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