer cylinder as the aircraft rolls out—can be dangerous. The worst incidents result in the collapse of the landing gear.

Brazil’s ANAC has ordered Embraer 170 and 175 operators to make modifications that will prevent hot engine exhaust air from leaking from engine precooler systems and damaging nearby wiring and related components. The directive (ANAC AD 2013-11-01) gives operators 8,000 flight cycles or 12,000 hr. from its Nov. 4 effective date to install deflectors on left and right precooler exhaust flanges and apply silicone sealant to the precoolers. Operators also must verify that surrounding Electrical Wiring Interconnection System components are not damaged.