Category: PRs

Estonian Total Technical Care company Magnetic MRO has opened a new warehouse at Gatwick International Airport, in the UK.

 

This will provide local inventory and product availability as well as short shipping times due to the locational advantage of MAC Interiors – aircraft interiors specialists owned by Magnetic MRO.

 

Gatwick International Airport offers daily connections to critical locations of Magnetic MRO customer network, which will further improve response times for critical AOG deliveries.

 

Jonas Butautis, CEO of Magnetic MRO said: “The UK is seen as a logistical hub for our European and global customers in spare parts trading and other MRO services. Our expansion into aircraft part-out projects demands a dedicated, centrally located warehousing hub and Gatwick is a natural fit.”

British Airways has completed the major makeover of 18 of the airline’s iconic Boeing 747s to give them the look and feel of their newest aircraft.

 

Each jumbo jet now features a refreshed interior and state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment system – as well as extra seats for customers flying in Club World.

 

Troy Warfield, British Airways’ director of customer experience, said: “We know customers who fly the revamped 747s really appreciate the improved interiors, with their mood lighting, better seating and new state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment system, making their flight just fly by.

 

“Our engineers have made these amazing aircraft look and feel like new, with enhanced comfort, cutting edge technology and cool, clean design.”

 

Across all 18 aircraft the 11 month refit has involved: 61 miles of wiring for the new Panasonic eX3 in-flight entertainment system; new carpets to cover 34 tennis courts; nearly six miles of new LED lights; 4,500 light fittings; fabric changes to 4,950 seats.

 

The refit means the aircraft cabin interiors are similar in look and feel to the airline’s newest aircraft, with 16 additional Club World lie-flat seats.

 

New carpets, seat covers and mood lighting have been fitted throughout each aircraft to match the new colour pallet of the airline’s new A380 and 787s, including new seat foams and new style seat covers in World Traveller and World Traveller Plus to increase customer comfort.

 

All eighteen refreshed aircraft have also been fitted with Panasonic’s next generation eX3 entertainment system, which gives customers a choice of over 1,300 hours of entertainment including more than 130 movies and 400 TV programmes on larger, hi-resolution screens, capable of touch and swipe gestures, giving the system the familiar feel of using a tablet.

 

As part of the upgrade, customers in World Traveller Plus now have access to a universal power socket at every seat, capable of accepting plugs from the UK, US and Europe. World Traveller customers also have their own personal USB socket to power phones and tablets.

STG Aerospace has announced that its market-leading emergency floorpath marking system, saf-Tglo, has been installed on the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital.

 

Orbis, a non-profit organization that fights blindness around the world and based in New York, operates the Flying Eye Hospital, the world’s only mobile ophthalmic teaching hospital on board an MD-10 aircraft, taking the very latest ophthalmological knowledge and surgical skills to local hospitals around the world.

 

The aircraft, an MD-10-30CF was previously operated by FedEx who subsequently donated it to Orbis. Today the aircraft is flown by a team of volunteer FedEx pilots.

 

The selection of saf-Tglo on the new Orbis Flying Eye Hospital demonstrates the versatility of the product and how it can be applied to a variety of different applications – not just commercial aircraft.

 

Fitted with SuperSeal Lite, the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital has selected the narrowest, lightest and most discrete floor path marking solution available, complete with a blue insert to complement the aircraft’s interior.

 

The completely sealed, hard-wearing, long-lasting system is approved and certified for installation on virtually every type of aircraft.  It requires no power source and is fully charged by the cabin lighting within minutes. 100% reliable, saf-Tglo significantly reduces the maintenance and operational costs associated with traditional electrical systems and being much lighter, improves the aircraft’s fuel efficiency.

 

Marcus Williams, Director of Sales & Marketing of STG Aerospace, commented: “We are delighted to be contributing to the safe and effective operation of the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, which delivers the skills, resources and knowledge needed to deliver quality eye care. This project is also a further example of STG Aerospace’s involvement in supporting airborne medicine having already supplied photoluminescent solutions for a UK helicopter-based emergency medical service.”

Dallas Airmotive, a BBA Aviation Global Engine Services company, announced on 20 July that its new test facility at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has been correlated for Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) PW200 series engines and Rolls-Royce M250 and RR300 engine lines. It is certified and has begun to test rotorcraft engines.

 

“This is a great milestone for our new test center at the DFW Airport and our rotorcraft program,” said Mark Stubbs, BBA Aviation Global Engine Services Chief Commercial Officer. “With these certifications, we can deliver full MRO and test capabilities from our Dallas facilities to our growing base of rotorcraft customers throughout the Americas. This state-of-the-art facility is one of a kind and our rotorcraft customers will experience quicker engine shop visits.”

 

In fact, Stubbs continued, the first production engine has already finished testing. “Our first production engine, an RR300, completed testing on June 29 and has already been shipped back to the customer in Brazil,” he said. “Our test cell team has done a tremendous job of bringing this facility online and focusing on customer care and rapid turnaround times.”

 

Dallas Airmotive is the only P&WC Designated Overhaul Facility (DOF) for the P&WC PW200 and PW210 engines in the Americas. The company’s full line of rotorcraft authorisations include P&WC PW200, PW210, PT6T engines and Rolls-Royce M250 and RR300 engines. With the new test facility certified and online, all rotorcraft operations for customers in the Americas will be centralised at Dallas Airmotive’s facilities in Dallas, Texas.

 

In addition to the 30,000 square foot, six-cell test facility, Dallas Airmotive’s DFW Centre location also features a newly constructed 220,000 square foot maintenance, repair and overhaul facility, which will be opening later this year.

Spanish airline Iberia has selected Swiss-AS’s  AMOS MRO software to assure continuous airworthiness from an operator perspective.

 

Iberia is the third member of the IAG Group to join the AMOS Community after Aer Lingus and Vueling. The airline has licensed the AMOS CAMO Edition and required a customer oriented implementation process to perform CAMO and Part M activities in AMOS. The AMOS CAMO Edition consists of all high-end AMOS core modules.

 

Swiss-AS offered Iberia a specially tailored training and implementation plan including project management, consulting, training and data transfer support.

 

Iberia will follow a phased implementation project approach using AMOS initially for the A330 fleet with the Go-Live currently scheduled in July 2016. The phase-in of the other aircraft-types in AMOS will follow thereafter. The go-live of AMOS will cement new working methods for the Spanish carrier leading to improved transparency and efficiency, optimised business processes and AMOS will also facilitate the interaction between the IBERIA CAMO organisation and the carriers’ MRO provider IBERIA Maintenance.

Lord Corporation has completed the acquisition of Fly-by-Wire Systems France (FbW).  Based in Saint-Vallier, France, FbW designs and manufactures cockpit controls, sensors, dampers and electromechanical actuators primarily for fly-by-wire systems on commercial fixed-wing aircraft.

 

Lord announced its intentions to acquire FbW in March pending necessary governmental approvals and closing actions by both parties.

 

FbW enjoys a history of innovation in its field beginning with its collaboration with Airbus for the first introduction of fly-by-wire technology on the A320 commercial jetliner. Its innovative product line is highly complementary to Lord capabilities in mechanical, electromechanical and dynamic systems.

 

The acquisition by Lord positions it and FbW for further expansion into new markets and regions, and provides Lord a major aerospace engineering and manufacturing presence in Europe.  Under Lord ownership, FbW will continue to operate out of its current location in France while retaining its current workforce.

 

Lord customers now have access to a broader offering around the world of best-in-class dynamic components and electromechanical systems. FbW customers will see renewed focus on investment in innovation and development of FbW’s product portfolio, as well as its manufacturing and supply chain management capability.

 

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Fly-by-Wire and its outstanding employees to the Lord family,” said Ed Auslander, president and CEO, Lord Corporation.  “This acquisition provides our customers additional value in the form of broader aerospace presence and application expertise, while both organisations will benefit by gaining increased access to the critical markets in which they each have strong value propositions.  We are excited about this acquisition and the growth opportunities it brings.”

The new electrical environmental control system of Liebherr-Aerospace was successfully tested during the first flight of the Clean Sky/Airbus Flight Lab in June 2016.  The success was celebrated during a ceremony organised by Airbus, in Toulouse (France) on July 7, 2016, with all partners involved.

 

On June 3, 2016, the Airbus Flight Lab, an A320, successfully completed its first flight in Toulouse within the scope of the “Systems for Green Operations (SGO) Platform”, a major research and innovation action founded by the Clean Sky Joint Undertaking under the EU Framework Program 7. The aim of the flight was to test the extensive on-board electrical systems under real conditions. One of these is the Electrical Environmental Control System (E-ECS) developed by Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse SAS, Toulouse (France), Liebherr’s centre of excellence for air management systems.

 

The E-ECS is a key element of the thermal and power management process for the more electrical aircraft. It is equipped with a new type of motorised turbo compressor (50 kW) which enables it to use directly external air (bleed less) for air conditioning in an integrated approach. The power electronics ensure the speed control of the motorised turbo compressor and offer synergy capabilities with other electrical loads to optimise the overall electrical power consumption on board the aircraft.

 

Nathalie Duquesne, Director of R&T at Liebherr-Aerospace in Toulouse, explained: “With the flight test campaign of the Airbus Flight Lab we were able to validate the mechanical and electrical integration of our E-ECS in a single aisle aircraft platform. We can monitor the interaction between air intake and the turbo-compressors and evaluate the robustness and performance of our system in all operating conditions. The flight test campaign was successfully achieved on June 24, 2016, and the results meet our expectations and are very promising”

 

The E-ECS developed and manufactured by Liebherr-Aerospace will contribute to fuel burn reduction and greenhouse gas emissions contributing to the environmental objectives.

The SmartSky 4G network is taking off with another partner onboard. Pro Star Aviation will serve as an authorised dealer for hardware sales and installation of SmartSky’s innovative technology. Pro Star will sell and install SmartSky equipment across many business jet models using STC licenses obtained from SmartSky’s earliest distribution partners.

 

“Pro Star is always looking at new ways to serve our customers’ needs,” says Pro Star Managing Partner and General Manager Kevin L. Harriman. “Wi-Fi that is fast, reliable and affordable is something that is no longer a luxury – our customers require it. SmartSky’s game-changing technology is solving the problem the marketplace demands.”

 

Scheduled to take flight later this year, SmartSky’s patented 4G beamforming technology delivers a secure signal that locks onto each aircraft in the network. Its broadband connectivity system will provide service over the continental United States using an air-to-ground (ATG) platform with 60 MHz of spectrum that opens up full-throttle, unrestricted access to the web. Passengers can do it all: stream, chat, text, call, game and videoconference.

 

“Pro Star Aviation has demonstrated a great ability to advocate for its customers regarding the latest aviation technology,” says SmartSky Networks President Ryan Stone. “Pro Star’s excellent sales base in the northeast provides a tremendous avenue to educate business jet owners on the seamless connectivity technology that SmartSky 4G will deliver to customers. Pro Star will play an important role in SmartSky’s expanding distribution network.”

 

SmartSky 4G with beamforming stands apart as the only in-flight network capable of offering services where bi-directional high bandwidth and low latency are essential. This includes the use of two-way, live streaming video or in support of advanced applications such as Panasonic Weather Solution’s industry-leading 4DAero application, an electronic flight bag tool for aviation-related weather forecasting.

During the Farnborough Airshow in the UK (1117 July), HAECO Americas, a subsidiary of the HAECO Group, signed a letter of intent with Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation to become a preferred airframe Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) partner for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) in North America.

Through Mitsubishi’s preferred MRO provider network, HAECO Americas will offer scheduled and unscheduled airframe maintenance as well as special maintenance services, including service bulletin incorporation and post-production modification.

HAECO Americas expects to finalize a formal agreement for a service network contract in the near future with Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation for MRJ.

Editor’s Note: Two other companies were also selected as MRO service providers for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ). These were Pemco World Air Services (“PEMCO”) in North America and All Nippon Airways unit MRO Japan. All three have received letters of intent.

Estonian company Magnetic MRO has opened up five new line maintenance outstations at Milan Malpensa, Vilnius, Copenhagen, Oulu, and Gällivare airports.

Jonas Butautis, CEO of Magnetic MRO was that the organisation’s “long term strategy is to focus on new generation aircraft, which demand less heavy maintenance hangar work [and] more line maintenance work where the aircraft operate.”

Rauno Parras, head of line maintenance stated: “Our long term goal is to build a Top 3 network of independent line stations in Europe.’’

Magnetic MRO operates under EASA and FAA certificates with local aviation authorities’ approvals in target non EU jurisdictions.