Category: PRs

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.

West Star Aviation has announced that Mexico’s Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil has renewed East Alton’s (ALN) certificate to April 2018. First granted in 2014, the certificate allows West Star to offer full service to Mexican registered aircraft (XA, XB, and XC).

The company states that renewal is exclusive to its ALN facility, although its Grand Junction and Chattanooga locations have also obtained DGAC approval.

Eric Kujawa, General Manager (ALN) said: “We continue to heighten our list of services and look forward to certification renewals for our other locations in the future.”

Rolls-Royce and Mubadala Development Company have released more details of the founding of a new Approved Maintenance Centre (AMC) in the Emirate. The first AMC, Delta TechOps, was announced in October 2015.

In building its Trent Service Network to support the growth of Trent engines, Mubadala will create a purpose-built facility that will carry out work on the Trent XWB that powers the Airbus A350 XWB.

According to Rolls-Royce, the Middle East region is forecast to have one of the world’s largest concentrations of Trent XWB engines with more than 20 per cent of the 1,600 sold to date due to be operated by airlines in the region, including the 62 A350s to be operated by Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways.”

Mubadala will also open a new manufacturing centre that will deliver parts for the Trent engine family.

The AMC will service up to 150 engines a year in a new facility located at the Nibras Al Ain Aerospace Park, which is expected to be operational in 2021. The AMC agreement will be finalised in the second half of 2016, and construction of the AMC facility is expected to begin as early as 2017.

The announcement follows the Strategic Framework Agreement signed at the Dubai Airshow in November 2013 to establish the Emirate of Abu Dhabi as a key member of Rolls-Royce’s global network for maintenance and manufacturing.

Homaid Al Shemmari, Mubadala, Chief Executive Officer, Aerospace & Engineering Services, said: “The creation of a new Approved Maintenance Centre and an engine component manufacturing facility are both key milestones in the creation of a leading global aerospace hub in Abu Dhabi, further driving economic diversification.”

Sole shareholder of SR Technics, Abu Dhabi investment and development company Mubadala, is selling 80% of its stake to HNA Aviation, based in Haikou, China.

After the deal, SR Technics will continue to remain a standalone business within HNA Aviation’s portfolio of aviation business. Mubadala, a shareholder since 2006, will retain a 20% stake in the company.

 

Homaid Al Shimmari, CEO of Aerospace and Engineering Services, Mubadala, said: “As a majority shareholder in SR Technics for over six years we are pleased to have found an ideal partner in HNA Aviation to continue the development of what is now one of the world’s leading MRO service providers of aircraft, component and engine services. We remain fully convinced of the long-term potential of SR Technics, and will remain actively involved through our stake and our representation on the board.”

 

Chen Wenli, Vice Chairman of HNA Group, said “HNA fully supports the existing long-term strategy and executive management team, and will be a reliable partner to support SR Technics’ focus on continuing to deliver value to its existing customers, and expanding its global MRO business.”

 

Jeremy Remacha, interim CEO of SR Technics said: “We are pleased to welcome HNA Aviation as our majority shareholder at a time when we are focused on expanding our global presence. In addition to continuing to serve our existing customers, including our growing support of the Etihad Airline Group, further expansion into the fast-growing Asia Pacific market is a priority for SR Technics and HNA will support this through their growing network of regional and global businesses. We are also pleased to retain the support of Mubadala who has been critical in our development to date.”

Lufthansa Technik is joining Pratt & Whitney’s Geared Turbofan (GTF) engine MRO network offering the full scope of MRO services on PW1100G-JM and PW1500G engines, joining other GTF engine collaborators, MTU Aero Engines and Japanese Aero Engines Corporation.

 

“The PW1000G family will be one of the main engine types in commercial aviation for the next decades.  Lufthansa Technik will serve the full scope of MRO services and will bring long-lasting and leading expertise in engine overhaul, engine parts repair, and engineering support to this co-operation,” said Dr. Johannes Bussmann, chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Technik.

 

Said Matthew Bromberg, president of Pratt & Whitney Aftermarket: “As Lufthansa is the launch customer of the GTF engine, Lufthansa Technik is well-suited to provide engine maintenance services to our future GTF engine customers.”

 

Picture caption: Dr. Johannes Bussmann, chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Technik (left), and Matthew Bromberg, president, Pratt & Whitney Aftermarket (right).

Airbus has published its first Global Services Forecast (GSF) which predicts that the aftermarket services spend will reach US$3 trillion over the next 20 years.

An Aibus statement read: “Of this total, the cumulative value of Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) activity will exceed $1.8 trillion by the year 2035. On an annual basis, Airbus predicts that the MRO spend will grow from $53 billion to over $132 billion per year, representing an average year-on-year growth of 4.6%.”

The growth of aftermarket services is linked to the corresponding growth of the passenger fleet.

Airbus states that this will “more than double from 19,500 commercial aircraft over 100 seats at the end of 2015 to almost 40,000 by the year 2035.” It continues: “Today there are an estimated 200,000 active pilots who fly passenger aircraft. Airbus’ GSF predicts that this is set grow to some 450,000 pilots by 2035. Furthermore, this absolute total number of active pilots needed by the year 2035, plus the need to replace flight-crew who retire during the next 20 years will result in the need to train as many as 560,000 new pilots over this period. In terms of technical staff needed, the Airbus GSF predicts a requirement to train approximately 540,000 new technicians who will fulfil various duties across airframe, engines, and components domains.”

25-26 April 2017 will see Aviation Electronics Europe return to Munich and the opportunity for more companies and organisations to exhibit their leading technologies, products and services – the largest gathering of avionics and aviation electronics solutions in Europe. The event is a great opportunity to reach the international avionics and aviation electronics industry and is already over 50% booked for the exhibition. The Exhibitor Prospectus for the 2017 event has been launched and can be downloaded at www.ae-expo.eu/prospectus

Engineering students from the South Dakota School of Mines & Te chnology and business students from Black Hills State University are partnering on an aviation project to develop technology and prepare a business plan to meet new FAA safety requirements at lower cost.

The presidents from the longtime rival schools, both general aviation pilots who each own light aircraft, are challenging their students to develop an affordable version of air-tracking technology known as ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) that will be required by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2020.

Black Hills State University in Spearfish, led by President Tom Jackson, Jr., is a comprehensive liberal arts university with an internationally recognized business program, and South Dakota Mines in Rapid City, led by President Heather Wilson, is a top-ranked engineering and science university. Jackson flies a Grumman Cheetah. Wilson owns a Cessna 152.

Faculty members from the two campuses have already been collaborating. Next fall Black Hills State business students and SD Mines engineering students will team up on a senior design project to build and test an ADS-B system that complies with the technical requirements set out by the FAA at a significantly lower cost than currently on the market.

“President Jackson asked me if I thought that innovative engineers from Mines might collaborate with business students at BHSU to meet a safety need at a more reasonable price for the general aviation community,” said Wilson, president of the engineering school. “It sounded like an interesting project and worth a try.”

The BHSU business administration, professional accountancy, and MBA programs are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Less than 5 percent of the business schools in the world are accredited by AACSB. This accreditation is considered the “gold standard” in terms of business school accreditations.

“We’re linking the knowledge of our students at BHSU with students at Mines and challenging them to solve a problem together, a problem with awesome potential in the aviation industry,” said Jackson, president of BHSU. “We’re looking forward to seeing the results of this collaboration.”

On the technical side, Scott Rausch, acting head of SD Mines’ Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, is a former engineer for avionics manufacturer Rockwell Collins. Avionics and antennas are a strength of the electrical engineering program. This project will use the department’s new flight simulator for testing and integration of the ADS-B system. Rausch is also a private pilot and prior owner of a Grumman Tiger airplane.

Wilson and Jackson may fly the equipment as part of the test program. Aircraft currently are required to have transponders in some busier airspace so that air traffic control can see them. This new technology will allow aircraft to “see” each other in the air, a major safety advancement. It would be similar to vehicle navigation systems that visually show all the other cars on the road as well as all of the weather up ahead. The project will try to significantly reduce the cost of a compliant, reliable system.

“This joint project addresses a real industry and consumer need and draws on the strengths of the two universities. It’s a great opportunity for planting the seeds of entrepreneurship in the Black Hills,” said Darren Haar, an entrepreneur-in-residence at the School of Mines who helps to drive technology developed at Mines into the marketplace. Jeff Wehrung, Ph.D., director of the Center for Business, Entrepreneurship and Tourism and an assistant professor of management/entrepreneurial studies, will serve as the lead faculty member from BHSU on the collaboration.

Dean of the College of Business and Natural Sciences at BHSU, Priscilla Romkema, Ph.D., said the project will enable business and engineering students to work together on a mutually-beneficial opportunity.

“We know this partnership will create a collaborative spirit among students as they apply the knowledge, skills and abilities learned at their respective institutions (BHSU and SD Mines),” said Romkema.

When the SmartSky 4G network takes flight later this year, West Star Aviation will participate as an authorized dealer for hardware sales and installation of SmartSky’s innovative technology. West Star will sell and install SmartSky equipment across many business jet models using STC licenses obtained from SmartSky’s earliest distribution partners.

“West Star is pleased to partner with SmartSky in order to continue to provide the latest technologies and services to our customers. In-flight Wi-Fi has become a ‘must have’ in today’s competitive environment and West Star continues to expand capabilities and relationships in order to provide solutions tailored to our customers’ specific needs,” says Bob Rasberry, West Star Aviation CEO.

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.

“West Star Aviation, voted the No. 1 Preferred MRO in the 2014 and 2015 Pro Pilot PRASE Survey, will provide an outstanding avenue for clients to purchase and install SmartSky 4G in a variety of business jet aircraft,” says SmartSky Networks President Ryan Stone. “West Star’s sales and technical expertise complements the seamless connectivity technology that SmartSky 4G will deliver to customers. This agreement is a natural way to augment 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.