Operators of Airbus narrowbodies powered by IAE engines continue to find cracks in engine pylon ribs under a mandated inspection program, leading European regulators to keep the checks in place for those models while ending the requirement for CFM56-powered aircraft. The cracks, in aft fairing Rib 5, caused one in-flight loss of a pylon tail cone. The incident led Airbus to recommend inspections for all of its narrowbodies—a move mandated last year by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

AAR Corp., fresh off expanding its year-old Duluth, Minn., airframe facility to three lines and launching a new facility in Lake Charles, La., continues to report strong demand for airframe maintenance services, suggesting an economic shift favoring North American facilities may be underway.

Norwegian expected to return grounded 787s to service later this week

Delta will purchase 11,000 Microsoft Surface 2 tablets for its pilots

Technologically advanced components may help drive down maintenance costs on the newest aircraft, but they also radically alter the cost-benefit calculation of whether an airline should stock its own spares or participate in a pool.

Air France-KLM and Rolls-Royce have not yet reached agreement on the terms and conditions under which the Franco-Dutch group’s MRO arm will be allowed to perform maintenance on the Trent XWB engines.

I began my career in the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry as an export sales manager for a European missile manufacturer (now MBDA). It was a somewhat unusual career move for a business school graduate with no engineering background. Today, even fewer graduates have A&D high on their lists when they look for jobs as sales or marketing managers. This is, after all, an industry built by engineers, and its reputation is based primarily on products and the technological innovations that underpin them.

EasyJet plans for MRO transition