East Star Airlines and Lufthansa Technik signed a Total Component Support TCS contract, under which the private Chinese start-up's fleet of three Airbus A319s will receive service from Lufthansa Technik Shenzhen and components from the A320 pool in Shenzhen. The Wuhan-based carrier will take delivery of six additional A320 aircraft before the end of the year, and it plans to put another 11 short-range Airbus aircraft into operation by 2008.
The European Commission banned two more carriers from operating in Europe Union airspace in adopting the fifth update to its airline blacklist. In the update, the Commission found Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines and the Iranian company Mahan Air to be unsafe.
Norwegian Air Shuttle and Lufthansa Technik signed a five-year Total Component Support contract, under which LHT will provide support for the Fornebu-based carrier's fleet from a dedicated stock at the Oslo airport. Norwegian Air Shuttle's fleet comprises 23 Boeing 737-300s to be joined by eight more in 2008, in addition to the 42 Boeing 737-800s the airline recently ordered.
N3 Engine Overhaul Services, a joint venture of Lufthansa Technik and Rolls-Royce, officially opened its Thuringia, Germany, facility. N3 was granted EASA Part 145 approval for Rolls-Royce Trent 500 engines in April and said it expects to receive approval for Trent 700 engines in 2008 and to start servicing the Trent 900 in 2009. The facility currently services Lufthansa's aircraft, as well as other European and African airlines, and it said it will begin to add customers from the U.S., Europe, Africa and the C.I.S.
Honeywell received a $7.3 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract from Naval Air Systems Command. The modification exercises the option for Lot 6 full rate production of 75 advance multi-purpose color display units for F/A-18C/D and AV-8B aircraft, including the combined purchase of spares for the U.S. Navy (95 percent) and the government of Spain (five percent).
Sikorsky won a $9.8 million time and materials contract for engineering services for MH-60M aircraft in support of the U.S. Special Operations Command Technology Applications Contracting Office.
Boeing and L-3 Communications MAS in August delivered to the Canadian Department of Defense the first of 79 CF-18A/B Hornets to be modernized under a $150 million contract. Delivery was made as part of Phase II of a major modernization program. Phase I, completed in August 2006, upgraded the CAF Hornet fleet's avionics, radio and weapons capabilities.
Travel Service and Lufthansa Technik signed an eight-year Total Engine Support TES contract, under which the MRO will maintain the Czech carrier's fleet of eight Boeing 737 NG aircraft, expected to grow to 13 aircraft by 2010.
AAR named USAF Lt. Gen. Donald J. Wetekam (retired) president of AAR Aircraft Services -- Oklahoma. Wetekam will lead operations at AAR's Will Rogers World Airport, Oklahoma City, Okla.; Hot Springs, Ark.; and Roswell, N.M., facilities. Prior to joining AAR, Wetekam served as Deputy Chief of Staff, Installations and Logistics with the U.S. Air Force.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace recently met the requirements of EASA Part 21 for Design Organization Approval. ST Aerospace now can approve and perform engineering design work on EU registered aircraft.
FAA unveiled the first of 18 Beech King Air 300 special use aircraft retrofitted with Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics. The retrofit package comprises three eight-inch by 10-inch active matrix liquid crystal displays with engine indication; the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 communication, navigation and surveillance radio suite; digital autopilot with coupled VNAV; dual flight management systems with GPS WAAS receivers; air data sensors; integrated maintenance diagnostics; weather radar; and the integrated flight information system.
Texas Aero Engine Services Ltd (TAESL), a joint venture of American Airlines and Rolls-Royce, celebrated the 1,500th engine to come through its Fort Worth, Texas, facility. TAESL, formed in 1998, repairs and overhauls RB211 and Trent 800 engines.
Elsyca, a Belgian electrochemical modeling company, has developed a CAD/CAE (computer-aided design/engineering) product to design tooling for efficient coating and plating of parts such as engine blades, landing gear and actuation components. The company was founded in 1997, but the technology that is at its core goes back to research by its founder done as early as 1977 at the University of Brussels and later in collaboration with the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics.
Boeing signed a GoldCare agreement to support GE Aviation, providing repair and overhaul services for 787 Dreamliner under-wing rotable components as an offering with GE's OnPoint solutions for GEnx engines. Boeing has yet to contract any future Dreamliner operators for the lifecycle management service, but GE Aviation is the second engine OEM to sign a GoldCare deal. Rolls-Royce, maker of the other 787 engine offering, the Trent 1000, signed a similar agreement with Boeing in August.
GKN Aerospace delivered the first maintenance platform for the RN Type 45 Destroyer to BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions. The platform is designed to enable access to the Merlin helicopter for maintenance of its engines and rotor head, and it is equipped with a slider mechanism that allows an operator to adjust or extend the platform during maintenance. Under the terms of the $1 million contract, GKN Aerospace will supply a total of six platforms to BAE Systems, with the remaining five to be delivered in the coming months.
Ameco Beijing and Cathay Pacific Airways signed an exchange/overhaul agreement for A320 and A321 landing gear, effective through 2015. The first A320 landing gear should arrive at Ameco Beijing's facility by the end of this month.
Behold the "unbundled airline," the carrier that charges extra for extras, and assiduously sheds anything that doesn't directly relate to flying folks from Point A to Point B. Spirit is that kind of carrier, so too is Skybus. And while start-up Virgin America throws in lots of frills for its flyers, operationally it's extraordinarily lean. What all three airlines have in common is dependence on outsourced maintenance -- not just to heavy check their flying machines, but to provide the gamut of support. Total support.
AMG Flite Components received FAA certification of its new repair center near Dallas Love Field. The 30,000-square-foot facility will offer in-house composite and sheet metal repairs and metal bonding on all ATA systems for commercial and regional aircraft.
Jet Airways of India awarded Israel Aerospace Industries' Bedek Aviation Group a maintenance and repair contract for the first of two of its CFM56-7 engines, both undergoing repairs at Bedek's Tel Aviv engine shop. Jet Airways was launch customer for Bedek's CFM56-3 maintenance and repair program.
Cooper Power Tools introduced Cleco D Series pulse tools, an update to its existing pulse tool set. The Cleco D Series features a patented three-chamber air motor designed to improve productivity by providing a higher level of power during fastening applications. It also features an adjustable pulse chamber, which Cooper said is an industry first. Cooper claims its improved pulse tool set should allow service technicians to perform preventative maintenance in approximately two minutes.
Olympus recently launched its latest generation IPLEX videoscope system, the IPLEX FX. Designed to be compact and durable, the full-featured video borescope has been tested to military standards and is designed to be light enough to carry over the shoulder. Its introduction marks the latest evolution in Olympus' IPLEX line of products for the remote visual inspection (RVI) industry, first introduced in 1991.
AirLiance co-signed a letter of intent with China Aviation Supplies Import and Export Group Corporation (CASGC) and the China Aviation Industrial Base (CAIB) to develop a joint program to expand the commercial aviation material support capabilities of CASGC Aviation Logistic Support Center in Xi'an China. The partners will concentrate on supplying aftermarket materials with joint approved traceability, e-distribution of surplus materials from Chinese airlines to the global industry and lowering material costs for Chinese airlines.
VEM Maintenance & Engineering named Nestor Mauro Koch its new marketing and sales vice president. He succeeds Luis Alberto Correa, who now serves the company as logistics vice president.
Messier-Dowty announced a series of appointments. Michel Dechelotte, formerly CEO of Powerjet, a joint venture between Snecma and NPO, joins Messier-Dowty as vice president finance. Dechelotte succeeds Georges de Chaisemartin, who has taken up a new role within the SAFRAN Group. Thierry Pistre, who fills the newly created position of vice president, value creation and processes improvement, comes to Messier-Dowty from Airbus, where he last served as VP supply chain and quality.
