Business jet owners, who historically are low-utilization operators, are starting to look at fuel savings technologies thanks to high priced fuel. To address this market, Aviation Partners, separate from its Boeing joint venture, certified STCs for its blended winglets on the Hawker 800 and the in-production Hawker 800XP, respectively, in July and December 2004.
Spurred by a volatile airline landscape and an expected doubling of the leased aircraft fleet in the next 15 years, leasing companies are striking ever closer relationships with the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) providers that service or monitor their assets to reduce downtime between leases. In some ways, this represents a shift from a hands-off relationship in the past, when an owner's interface with the MRO largely took place in crisis mode after unplanned events -- like repossessions -- or at the end of a lease.
This year's Paris Air Show will be remembered for two significant events: The daily flight displays of the Airbus A380 and the emergence of India as a significant market of opportunity. During the dozens of interviews I conducted, press conferences I attended and meals I shared with industry executives and others, the A380 and India were near constant topics of conversation and speculation.
Benz Materials Testing Instruments' DFT2100 Demattia flex tester is designed to test fatigue and cracks in rubber, plastics, leather, fiber optics and composites -- so it could be used on anything from aircraft tires to upholstery. The device simultaneously flexes as many as 20 product samples for up to 10 million cycles, with a variable speed from 30 to 300 cycles per minutes. A temperature chamber allows testing from -100 ºC to 150ºC. The company said fixed distances range from 0.25 inches to 4 inches (6 mm to 101.6 mm).
Abaqus announced a new capability called Virtual Crack Closure Technique, a technology that Boeing developed for predicting fracture and failure in laminated composite materials. Abaqus modified it slightly so it integrates with its Abaqus software.
TAT Industries announced June 16 that it plans to acquire Sabena Technics, which became an independent MRO company after Belgian airline Sabena filed for bankruptcy in 2001. TAT plans to retain Sabena Technics' 1,150 employs and plans to transfer the shares "in the coming weeks." The memorandum of understanding has been approved by the two companies, Sabena Technics' creditors and the Brussels airports.
General Dynamics Aviation Services will be the exclusive provider of overhaul, repair and support services to operators of Hamilton Sundstrand auxiliary power units on business jets based in North America, Central America and South America. GDAS' Appleton, Wisc., facility also will provide line maintenance, troubleshooting and inspection on certain APU models.
Dallas Airmotive hired Cristiano Piroli as a regional sales manager for Brazil. He spent the past five years as a maintenance supervisor for Lider Taxi Aero and Lider Signature.
Air China Limited selected the Rolls-Royce Trent 700 to power its new fleet of 20 Airbus A330-200s. Including a long-term TotalCare engine services agreement, the contract is valued at $800 million.
Business Jet Services developed a terrain awareness and warning system for Gulfstream II and IIb aircraft that costs $75,000 with installation and STC license. The company said most installations can be done in eight days.
Arconics' new Manual Manager 1.0 is web-based graphical aviation document management software, which is designed to simplify the management of SGML documents from Airbus and Boeing by allowing users to compare the operator's document with a manufacturer's revision documents in a Windows interface.
The origins of Lean and Six Sigma date back to the mid-1950s with Japanese car manufacturer Toyota. Specifically, the concepts came from the Toyota Autonomous Study Group. Under the leadership of Taiichi Ohno, the group's mission was to think of ways to produce better cars. Better quality and fewer manufacturing mistakes were the goals. From the group came the Toyota Production System. The concept of creating better workflow, or Lean, in production didn't come until later.
Bmi selected SAS Component as its material supply partner for the airline's fleet of 3 Airbus A330s, 10 A321s, 11 A320s and four A319s. SAS Comonent will buy and lease back bmi's stock of A330 rotables and open stores at Manchester and London Heathrow.
Flybe Aviation Services reported a record 103,000 man-hours of work in April and May, up 42% on the same months in 2004. The rise came from new and repeat business, primarily on the BAe146/RJ and Bombardier Dash 8 families. For the 12 months to date, sales figures are up 26% on the same period in the previous year.
EasyJet said it is "nearing conclusion" of the tender for a long-term Airbus fleet MRO contract. The finalists are SR Technics and Singapore Technologies Aerospace.
Lockheed Martin selected Eaton to participate in testing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program's approach to performance-based logistics during the first phase of low-rate initial aircraft production.
