With the globalization of the air transport industry and the blurring of international borders by alliances and joint ventures, aircraft operators and lessors from the U.S. are looking further afield for maintenance, repair and overhaul services.

This year, we took a somewhat different approach in compiling our commercial MRO forecast.

Evaluating what happened during the first MRO Europe, held Sept 7-9, 1999 in Shannon, Ireland.

In August 1998, Gulfstream Aerospace, outbidding at least two competitors, acquired Dallas-based K-C Aviation amid a great deal of speculation about motives, the tight supply of large bizjet completion capacity and the OEM's sometimes bitter competition with Bombardier.

Just like its name, the philosophy behind the U.K.'s latest low-cost carrier, Go, is brief -- ``keep it simple, keep it good.''

In the early 1990s, the U.S. Air Force seemed to be suffering an epidemic of fighter accidents. Class A mishaps -- incidents that cost at least $1 million or end up in loss of an aircraft -- were rising, and even lesser incidents were beginning to take a bite out of readiness.

The delineation between line maintenance and heavy maintenance becomes fuzzier every day as more airlines seek to ``phase'' their heavy checks, spreading the heavy-check tasks over a series of smaller checks.

Following its split with Toulouse-based Aero International (Regional), AIR, earlier this year, British Aerospace Regional Aircraft has centralized its spares support operation at a purpose-built facility in Weybridge, Surrey, some 20 miles southwest of London.