Overhaul & Maintenance MRO Blog

787 GoldCare Expanding

AMSTERDAM -- Boeing expects to select a North American airframe MRO partner for its GoldCare 787 lifecycle support program by the end of year, according to Dan da Silva, vice president of Commercial Aviation Services at the OEM. He was quick to add, however, that the company was not necessarily going to announce the identify of the selection by yearend. Boeing expects to announce an Asia/Pacific partner by the end of the first quarter 2007. Currently, SR Technics is the line MRO provider signed up for the program. Other participants are 787 suppliers Smiths Aerospace, Hamilton Sundstrand and Rockwell Collins. During a Q&A session with the media here, da Silva admitted Boeing went public with GoldCare earlier than planned after details about it leaked out. The OEM originally had planned to wait until it secured its first customer.

Clean as a Whistle

AMSTERDAM -- Pratt & Whitney signed a three-year deal with Martinair to provide EcoPower engine wash services for the Dutch carrier's entire fleet of PW4000, CF6 and V2500 engines. The work will be performed at Schiphol. P&W said the fleet-wide engine wash program will improve engine performance and has the potential to provide the airline with $2.3 million a year in fuel savings. Earlier this year, the engine OEMRO announced plans to establish its first European EcoPower service center station at Schiphol with Martinair as its Eur opean launch customer.

KLM E&M, Honeywell Sign APU Deal

AMSTERDAM -- Honeywell and KLM Engineering & Maintenance signed an agreement to establish an APU MRO center at Schiphol. The center is expected to come on line in the second quarter 2007. KLM E&M said the partnership will allow it to expand its MRO business to offer maintenance servcies on the Boeing 737NG and 777, and Airbus A330 and A340 APUs, while Honeywell will focus on its core business of supplying parts, repairs and technology. The APU MRO center will be set up at EPCOR B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of KLM E&M.

AFI/LHT to Support A400M

AMSTERDAM -- Lufthansa Technik and Air France Industries, partners in the Spairliners component support venture for the delayed Airbus A380, are turning their attention to another Airbus transport: the A400M. The two MRO providers have signed an MOU and are setting up a component support solution customized to military needs. Effective immediately, the two partners will start evaluations "to offer a complete line of component services to all A400M operators worldwide," they said Wednesday. LHT and AFI hope to leverage the work already done with Spairliners, but may launch a separate venture to handle the A400M.

MRO Europe Kicks Off

AMSTERDAM -- Aviation Week's MRO Europe Conference & Exhibition got underway here Tuesday night with the traditional MRO Awards Dinner. Some may think it counter-intuitive to wine and dine a few hundred industry execs and then expect them to get up early the next day for a full day of speeches and presentations, but traditionally the dinner is a popular event and has not had any discernible impact on Wednesday morning attendance. If anything, it serves as a great ice-breaker for the conference and gives the dinner guests an opportunity to catch up with people that may not have seen since the previous year. Besides, where else can you hear Aviation Week's own Ed Hazelwood do a stirring, if unscripted, version of "Old Man River?" (Well, truthfully, Ed will sing it at the drop of a hat, but that's beside the point.)

This year's award winners were Air France Industries/KLM Engineering & Maintenance in the European Airline MRO of the Year category (photo at left. Right to left: Tom Henricks, Alian Bassil, Peter Somers, and Frank Jackman) and Marshall Aerospace in the European Independent MRO of the Year category. In addition, Alan McDonald, recently retired director of engineering at British Airways got a lifetime achievement award. (Marshall photo at left. Right to left: Tom Henricks, Martin Broadhurst, Ed Hazelwood, and Frank Jackman).

(McDonald photo at left. Right to left: Tom Henricks, Bruce Hunter, Ed Hazelwood, and Frank Jackman)

It's always an honor and a pleasure for me to present the awards, but what I really enjoy is the opportunity to talk with the winners and others about their experiences and to pick their brains about issues past, present and future. The travelling public is lucky to have such dedicated professionals overseeing the maintenance of the world's airliners.

-- Frank Jackman

 

Alaska Airlines Retires MD-80s

Alaska Airlines’ third quarter losses reported today were $17.4 million, compared to a net income of $90.2 million in the same quarter last year. Alaska contributed the change to a voluntary severance program in connection with a labor contract, fuel hedging losses and the buyout of five MD-80 leases. Alaska has purchased some of the leased MD-80s to accelerate their retirement, according to a spokeswoman.

Alaska announced in March it planned to retire its fleet of 26 MD-80s and transition to an all-Boeing 737 fleet by the end of 2008. Retiring the fleet by the end of 2008 will cost the airline $750 million, but it expects to save $115 million per year in operating expenses by transitioning to a common fleet of next-generation 737s.

On a side note, Bill Ayer, Alaska Airlines’ chairman, CEO and president, will be the speaker at the Dec. 12 Wings Club Luncheon in New York.

Picture Worth a Thousand Words

People attending AVIATION WEEK’s MRO Europe Conference & Exhibition this week in Amsterdam have a unique opportunity to see MRO as art at FOAM (Fotografimuseum Amsterdam). Photographer Tian-Sying Yang spent one month taking pictures at KLM Engineering & Maintenance -- the products of which can be seen at FOAM.

As FOAM’s website states, aircraft parts “are transformed into abstract still lives in which composition, color, form and material play a major role.” Tian-Sying won the KLM-Paul Huf Junior Award in 2005.

The exhibition runs through Nov. 1.

787 Flying Home

ORLANDO -- Imagine a Boeing 787 Dreamliner outfitted as a luxurious flying home that can sleep 32 in lie-flat seats or beds. "Clients should enjoy flying in it so much they don't want to get out upon landing," said designer Andrew Winch, who specializes in creating interiors for yachts and Boeing jets. When he refers to "docking in their private terminal," which is secure and relaxing, he's referring to clients who stay in their VIP aircraft for a bit after landing because they're so comfortable.

Andrew Winch Designs and Lufthansa Technik unveiled a VIP completion concept for the 787 this afternoon that exudes the "wow factor." It contains a forward lounge that includes an informal conversation area, a place where passengers can relax. Two guest cabins follow, and then a formal dining room and conference room. The 787 even has a movie theater with a 72-inch flat screen and a wet bar with circular stools. The rear is a huge master stateroom with its own king-size bed, sitting room, full bath (including a clear glass shower and two vanities), wardrobe and storage. The contemporary interior's sleek design really looks more like a masterfully designed penthouse.

August Henningsen, Lufthansa Technik chairman, said LHT and Andrew Winch Designs developed the 787 now because of the long lead times needed to get a 787 slot, and so customers can visualize what can be done with a Dreamliner interior. Henningsen said it would take a year to complete a 787 as shown today.

Steven Hill, CEO of Boeing Business Jets, attended LHT's press conference and said the first available delivery slot for a 787 today is in 2013 because Boeing already has sold the first 455 Dreamliners.

So, clients who want a 787 outfitted in a VIP configuration need to buy one now to receive it in 2014.

-- By Lee Ann Tegtmeier

NBAA: Service and Support

ORLANDO -- Providing more efficient, better and broader services is the central MRO theme from various OEMs and maintainers today here at the National Business Aviation Association. For instance, BizJet, a Lufthansa Technik company, announced at 2 pm that it formed a support network of five maintenance facilities in the U.S. that will support its customers. Services will include things like fixing operator squawks, light maintenance and warranty work.

Honeywell announced the Zing Intelligent Monitoring network, which is a new portfolio of services that will provide a path for consolidating aircraft data uploads and downloads. The first Zing service is TFE731 engine remote diagnostics, which involves installing a wireless gateway LRU on a Hawker 800 XP, which will transmit information from the DEEC to speed the process of diagnostics and maintenance.

Embraer is greatly expanding its customer support and services, from aircraft service packages to a training joint venture with CAE, to greater parts distribution and maintenance tracking services.

Gulfstream, too, is expanding its services -- the biggest initiative of which is building a new 600,000 square foot service center on 77 acres. It has 21 parts warehouses worldwide to get spares closer to customers, and it continues to use its product support aircraft, which has flown 1,200 missions in 3.5 years. Gulfstream also stressed it provides maintenance and modification work on both Gulfstream aircraft and "non-Gulfstream" aircraft, including STC work.

Dassault has doubled warranties on parts and dropped prices -- including offering guaranteed best prices. It also is investing in remote support and will preposition more parts and tooling worldwide in the next five months.

--By Lee Ann Tegtmeier

Midcoast and Jet Aviation Finish Restructuring

The baseball season this year may be nearing its end, but today’s news from Jet Aviation reads like “who’s on first.”

Jet Aviation, which acquired Midcoast Aviation earlier this year, today announced that it finished restructuring the group’s MRO and FBO businesses in North America. Jet Aviation placed four of MROs (in Bedford, Mass.; Chicago; Palm Beach, Fla.; and Teterboro, N.J.) under Midcoast, while Midcoast’s St. Louis Downtown Airport FBO is now operated by Jet Aviation.

The Palm Beach MRO facility will still be a Dassault Falcon Jet service center, but heavier maintenance will shift to Midcoast’s St. Louis facilities. The company will continue offering the same maintenance services at the facilities switched from Jet Aviation to Midcoast.

In addition, Jet Aviation signed an agreement on Oct. 10 to sell its MRO business in Dallasto Premier Air Center/West Star, but it will continue its FBO services in Dallas Love Field. Jet Aviation expects the deal to take effect Nov. 1.

Next week’s National Business Aviation Association convention in Orlando should provide lots of maintenance news. Check out our blog from the show to see the next industry plays.