The deficit-reduction measure that went into effect March 1 cuts 7.9% from discretionary defense spending and 5.3% from non-defense discretionary spending. Surely, Washington's latest manufactured crisis will not do any serious damage, will it? Well, consider this:

AW&ST: What challenges have been presented by your fleet growth? Hockin: In a short space of time, Virgin Australia has gone from operating just Boeing 737s to also operating Embraer 190s, Airbus A330s and 777-300ERs. The challenge has been around having a far more varied fleet rather than just a larger fleet. What are your heavy maintenance arrangements in Australia?

A shortage of skilled labor is severely affecting Hong Kong aircraft maintenance provider Haeco, and this year will cause a second annual decline in airframe maintenance volume. Although group sales and profits rose in 2012, Haeco was unable to fully exploit strong demand for its services at its Hong Kong base. It sold 1.3% fewer worker-hours last year than it did in 2011, says Chairman Christopher Pratt.

India’s burgeoning maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry received a much-needed boost after the government announced tax concessions on the import of spare parts and testing equipment. The government also extended the period for required installation of the parts and equipment to one year from three months. “The MRO sector is at a nascent stage. Encouraging the industry will generate employment besides other benefits,” Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said in a budget presentation to parliament.

Lion Air’s wholly owned maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) company Lion Technics is scheduled to open a heavy maintenance base later this year on Batam island, off the coast of Singapore.

Aeronautical Engineers, Inc. (AEI), betting that freight-hauling economics will differ significantly from the passenger-hauling returns that are driving 50-seat regional jets from airline service, has given the go-ahead to its Bombardier CRJ100 and 200 passenger-to-freighter (PTF) conversion program. AEI, which has been studying the CRJ conversion market for some time, says it is “fully funding” the program’s development costs. It will convert the regional jets (RJs) under a supplemental type certificate (STC) licensed from Bombardier.

U.S. defense budgets are declining, but Parker Hannifin, a leading supplier of hydraulics, fluid systems and flight controls, still sees lots of opportunity in aerospace. With major positions on platforms such as the Airbus A350, Bombardier CSeries, Comac C919 and Embraer Legacy 450/500, the company projects annual aerospace sales will rise two-thirds by mid-2016, to $3.5 billion. Roger Sherrard, president of Parker's aerospace unit, and Thomas L. Williams, executive vice president and operating officer, spoke with AW&ST Editor-in-Chief Joseph C.

At first glance, you would think logistics at PDQ Air Spares would be fairly simple. The Hampshire, England-based distributor of spare parts does very little outbound shipping. Its airline customers use their own freight agents to manage order shipments. Nor does PDQ handle its own inbound shipments; it outsourced that function to B&H Worldwide. The third-party logistics provider negotiates rates and schedules shipments with carriers such as FedEx, DHL and UPS for PDQ.