Brendan Lodge has been appointed chairman of Central European Private Aviation in Prague. He is business development director of JetBrokers Europe.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) mandated the replacement of six aluminum rivets on the Airbus A380 in its latest airworthiness directive (AD 12-014) for the type. The rivets have been used at the junction of Fuselage Stringer 21 left and right and Frame 0. During an engineering review, the pieces have been found “not in compliance with the certification requirements.” While the structural limit load capability is still ensured, the rivets may not sustain ultimate load stress, according to fatigue analysis.

Azerbaijan Airlines has become the latest customer for Aviation Partners Boeing’s winglets with an order to retrofit its Boeing 767-300ER and -300Fs.

Rolls-Royce is counting on large productivity gains to ensure it gets a sizable return from its S$700 million (US$558 million) investment in Singapore. The U.K. engine-maker has built an engine assembly plant, wide-chord hollow-titanium fan blade factory, training center and a research laboratory at Singapore’s Seletar Aerospace Park. It is the company’s first such fan blade factory outside of the U.K. and its first engine assembly plant outside Europe.

Singapore’s government is taking an active role in ensuring that the city-state retains its pre-eminence in maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) in the Asia-Pacific region, Lim Kok Kiang, executive director of transport engineering for the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), said at the Singapore Airshow. MRO comprises more than 90% of Singapore’s aerospace industry, and the city-state accounts for 25% of the Asia-Pacific region’s MRO industry. However, growing competition from nearby, lower-wage countries is giving Singapore pause, says Lim.

Marie Epstein (see photo) has been promoted to VP-sales for the Americas from regional sales manager at Virgin Atlantic Cargo in New York. She was director of strategic accounts at Delta Air Lines/Northwest Airlines Cargo.

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The majority of the 161 unclassified milsats forecast for production in the next decade will go into service in the near term with production tapering in the outyears.