Washington FAA will not change the cargo flight deck security requirements that give operators a choice between a reinforced barrier or a clearly defined security procedure to keep intruders and explosives off of their aircraft.
Washington The FAA's 90-day extension of the repair-station draft-rule comment period means industry has until mid-November to weigh in on what would be a sweeping rewrite of Part 145. Barring a significant about-face, however, the 70-odd comments received by the rule's original Aug. 20 comment deadline make one thing clear: Certificate holders large and small are unified in their general discontent with the agency's proposal.
When it comes to technical purchasing, airlines across the spectrum are increasingly insisting upon greater flexibility in the fine print of maintenance support contracts. “Today, the customer has gotten more sophisticated when negotiating maintenance contracts,” says Brian Ovington, principal marketing manager of aviation services for GE Aviation. “There is a lot more creativity in terms of the payment structures and the length of the agreements with respect to aircraft entry and exit of the program, and other terms.”
Excluding retrofits or airworthiness-directive compliance, the worldwide market for overhauling Rolls-Royce Trent 700-series turbofans is projected at about $2 billion for the next three years, with Asian carriers accounting for the largest share of the work.
The projected three-year market for heavy maintenance visits (HMV) and C checks on Airbus A330-series widebodies is among the smaller of those tracked for major airframes, but it remains attractive at just more than $1 billion, split nearly evenly between -200 and -300 models and concentrated among a handful of carriers.
For North American widebody airframe MROs, the market dynamics are changing, as vendors' focus shifts to the midsize Boeing 767 and Airbus A330 families and away from the 747, whose maintenance has evolved into a niche business.
For U.S. Boeing 747-400 operators, going outside the country for heavy airframe maintenance may be the only choice, as North American MRO capacity for the huge aircraft becomes increasingly limited. It's easy to see why, given what has become a relatively small number of aircraft.
What started as routine maintenance for Transaero Airlines turned into an MRO acquisition. The Russian airline had chosen Shannon Repair Services (SRS) to refurbish its aircraft to make them Wifi-enabled, but subsequently decided to invest in the MRO and take it over. The move is giving Transaero access to another in-house maintenance base.
With a record year in the offing for 2012, the three-year worldwide market for overhauls of International Aero Engines V2500 medium turbofans is expected to top $6 billion, half of which will come from carriers in the U.S., China and the U.K.
The FAA's new proposed repair station regulations appear to mix much-needed improvements with bureaucratic burdens that may ultimately increase the complexity of Part 145 certification and compliance, initial analysis of the major proposal reveals.
The June 7 initial bid deadline for bankrupt Canadian MRO provider Aveos's assets passed with mixed news, including indications that Air Canada is willing to help land work for the buyers of the engine and component businesses, while no bids were received for Aveos's airframe assets.
