Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance

The leading international magazine for the manufacturing and MRO sectors of commercial aviation

CREATING SPACE FOR MRO BUSINESS — THE PERFECT MAINTENANCE HANGAR n ENGINE OEMS AND THEIR TOTAL SUPPORT PACKAGES n MIDDLE EAST MROS READY FOR INCREASED DEMAND n INTELLIGENT FASTENERS: A REAL BREAKTHROUGH? n PROFITING FROM THE DOWNTURN — FL TECHNICS December 2010 - January 2011 Issue: 109

www.ubmaviationnews.com

Y O U R E N G I N E I S O U R P R I O R I T Y.

As the only U.S.-based independent CF6-50 heavy maintenance, test and overhaul center, the team at Kelly Aviation Center stands ready to make your engine our priority, delivering expertise and facilities unparalleled in the industry.

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C O N T E N T S December 2010 - January 2011 •

Issue: 109

NEWS UPDATE 4 A round-up of the latest news, contracts, products and people movements.

EDITOR Jason Holland: Jason.Holland@ubmaviation.com EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS Tony Arrowsmith, Alex Derber, Scott Hamilton, Chris Kjelgaard PRODUCTION MANAGER Phil Hine: Phil.Hine@ubmaviation.com PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kalven Davis: Kalven.Davis@ubmaviation.com E-EDITOR & CIRCULATION MANAGER Paul Canessa: Paul.Canessa@ubmaviation.com MEDIA MANAGER - EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA Alan Samuel: Alan.Samuel@ubmaviation.com PUBLISHER & SALES DIRECTOR - USA Simon Barker: Simon.Barker@ubmaviation.com GROUP PUBLISHER Anthony Smith: Anthony.Smith@ubmaviation.com

Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance (ATE&M) (ISSN: 0967-439X - USPS 022-901) is published bi- monthly, in February, April, June, August, October and December with an extra issue in July, plus annual issues of the yearbooks published in September, October, and November by UBM Aviation Publications Ltd. and distributed in the USA by SPP c/o 95, Aberdeen Road, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance c/o SPP P.O. Box 437 Emigsville, PA 17318-0437, USA. All subscription records are maintained at UBM Aviation Publications Ltd. First Floor, Ludgate House, 245 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 9UY, UK. ATE&M UK annual subscription cost is £150.

ATE&M Overseas annual subscription cost is £170 or $300 (USA) ATE&M Single copy cost is £25 (UK) or $50 (USA) All subscriptions enquiries to: Paul Canessa: paul.canessa@ubmaviation.com Tel: +44 (0) 207 579 4873 Fax: +44 (0) 207 579 4848 Website: www.ubmaviationnews.com ATE&M is published by UBM Aviation Publications Ltd. Printed in England by benhamgoodheadprint Ltd. Mailing house: Flostream UK Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance (ATE&M), part of UBM Aviation Publications Ltd, has used its best efforts in collecting and preparing material for inclusion in ATE&M but cannot and does not warrant that the information contained in this product is complete or accurate and does not assume and hereby disclaims, liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in ATE&M whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause.

This publication may not be reproduced or copied in whole or in part by any means without the express permission of UBM Aviation Publications Limited.

INDUSTRY FOCUS 14 Middle East MRO focus MRO in the Middle East continues to be seen by operators, suppliers and manufacturers as an area of growth and opportunity. Jason Holland investigated the challenges facing Middle Eastern MROs and how the market is likely to play out in the next few years.

22 Company profile: FL Technics Few regions suffered a more painful recession than the Baltic states. Yet one Lithuanian company, FL Technics, not only survived the recession but thrived, recording profits right through the downturn, as Alex Derber reports.

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION 26 Creating space for MRO business Aircraft hangars are long-term investments for their owners/operators and thus require careful planning before construction can begin. But how do you go about creagting the perfect maintenance hangar?

36 Intelligent fasteners — a technological breakthrough?

They are sometimes hidden from sight, other times indiscriminate blemishes on the outer skin of an aircraft and most times absent from conscious thought. They have changed little in the history of aviation fabrication and maintenance but are the metaphorical glue that binds.

“They” are fasteners. And they are about to be given intelligence, says Tony Arrowsmith.

ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE 42 Engine total support packages Total-care maintenance and health-monitoring business has grown considerably for engine manufacturers in the past decade and looks set to increase even more. Chris Kjelgaard reports.

48 CF6 reaches 40 years old: MRO market review CF6 MRO revenues are set to decline about 17 per cent by 2019, but the maintenance market remains intense. Scott Hamilton reviews the CF6’s maintenance record and future outlook as it reaches four decades.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 58 Integration of flight operations and technical services Low levels of integration between flight operations and technical services is a significant cause of inefficiency in the aviation industry — the solution lies in developing a suite of regulatory approved solutions that electronically map existing ‘paper-based’ processes.

DATA & DIRECTIVES 60 Industry data: 737 Classic family

Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance™ is a licensed trademark of UBM Aviation Publications Limited.

All trademarks used under license from UBM Aviation Publications Ltd. © 1999 – 2010, UBM Aviation Publications Limited.

All rights reserved.

Front cover image courtesy of Megadoor/Cardo Entrance Solutions

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NEWS UPDATE

INBRIEF

NEWSHIGHLIGHTS

ST Aerospace has obtained two supplemental type certificates (STCs) for its 757-200SF passenger-to-freighter (PTF) conversion programme. These awards are from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and Transport Canada.

Fokker Aircraft Services has joined the Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA).

ARINC Engineering Services is planning to build a 62,000ft2 hangar in Oklahoma City, OK. The company wants to increase capacity for aircraft servicing at its Aircraft Modification and Operations Center (AMOC), and is aiming to break ground on the hangar in January.

Continental Airlines has reached a tentative agreement on a new labour contract with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) representing its fleet service employees, parent company United Continental Holdings announced.

Netherlands-based Direct Maintenance has opened a line maintenance station at Kilimanjaro Airport near Arusha, Tanzania. The launch customer is Edelweiss Air, the leisure carrier brand of Swiss International Air Lines.

Allgäu Airport at Memmingen, south Germany, plans to invest around €15m ($20m) into an expansion programme that is to begin in 2012.

Embraer has begun construction work for the first unit of its component manufacturing facility in Évora, Portugal. The Brazilian OEM plans to build a 30,660m2 (330,000ft2) manufacturing site for airframe structures and components in the town approximately 110km (68miles) east of Lisbon.

Pratt & Whitney has received supplemental type certificate (STC) approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) for its Global Material Solution (GMS) life-limited parts for the CFM56-3 engine.

Pratt & Whitney Canada has appointed Lufthansa Technik AERO Alzey (LTAA) as a designated overhaul facility (DOF) for the PW901C APU on the 747-8 series.

SIA Engineering, the MRO division of Singapore Airlines, is to build a second hangar at Clark International Airport near Manila. The facility is designed to accommodate widebodies — reportedly up to 747 size — costing approximately $23m.

Transport Canada and EASA have granted Bombardier type certificates for the CRJ1000.

BAE Systems is to supply a touch-screen ‘Attendant Control Panel’ (ACP) for the 737.

Summerside, Canada-based Vector Aerospace has opened a MRO and test facility for Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A turboprop engines in Lanseria, South Africa.

Airbus launches A320neo Airbus has officially launched an upgraded A320, which will feature nextgeneration engine options and high-tech winglets. The A320neo (new engine option) will deliver fuel savings of up to 15 per cent, a reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 3,600 tonnes annually, and a double-digit reduction in NOx emissions, according to the manufacturer. Engine noise and operating costs will be reduced, and the aircraft will offer up to 500nm (950 km) more range or two tonnes more payload. The official announcement of the A320neo follows approval from parent EADS. The launch validates both CFM International’s LEAP-X and Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower PW1100G geared turbofan, the new engine options. The new engines will be offered on the A320 as well as derivative A319 and A321 models; the current version of the single-aisle aircraft family will remain on sale. The engines are larger than the models currently used on the A320, but only limited modifications, primarily to the wing and pylon areas, will be required.

No launch customer for the A320neo was announced, but Lufthansa is said to have agreed to study details of the aircraft, while Airbus foresees a market potential of around 4,000 of the aircraft in the next 15 years.

Development costs for the programme will be more than €1bn ($1.3bn) — “not really a huge investment” according to John Leahy, COO customers — and the first deliveries are scheduled for Spring 2016.

The big question though is whether the A320neo’s offerings will be enough to satisfy potential customers. Leasing companies in particular are suspicious, and many believe the A320neo could drive down the resale values of older aircraft. Airbus is looking to hold-off competition from new entrants in the single-aisle market, but many in the industry would have liked to have seen an entirely new development – a view that Boeing appears to have taken notice of. Airbus maintains that the technology for a clean sheet build won’t be available until at least 2025; something that Boeing is not so certain about.

During the launch, Airbus president and CEO Tom Enders presented the essential business case for the upgraded aircraft, stating that it offered “maximum benefit with minimum change”. “We are leveraging a reliable, mature aircraft and are making it even more efficient and environmentally friendly,” he said.

In an industry of divided opinion, how will the market react now?

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❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109

Chromalloy opens Florida casting operation Chromalloy has opened a new casting operation in Tampa, Florida.

“Chromalloy is pleased to now offer the industry a single source for engine component design, engineering, tooling, machining, repairs, coatings — and castings,” said company president Armand Lauzon, Jr. The 150,000ft2 centre is designed to pour up to one million pounds of superalloy turbine components and parts for the “hot section” or critical gas path of the engine, including vanes, nozzles, high pressure turbine (HPT) blades and other components using several methods including equiaxed, directionally solidified, and advanced, single crystal casting technologies. The casting centre became fully operational on October 21, 2010. Chromalloy also said it is to build a $5m ceramic core production facility adjacent to the casting centre. Pre-engineering for the core facility is complete and construction will start in 2011. The core facility is scheduled to be operational in early 2012.

Tool company acquired by Dixie Aerospace Dixie Aerospace has acquired the tool distributor JR Potter. With the acquisition, Dixie said it would be able to provide a multitude of specialty tools and gauges including tools for bearing and fastener installation and removal as well as rivet installation. This addition allows customers to turn to Dixie Aerospace as their single source for all facets of the bearing installation process.

“This is a perfect compliment to the bearing products we sell, and allows our customers across the globe to get the right products and the right tools to use them from a single source,” said Jason Caldwell, Dixie Aerospace president.

Airbus, CAE renew training contract Airbus and CAE have agreed to renew their flight crew training services co-operation agreement through 2017. Under the terms of the contract, which began in 2002, CAE provides Airbus operators with a joint global network of training centres with the largest fleet of full-flight simulators (FFS) for Airbus aircraft types, standardised courseware and instructors. The renewal of the agreement was announced at the biennial Airbus Training Symposium.

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NEWS UPDATE

VoIP nearing air traffic management operability Eurocontrol has published a new document which it says marks a major milestone towards achieving a global standard on voice over internet protocol (VoIP) in air traffic management.

The ‘Eurocae ED137A - Interoperability Standards for VoIP ATM Components’ document will allow the ICAO Aeronautical Communication Panel Working Group I to complete the inclusion of the VoIP requirements into its ATN/IPS technical annual.

“Initial operational capability of VoIP in ATM in Europe is expected

by January 2013. VoIP will help to reduce significantly overall communication costs by cutting the expensive maintenance and operational cost of analogue voice circuits,” said Bo Redeborn, director of cooperative network design at Eurocontrol.

Asia to drive $14bn growth in value of global MRO market, says OAG The global MRO market will grow 3.2 per cent in the next nine years and will be worth $58bn worldwide in 2019, according to OAG Aviation data. The company estimates that the market is worth $44bn today.

Asia will be the fastest-growing region, with its MRO share increasing from 23 per cent in 2009 to 29 per cent in 2019. The US’ share, meanwhile, will drop from 38 per cent in 2009 to 33 per cent in 2019. The data was presented at UBM Aviation’s MRO Trends and Forecasts webinar. At the same event, Aerostrategy’s David Stewart predicted mid-single-digit growth in the global MRO market in 2011, and low double-digit growth in 2012. He also stated that despite the large size (1,553) of the parked fleet, only a small portion, 200, is likely to return to service at current fuel prices. This equates to one per cent of global capacity, or approximately two months of production rates.

6

❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

NEWSHIGHLIGHTS

Biofuel to be tested on commercial flights for six months Following a successful but relatively short period of testing across the aviation industry, Lufthansa is set to become the first airline to operate commercial flights using a biofuel blend. A six-month testing period of daily flights has been announced, in what is a major step forward in the industry’s search for alternative fuels. Not only will the trials be conducted in ‘real’ commercial situations, but there will be an extended period of testing rather than another one-off event, with the underlying aim being to determine the long-term effects of biofuels on engine maintenance and lifespan.

The Lufthansa trial will begin in April 2011, with a biofuel blend made from 50 per cent hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), 50 per cent kerosene, powering one of the aircraft’s engines. Airbus A321s will be used for the trial on the domestic Hamburg-Frankfurt route, while International Aero Engines will provide the engines.

“We see great opportunities in the use of bio-synthetic kerosene. But we are first gathering experience with it in daily practice. Indeed, Lufthansa is the world’s first airline to utilise biofuel in flight operations within the framework of a long-term trial,” said Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Lufthansa CEO. “This is a further consistent step in a proven sustainability strategy, which Lufthansa has for many years successfully pursued and implemented.”

The biofuel is being provided by Finland based Neste Oil, under the terms of a long term agreement with Lufthansa. The airline emphasised that the fuel will only be produced from sustainable feedstock sources to ensure that its bio-feedstock does not compete for food, water or land.

Certification of Neste Oil’s biofuel, which contains as much as four per cent more energy than regular kerosene, has not yet been achieved but is expected in March 2011.

During the six months of testing, Lufthansa estimates it will save around 1,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The trial is backed by the German government, which has provided €2.5m to help fund it. Lufthansa estimated the cost of the entire project to be €6.6m.

It is a price Prof. Dr. Johann-Dietrich Wörner, chairman of the executive board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), believes to be well worth paying considering the data that will be collected. “The objective is to gather data on pollutants from biofuel in comparison with conventional kerosene over a longer period,” he said. “The measured pollution pattern related to diverse stresses in flight and the composition of the exhaust gases will allow us not only to draw conclusions about the compatibility of biofuel but also about the maintenance needs of aircraft engines.

Above all, we expect a significant reduction in soot particles.”

Lufthansa’s ultimate target is to use biofuels for between five and 10 per cent of all its fuel consumption by 2020, a number constrained by the fact that biofuel will be in short supply, not to mention that it is estimated to cost three to four times more than kerosene.

Newly launched Sargent department proving a success Sargent Aerospace & Defense has formed a new department with the aim of identifying and managing “emerging aircraft repair opportunities”. Since the ‘New Product Introduction’ (NPI) initiative was launched a few months ago, the company says the department has already added more than 60 new repair capabilities to Sargent Aftermarket Services, “benefiting at least ten launch customers”.

Additional capabilities continue to be added at the rate of six to ten per month, according to Sargent, including component repairs for A320, 737NG and 777 aircraft families.

TAM extends long-running agreement with MTU Brazilian airline TAM Linhas Aéreas is to continue a contract with MTU Maintenance Hannover that was originally concluded in 1999. Under this follow-on agreement, MTU will provide maintenance services for another 57 V2500 engines powering the carrier’s A320-family aircraft, in addition to the 84 engines covered by the earlier agreement. The contract runs until mid-2019 and is estimated to generate more than €500m ($700m) in additional revenues.

AF447: fourth flight-recorder search set for February A new search for the wreckage of the Air France A330 that crashed into the South Atlantic on June 1, 2009, has been planned for early next year. Thierry Mariani, France’s transport secretary, said the search is to begin in February. This will be the fourth attempt to retrieve the aircraft’s missing flight data and cockpit voice recorders (FDR, CVR).

The last search effort using a French nuclear submarine was called off last May. Mariani said that the “best equipment currently available” would be employed for the new search. AF447 disappeared in oceanic airspace while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 passengers and crew onboard.

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NEWS UPDATE

TIMCO mechanic gains FAA recognition One of TIMCO Aviation Services’ mechanics has been recognised by the FAA for his 50 years of service in the aircraft maintenance industry. Greensboro-based Bill Hardy has worked at TIMCO since it was founded in 1990, fulfilling a variety of roles as an A&P mechanic, crew chief and materials specialist, among others. His career began as a helicopter mechanic in the US Army in 1960, and includes more than 25 years with Eastern Airlines where he worked on most of the aircraft in the airline’s fleet. Hardy’s name will be added to the FAA’s Roll of Honour, a leather-bound book on display at the entrance to the FAA Aircraft Maintenance Division at the authority’s headquarters in Washington, DC. GKN to produce thrust links for Boeing aircraft Boeing has awarded GKN Aerospace a multi-year production contract to supply lightweight titanium thrust links for the 747-8 and for both engine variants of the 787.

GKN is currently investing in a dedicated production cell at its El Cajon, California, facility, which will manufacture these items. In addition, thrust link end fittings are being machined at the company’s Mexicali site in Mexico.

FAA directive seeks to prevent PW4000 fires The FAA has issued an airworthiness directive in a bid to prevent oil fires on Pratt & Whitney PW4000s.

Operators are required to inspect engines with specified “number three bearing oil pressure tubes” for cracks or repairs to prevent oil fires, failure of high-pressure turbine discs, uncontained engine failures, and general aircraft damage. The AD resulted from a report of a cracked bearing that caused an engine inflight shutdown, a test cell “event”, and seven reports of the repaired number three bearing oil pressure tubes cracking since 2007, that led to unscheduled engine removals.

8

❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

NEWSHIGHLIGHTS

Rolls-Royce tests reveal cause of Trent 900 engine failure The Australian Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB) says the probable cause of the Qantas engine failure on November 4 has been identified during an inspection at Rolls-Royce’s Derby, UK facility. The agency said that a leakage of oil into the HP/IP bearing structure buffer space (and a subsequent oil fire within that area) was central to the engine failure and IP turbine disc liberation event. “Further examination of the cracked area has identified the axial misalignment of an area of counter-boring within the inner diameter of the stub pip; the misalignment having produced a localised thinning of the pipe wall on one side,” it reported. The area of fatigue cracking was associated with the area of pipe wall thinning. On the back of the results, Qantas says it is to conduct additional, more detailed one-off inspections of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines on its A380 aircraft. The airline said there was no immediate risk to flight safety. The ATSB has recommended that these one-off inspections be conducted within two flight cycles, which provides a level of inspection over and above the current 20-cycle inspection required by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Qantas takes no blame for A380 engine failure Qantas Airways has gone on record saying that the recent A380 engine failure had nothing to do with its operations, and everything to do with it being a new engine “that didn’t perform to the parameters that we would’ve expected”. In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, CEO Alan Joyce said the airline had responded “exceptionally well” to the incident, although resultant costs were still rising.

He also stated that the Qantas brand might be enhanced because of its handling of the incident, rather than damaged. “In the research we’re doing, people are aware that this was a Rolls-Royce problem, so when we survey the general population the vast majority of people know that there’s a problem with the design of the engines,” he said.

TAM biofuel flight a Latin American first TAM Airlines has become the first Latin American operator to conduct a biofuel test flight using a 50:50 blend of locally-sourced Brazilian Japtropha-based bio-kerosene and conventional aviation kerosene. The experimental flight, on a CFM56-5B equipped A320, had the technical approval of Airbus and CFM, and was authorised by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Brazil’s Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC). The aircraft took off from Rio de Janeiro’s Tom Jobim (Galeão) international airport, and flew in Brazilian air space over the Atlantic Ocean for 45 minutes before returning to its point of origin. In addition to two pilots, 18 other passengers, including technicians and executives from TAM and Airbus, were on the flight. The organisations involved in the project aim to implement and establish a crop of Jatropha curcas, in reduced scale, at TAM’s Technological Centre in São Carlos, located in the countryside in the state of São Paulo.

SITA technology implemented by Air Serv Air Serv, the ground services provider that manages assistance for passengers with reduced mobility (PRM) at Heathrow Airport, says it has become the industry’s first to implement SITA PRM data access services. This service feeds special service requests (SSRs) from more than 90 airlines to Air Serv’s performance management system. Air Serv says it receives around 3,000 messages daily, each containing multiple requests for special assistance for passengers with reduced mobility departing from, or arriving at, Heathrow. These SSRs previously came from different sources and in different formats; SITA’s service streamlines the process by pairing SSRs with live flight data feeds from another source in Air Serv’s systems.

Barco ATM system implemented in Hong Kong An arrival metering and sequencing system has been fully installed and operationally used at Hong Kong Airport. Barco said its air traffic management (ATM) solution, based on the company’s OSYRIS arrival management (AMAN) software, will enhance the airport’s operational efficiency, thereby allowing more flights to be handled per hour.

Funyihng!

Baruch haba! Welkom!

Yokoso! Bem-vindo! Fon ngiang!

Welcome! Vitame te! Khosh aamadid! Maeva!

Huanying! Bienvenue! Dobro pozalovat! Bienvenido!

Hoan-geng! Selamat datang! Malo e lelei! Iiwy! Hoan ging di lai kao! Mabuhay! Benvenuto! Hwangyong-hamnida!

'NR FDKCHMʖ ƥ N L@Hʖ 1@GL@Sʖ 2U@F@Sʖ +@RJ@UN OQNRHLNʖ *@QHATʖ Willkommen! Funyihng! Baruch haba! Welkom! Yokoso! Bem-vindo!

Fon ngiang! Welcome! Vitame te! Khosh aamadid! Maeva! Huanying!

Bienvenue! Dobro pozalovat! Bienvenido! Hoan-geng! Selamat datang!

Malo e lelei! Iiwy! Hoan ging di lai kao! Mabuhay! Benvenuto! Hwangyonghamnida! Hos geldin! ƥ N L@Hʖ 1@GL@Sʖ 2U@F@Sʖ +@RJ@UN OQNRHLNʖ Karibu!

Willkommen! Funyihng!

Baruch haba!

Better served

by Welkom!

WencorYokoso! Bem-vindo!

Fon ngiang! Welcome!

Vitame te!

Khosh Maeva! Huanying! because we speak youraamadid! language.

Bienvenue! Dobro pozalovat! Bienvenido! Hoan-geng! Selamat datang!

Malo e lelei! Iiwy! Hoan ging di lai kao! Mabuhay! Benvenuto! HwangyongG@LMHC@ʖ 'NR FDKCHMʖ ƥ N L@Hʖ 1@GL@Sʖ Svagat! +@RJ@UN OQNRHLNʖ Karibu! Willkommen! Funyihng! Baruch haba! Welkom! Yokoso! Bemvindo! Fon ngiang! Welcome! Vitame te! Khosh aamadid! Maeva!

Huanying! Bienvenue! Dobro pozalovat! Bienvenido! Hoangeng! Selamat datang! Malo e lelei! Iiwy! Hoan ging di lai kao! Mabuhay! Benvenuto! Hwangyong-hamnida! Hos FDKCHMʖ ƥ N L@Hʖ 1@GL@Sʖ 2U@F@Sʖ +@RJ@UN OQNRHLNʖ Karibu! Willkommen! Funyihng! Baruch haba!

Welkom! Yokoso! Bem-vindo! Fon ngiang! Welcome! Vitame

NEWS UPDATE

Spirit fabricates first A350XWB centre fuselage panel Spirit AeroSystems has fabricated the first carbon fibre panel for the centre fuselage section of the A350XWB. The 19.7m (64.6ft) long, 77m2 (829ft2) “crown” panel is the longest fuselage skin piece and will be used to partly cover the top of the fuselage structure, above the window line. The composite panel was cured at the company’s facility in Kinston, North Carolina, and will undergo trimming, drilling and non-destructive inspection in the coming weeks.

The EADS subsidiary Premium Aerotech has recently cured a similar crown panel for the aircraft’s forward fuselage section at its site in Nordenham, Germany. Final assembly for the first baseline model A350-900 is to begin next year, with the first flight due to follow in 2012. Entry into service is scheduled for 2013.

Iberia starts Barcelona maintenance with Vueling A320 Iberia Maintenance began operations in its new hangar at Barcelona’s El Prat airport with the C check of a Vueling-operated A320. The maintenance event took around 10 days.

Around 40 technicians are currently working at the facility, approximately half of which have been temporarily seconded to the site from other locations to support the newly recruited workforce. The company aims to increase staff levels in Barcelona to between 150 and 200 employees over the next two years.

Goodrich delivers A350 thrust reversers Goodrich has delivered its first thrust reversers for the A350 XWB. They will be installed on a RollsRoyce Trent XWB engine to be used in the engine ground test programme, which is scheduled to begin later this year. Goodrich shipped the thrust reversers on November 5 from its Aerostructures facility in Chula Vista, California, which was also the site of final assembly. The reversers will first be sent to the Rolls-Royce facility in Derby, England for initial testing before ultimately being shipped to a RollsRoyce ground testing site located at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

10 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

NEWSHIGHLIGHTS

787 changes made after electrical fire Boeing will make “minor” changes to the electrical power distribution panels and associated software on the 787 after the electrical fire on a test aircraft, ZA002, on November 9. Engineers have determined that the fault began as either a short circuit or an electrical arc in the P100 power distribution panel. Boeing said this was “most likely” caused by the presence of foreign debris. France’s La Tribune reported on November 23 that the fire in the aircraft’s aft electronics bay may have been caused by a mislaid tool. The design changes will improve the protection within the panel, Boeing said. The P100 panel is one of five major power distribution panels and directs electrical power from the left engine to a range of aircraft systems. Vital systems are backed-up and should not fail if the power supply from one engine is interrupted. However, the flight crew reportedly lost several systems during the incident, including primary flight displays and auto-throttle function. The required design changes will have to be approved by the FAA before the flight test programme can resume.

Superjet completes HIRF testing The Sukhoi Superjet 100 has completed high-intensity radiated field (HIRF) testing in Turin, Italy. The tests were accomplished at Alenia Aeronautica facilities at the city’s Caselle airport under supervision of EASA and Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee Aviation Register (AR IAC), using the third aircraft, SN 95004. Preliminary results show that the aircraft meets all HIRF requirements, the OEM said. HIRF certification is required to demonstrate that the aircraft’s electric and electronic equipment is not influenced by external electromagnetic fields like those produced by a TV, radio station or radar.

GA Telesis to move into larger headquarters GA Telesis has acquired a new corporate headquarters and distribution centre in central Fort Lauderdale, USA. The building offers an 11,200m2 (120,000ft2) distribution facility and 4,600m2 (50,000ft2) of office space. The company plans to expand its international facilities by 5,500m2 (60,000ft2) in 1Q 2011.

Xian Aero Engine, Avio to set up combustor facility China’s Xian Aero Engine and Italy’s Avio have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to set up a combustor joint venture. The companies said they aimed to create a centre of excellence focusing on the development and manufacturing of combustors for civil aircraft, marine engines and turbines for industrial use, including relative components.

The facility will be located in Xian, North West China, and will primarily serve the Chinese market.

Three Delta aircraft involved in engine emergencies Three separate Delta Air Lines aircraft suffered engine shutdowns in one weekend. On each occasion, emergency landings were made, and no one was injured in any of the incidents. A 767 bound for Moscow was forced to return to New York John F. Kennedy International Airport after losing thrust from its left engine shortly after takeoff. Another 767, flying to Los Angeles, made a return landing in Atlanta on the same day after the flight crew declared an emergency after reporting an engine problem. The aircraft scraped its tail during the landing. And a 757 flying from Philadelphia made an emergency landing in Shannon, Ireland when problems developed on one of its engines while crossing the Atlantic. The airline said preliminary indications suggested the incident was caused by a compressor stall.

NEWS UPDATE

CONTRACTS n Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has selected AAR’s Cargo Systems Division to manufacture the main deck cargo loading systems for its 767-200 multi-mission tanker transport conversion programme. n Aeronautical Engineers (AEI) has been selected by an undisclosed customer to provide one 737-300SF 9-pallet configuration passenger-to-freighter conversion. The aircraft was built in 1988 and is currently undergoing freighter modification and heavy maintenance at AEI’s Authorized Conversion Center, Commercial Jet, in Miami, FL. n Qatar International Airways has ordered 35 frequency converters from Red Box International for use in its maintenance hangars and workshops, based at New Doha International Airport in Doha, Qatar. n Airbus Corporate Jet Centre (ACJC) has signed an ‘EngineLife’ agreement with Snecma for full engine service support of CFM International CFM56-5B engines for its VIP, corporate and government customers. The contract covers engine condition monitoring, shop visits, foreign object damage protection, line replaceable unit pool access and repair, and spare engine availability. n TAM has entered into a three-year contract with Aviation Logistics Network (ALN) strategic partner ILS Services Brasil for the provision of forwarding and logistics services. The contract covers the support of AOG, routine and critical service options. n Russia’s Yakutia Airlines has selected Turkish Technic to perform one C check and one A check on two of its 737NG aircraft. The maintenance activities will be carried out at Turkish Technic’s facilities in Istanbul, Turkey during December 2010. n Canadian maintenance provider Aveos has selected Ramco Systems’ Series 5 Aviation MRO software. The contract includes financials and aviation analytics software. n Thai Airlines has awarded Aviation Logistics Network (ALN) in Singapore, France and Thailand a contract to co-ordinate the shipment of parts and spares for its fleet as the strategic partner for Lufthansa Technic Logistic. n Emirates has contracted Rolls-Royce to provide ‘TotalCare’ engine support for 50 Trent-powered aircraft in its fleet. The agreement is valued at $1.2bn (AED 4.4bn) and comprises the Trent 700 engines of 29 A330s and Trent 800s of 21 777 aircraft. n Etihad Airways has chosen SR Technics to provide full technical training support after the two companies signed a five year contract. The agreement covers technical training on all Airbus and Boeing types and includes basic and specialised training. n Omni Air International has selected Airborne Maintenance & Engineering Services (AMES) to provide heavy maintenance for two of its 767-300 aircraft.

AMES will accomplish maintenance checks and engine pylon modifications. n Parker Aerospace has selected Porvair Filtration Group to provide filtration systems for its on-board aircraft fuel tank inerting systems. The agreement is estimated to be worth more than $40m over its ten-year lifetime. n Brisbane-based Virgin Blue Airlines has selected Rockwell Collins’ avionics for its ordered 737NG fleet, comprising 50 firm aircraft, 25 options and 25 purchase rights. The suite includes the ‘MultiScan’ radar system, TTR-2100 traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS), GLU-925 multi-mode receiver (MMR), and SAT-2200 satellite communication (SATCOM) equipment. n Honeywell has selected Crane Aerospace & Electronics to provide the brake control system (BCS) for the Comac C919. Crane will assist in the integration of the BCS, which includes ‘SmartStem’ passive, wireless tire pressure sensing technology and a brake temperature monitoring system. n Airbus has selected Goodrich to provide the main landing gear for the -1000 variant of the A350 XWB aircraft. Goodrich expects the contract to generate more than $2bn in original equipment and aftermarket revenue over the life of the programme. n Jade Cargo International has selected Ameco Beijing to provide heavy maintenance on its 747-400ERF fleet. The agreement, signed during the Zhuhai Airshow, covers component services as well as technical training. n Vietnam Airlines has awarded a $100m avionics and auxiliary power unit (APU) contract to Honeywell covering its fleet of 36 ordered and 22 existing A321 aircraft.

Honeywell will also work with the airline to help establish an in-house APU repair and overhaul capability. n Aero Engine Controls has handed Cosworth an eight-year contract to produce components for the engine control system of the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine.

Cosworth will manufacture the main casing for the Trent 1000 FADEC system.

12 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

n Dhaka, Bangladesh-based GMG Airlines has contracted Pratt & Whitney (P&W) for a five-year engine management agreement, covering PW4060 engines on the airline’s 767-300ERs, JT8D-200s on its MD-82/83s, and other engines on future aircraft. n Sun Country Airlines has selected TRAX USA software to manage its MRO operations. The airline will implement e3, the latest version of TRAX Maintenance. n Royal Jordanian Airlines has inked an engine maintenance contract with MTU Maintenance Hannover covering 26 V2500 engines for the carrier’s A320-family fleet. The agreement will run until March 2014. n Thomas Cook’s UK and Scandinavian branches have contracted Iberia Maintenance/British Airways Engineering together with AJ Walter Aviation to provide avionics support for 22 A320 and seven A330 aircraft. The five-year agreement is based on a price-by-hour pool arrangement and has an extension option for another three years. n AFI KLM E&M and Malaysia Airlines (MAS) E&M have signed a 10-year component support contract for the Malaysian carrier’s fleet of 35 737-800s. The 737 component services programme is operated in partnership with Boeing. n Paris-based Aigle Azur Transports Aériens has contracted SR Technics to provide A- and C-checks for 12 A320-family aircraft. The base maintenance work will be conducted in Zürich.

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Spectronics has unveiled a cordless, rechargeable UV LED flashlight designed to identify leaks in fuel, lubrication and hydraulic aviation systems. The UV LED light on the Spectroline OPTIMAX 365 makes all leak detection dyes glow brightly, is four times brighter than other high-intensity leak detection lamps and has an inspection range of up to 20 feet, according to the company. Powered by a rechargeable NiMH battery, the flashlight provides 90 minutes of continuous inspection time.

Industrial hardware company FDB Panel Fittings has launched a range of hardware that has been specifically treated to facilitate the prevention and control of bacterial infection. This new process is ideal for anything that is powder coated, as well as most moulded items such as grab rails and handles.

NEWS UPDATE

Nacelle JV launched in China Aircelle and Xian Aircraft International have agreed to form a joint venture for the construction and assembly of nacelle components. The companies said the China JV’s “first priority” was the C919 aircraft, whose nacelle is supplied by Nexcelle – a JV of Aircelle and GE Aviation’s Middle River Aircraft Systems (MRAS). The JV has identified thrust reverser and doors subassemblies as possible production opportunities, and the build-up of thrust reversers, air inlets and fan cowls as assembly opportunities.

Finnish air navigation reformed A single, uniform area control centre is now in charge of the entire Finnish flight information region, which consists of seven airspace sectors. The Area Control Centre Finland, located in Aitovuori, Tampere, will now provide Finland’s regional air navigation services. The region was previously divided into airspaces handled by the Southern Finland Air Navigation Centre and the Northern Finland Air Navigation Centre. The Area Control Centre Finland co-ordinates overflights in Finnish airspace and air route traffic between different airports. The new control centre said it would ensure effective, customer-oriented service from now on.

Air China implements Boeing health management Boeing’s Airplane Health Management (AHM) system is now active on 40 aircraft in Air China’s 737 fleet. AHM allows the airline to gather and evaluate real-time in-flight flying condition data and relay information to ground controllers. The aim is to improve the planning and performance of repairs, thus minimising scheduling impacts. “We are quite excited to begin seeing the benefits of AHM,” said Zhong Dechao, Air China deputy chief engineer. “[It] will help us improve our maintenance efficiency and will benefit our passengers with an even higher level of on-time performance.”

GE and HNA to form MRO JV GE Aviation and the HNA Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form a MRO services joint venture. It will be located in Tianjin province in China and will be operated by HNA Group, providing services for GE Aviation’s CF34-10A and CF34-10E engines.

GE Aviation itself will provide technical support and materials.

PEOPLE l Boeing has elected Ronald Williams to its board of directors, effective

immediately. He is currently the chairman of Aetna, a diversified health care benefits company, and stepped down as CEO of the company last month. He will serve on the Boeing board’s audit and finance committees. l Goodrich has appointed Mike Brand VP of 787 and commercial airframe entry into service (EIS). Dave Castagnola will succeed Brand as president of the company’s landing gear business. He is currently VP and GM of programmes and manufacturing. l Mervyn Fernando has been re-elected as president of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Air Navigation Commission (ANC). Fernando, who was elected by secret ballot, was first appointed president of the ANC in 2010 and has been a member since 2006. Fernando has 30 years’ experience in operational air traffic control and airspace management. l Victor Chavez has been promoted to CEO of Thales. Chavez will move from his current role as deputy CEO on January 1, 2011. He has worked in his current role since October 2008. Alex Dorrian, the company’s current CEO and EVP, will take the role of chairman. Lord Freeman, who is currently the chairman, will remain a director and the chairman of Thales UK advisory board. l Gerald Weber is to leave Airbus, where he is EVP of operations, member of the Airbus executive committee in Toulouse and head of Airbus operations in Hamburg. Weber will hand his post to an unnamed successor at the end of March 2011. During his four years with the company, Weber instructed change under the company’s restructuring programme by adding new working processes for the A380 and preparation for the production of the A400M series. l Paul Kuchta has been promoted to assistant manager of FlightSafety International’s learning centre at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas. Under his new role, Kutchta will be responsible for the centre’s aircraft maintenance technician training programmes.

Rockwell Collins rakes in avionics/IFE orders from Chinese trio Xiamen Airlines has selected a suite of Rockwell Collins avionics, including the ‘MultiScan’ radar system and GLU-925 multi-mode receiver (MMR) for 25 737NG aircraft. Deliveries will begin in July 2011.

Hainan Airlines has selected a similar suite for its firm order of 42 and 15 optional 737NG aircraft. These deliveries are due to begin in August 2011. Tibet Airlines’ ordered a range of avionics and IFE systems, including the ‘digital programmable audio video entertainment system’ (dPAVES) IFE equipment, ‘MultiScan’ and the GLU-925 MMR, for nine firm and nine optional A319s. Those deliveries will begin in July 2011.

Gulfstream to expand Savannah site in $500m programme Gulfstream Aerospace will expand its business aircraft manufacturing, MRO and R&D facilities in a $500m construction plan over the next seven years. This will generate 1,000 new jobs, an increase of approximately 15 per cent over the company’s current employment level of around 5,500 staff at its Georgia, US site. “This expansion is necessary to meet the projected increase for new business-jet aircraft and the maintenance that will follow [over the next decade],” said Joe Lombardo, president, adding that the company sees “modest” recovery signs. “We booked more orders than we had in any quarter since the downturn began in mid-2008,” he said. The expansion will include new facilities at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, renovation of several existing facilities on and the expansion of office and lab facilities.

Thales to provide IFE on C919 Thales is to create a joint venture company that will integrate its inflight entertainment (IFE) system in the cabin of the upcoming C919 aircraft. It has signed a Letter of Intent with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China and a Memorandum of Understanding with China Electronics Technology Avionics, whose parent company is China Electronics Technology Corporation.

The Thales system to be installed on the aircraft will be a scalable platform offering a “modular entertainment experience”, including interactive audio solutions through to full in-seat on-demand services.

Future evolutions of the system may include wireless networks and connectivity, according to Thales.

Certification process for 737 upgrades begins The certification process for a package of 737 performance improvements has begun with the completion of the first test flight.

Aerodynamic and engine changes included in the package will reduce fuel consumption by two per cent, according to Boeing. To achieve the savings, resistance has been reduced to air flow around the aircraft. The upper and lower anti-collision lights have changed from a round to a more aerodynamic, elongated teardrop shape. Wheel-well fairings have been re-contoured to smooth the air flow near the main landing gear. Finally, the environmental control system, exhaust vent and streamlined wing slat and spoiler trailing edges have been redesigned.

Boeing is phasing the changes into production mid-2011 through early 2012. Testing and certification will continue through April 2011.

Luxair goes live with Swiss-AS software Luxair has successfully gone live with Swiss AviationSoftware’s (Swiss-AS) AMOS system. The carrier is now using the entire AMOS bundle with all modules for its complete fleet. Swiss-AS provided two weeks of onsite support following the start of operations. Horst Lenhard, VP technical services of Luxair, stated: “Right from the beginning it was clear that AMOS was a perfect match for Luxair since we are convinced that AMOS will support us in the process of achieving a boost in efficiency while reducing costs in the maintenance sector.”

❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙ 13

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Middle East MRO focus

MRO in the Middle East continues to be seen by operators, suppliers and manufacturers as an area of growth and opportunity. Investment is taking place at a rapid rate, and partnerships and joint ventures continue to be formed. Jason Holland investigated the challenges facing Middle Eastern MROs and how the market is likely to play out in the next few years.

he aviation industry in the Middle East has long been regarded as a growth area, and it is still developing rapidly — recession or not. Throughout the current economic woes, many companies in the region adopted a strategy of looking proactively to the future in terms of seeking out potential investments and other opportunities. Relatively speaking, the impact of the global recession has been less dramatic than in many other regions.

The future of the Middle East’s MRO industry should be seen in the context of the above average growth of passenger and freighter traffic into and through the region — which will necessarily require MRO work, and thus a growing maintenance industry. Firstly, there are a lot of strong domestic airlines, which will increase

T

14 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

the total amount of work done. Emirates, for example, currently has an incredible number of aircraft on order.

Secondly, the general MRO landscape provides significant benefits for potential non-local customers. Large scale investment and expansion continues to take place in oil-rich places like Abu Dhabi, and this means that modern facilities are being established. Concurrently, airports are developing at a fast pace. The lack of a modern infrastructure has traditionally been a problem for the region, and it is one that will only be solved in time — however it is fair to say that there is the political will to do so. In fact, in some areas the rapid pace of development has entirely removed this commercial barrier.

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Emirates Engineering’s hangar complex is among the biggest civil aviation maintenance facilities in the world.

The Middle East as a whole can promote itself as a natural hub between Europe, Asia and Africa. Being within convenient reach of airlines in these continents provides the opportunity; relatively cheap labour rates may often be the clincher in a customer’s decision to use a Middle East MRO, or as Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Chan puts it, there is an “ability to blend professional MRO experience and skills with a labour force from various cultures at a very favourable cost base”.

Strategic vision Iain Lachlan, Emirates’ divisional senior vice president engineering, says that the choice and availability of MRO support boosts competitiveness, while a further advantage maintenance

companies in the region can offer is a “willingness to consider partnerships and relationships”. The last few years have seen countless aerospace giants make their presence felt in the Middle East through such means.

“The number of Middle East MRO operators is growing faster than in any other region over recent years. With a strategic vision, and a desire to continually assess new opportunities, the MRO industry in the UAE, the wider Middle East region and the Indian sub-continent will continue to develop and offer support in areas it feels brings benefit to their region and market,” says Lachlan. “Their willingness to support opportunities in developing businesses is attracting key suppliers and organisations to the region to consider

❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙ 15

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Emirates Engineering is seeking to add additional third party capacity in the future. setting up support units whether as part of a joint venture, a strategic partnership or in support in the growth of their own business model.”

Tied in with this is the decision by many Middle East governments to promote the aviation industry in their countries by means of regulation. Many have adopted more liberal policies, such as open skies. This has eroded the traditional picture that the internal Middle East aviation sector is heavily regulated.

The Middle East, in an aviation business sense, likes to emphasise the fact that it is relatively new on the scene, and so takes a modern approach.

From a maintenance perspective, Chan foresees a major shift in focus from the current situation in terms of the

16 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

region’s main capabilities, in line with the general attitude. He says: “Major changes can be expected in the focus on modern technologies.

Middle East MROs will continuously introduce more capabilities for modern aircraft, engine and component technologies, thus moving away from a traditionally low cost regional provider with a main focus on airframe overhaul of legacy product lines, to a full service provider aiming to support all modern aircraft.”

Many of the companies in the region adopt a global approach, and seek to offer third-party MRO services to other regions. “There is the potential for further opportunities in this area as the choice of MRO options globally is not that extensive, driving the possibility for growth of existing MRO outlets in the region,” says Lachlan.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS

Alsalam was set up to concentrate on servicing Saudi Arabian Airlines, but now counts itself as one of the main players in the Middle East’s third-party airframe maintenance segment.

In recent years, we have seen aggressive global growth strategies being pursued to enable the region to become a global player in the MRO industry.

— Iain Lachlan, divisional senior vice president engineering, Emirates

18 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

This is in addition to the aforementioned growing Middle East fleet. However, a lot of the region’s largest MRO providers used to be the in-house operation of a state-owned airline, so most of the airlines with the biggest fleet have their maintenance needs readily taken care of.

Different approaches have been taken, whether by choice or circumstance, creating the current landscape of Middle East MROs.

Rival schools Emirates Engineering, whose main focus is to support the rapidly expanding Emirates fleet, is in fact still a division of the main airline.

“With the current programmes in work, and known fleet and operational growth scheduled, our facilities and resources are heavily utilised in ensuring the high standard of operation of the Emirates fleet,” reports Lachlan. This has resulted in only a “limited amount” of capacity being available to other potential customers at this time. The company’s facilities are impressive though: its eight hangars form the largest free-spanned structures in the Middle East, with roofs supported by 110-metre long single spans, and it is among the biggest civil aviation maintenance facilities in the world.

There are plans in place for the MRO division to seek third party work in the future, and Lachlan reveals something of the plan: “Emirates

Engineering is continually developing key capabilities in maintenance/component/system support, and skill and educational development, which will result in additional capacity being available in the future. In the longer term, as Emirates expands into additional third party work, it will ensure the market place continues to remain competitive.”

Slightly further down the third-party route is Gulf Air and the kingdom of Bahrain. The airline used to be owned by not just Bahrain, but Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Oman too. Its MRO needs were taken care of by Gulf Aircraft Maintenance (Gamco) in Abu Dhabi – this company has now been rebranded as Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies as the Gulf Air connection was completely lost. Now that Bahrain is in sole control of Gulf Air, the state’s holding company Mumtalakat has signed an agreement with Singapore’s SIA Engineering (SIAEC) to set up a new JV business which will not only service the airline but seek third-party work. A new facility will become operational in 2012 and the JV company will be named Gulf Technics — so this new player in the market will be one to watch in upcoming years.

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) remains one of the Middle East’s leading third-party MRO providers, while servicing Abu Dhabi-based Etihad’s fleet (the airline is

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INDUSTRY FOCUS

Jordan-based JorAMCo has pursued an aggressive global growth strategy in recent years to reinforce its position in the market.

Given the high number of aircraft orders in this region and by other operators serving the Middle East, the MROs must be at the forefront to establish capabilities for all current and future aircraft.

— Jeremy Chan, CEO, Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies

20 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, and its formation precipitated the Gulf Air split). With Etihad’s fleet being so young though, there is less maintenance need and therefore more available third-party capacity. ADAT is owned by the Mubadala Development Company, a strategic investment and development vehicle wholly-owned by the Abu Dhabi government. According to Chan: “ADAT’s strength is based on a blend of strong ownership with a clear strategic approach, exceptional infrastructure, a favourable cost base and professional skills in both management and production.”

The CEO believes that the MRO’s “flexibility” is unknown in the MRO industry, and that the conditions are in place for further expansion.

“The company’s new service spectrum is providing a unique potential for total maintenance cost optimisation through the combination of financial services, integrated fleet and pool management and production services with a market leading efficiency and quality,” he explains.

Among the company’s strengths is its focus on what is currently happening in the aviation sector. ADAT has base maintenance capabilities for all current and future aircraft models, including the 787 and A380, and this has been supported by the establishment of a new A380–size hangar. Etihad is scheduled to

receive its first A380s in 2012, and so these aircraft won’t need their first C-check until 2014. In terms of component capabilities, ADAT has also turned its attention to current and future platforms, such as the 777, 787, A380, and A350. On the engine side of operations, ADAT parent Mubadala signed a deal with General Electric that will mean the MRO will become a specialist centre for the GEnx and the GE90 models.

It is known that Mubadala is seeking to make an MRO acquisition in either North America or Asia, which would further extend its global coverage (it is already the majority owner of SR Technics), but the company also has a few other aerospace projects ongoing closer to home. One is Sanad, which was launched in early 2010 to provide leasing and management of spare components and engines to the airline industry. Essentially, the company will purchase airlines’ components stock and then maintain it on a contract basis utilising Mubadala’s MRO assets: ADAT and SR Technics.

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), meanwhile, had already established its North American presence through its ownership of StandardAero. However, DAE has put the the aviation services company up for sale. Despite its grand entrance onto the aerospace scene, DAE seems to be struggling in the wake of the

INDUSTRY FOCUS

recent financial crisis that enveloped Dubai.

Another oil-rich emirate, Qatar, has yet to really make its mark on the third-party MRO scene. This could change very rapidly though.

With the controversial award of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar, there will be additional traffic to an already fast-growing emirate, and investment is already being put into a new international airport in Doha, which is scheduled to open in 2012. Qatar Airways currently relies on third-party companies to carry out its maintenance work. It remains to be seen how it will approach its MRO needs once it relocates to the new airport, where it will have the option to bring maintenance work in-house.

Jordan’s JorAMCo remains one of the major third-party providers in the Middle East. It was initially set up as flag carrier Royal Jordanian Airlines’ maintenance and engineering department, but became an independent concern in 2000, specialising in narrowbody and Tri-star aircraft. The MRO says that in recent times it has pursued an “aggressive growth strategy to reinforce its position in the market”, which has entailed doubling the size of its facilities, enhancing its aircraft capabilities, incorporating integrated ERP solutions, increasing its workforce and establishing a dedicated training academy.

In Saudi Arabia, the government was a lateadopter in pursuing a policy of promoting its aviation sector. But once the decision was taken, it resulted in the privatisation of the country’s flag carrier and the emergence of two low-cost carriers. MRO provider Alsalam was set up to concentrate on servicing Saudi Arabian Airlines, but now counts itself as one of the main players in the Middle East’s third-party airframe maintenance segment. The company has three widebody hangars capable of housing 747-400-sized aircraft, and prides itself on the wide range of support shop capabilities it has on offer, including composite repairs.

with the expansion of various industry partnerships, as evidence of the region’s long-term health.

Lachlan also predicts a rosy outcome for Middle East MRO. “The potential for future growth remains. Strategic plans for regional MRO growth are evident and they will continue as the region develops for companies that wish to grow,” he comments. “In recent years, we have seen aggressive global growth strategies being pursued to enable the region to become a global player in the MRO industry.”

Chan concludes by re-emphasising the importance of the growing amount of aircraft traffic in the region. “Given the high number of aircraft orders in this region and by other operators serving the Middle East, the MROs must be at the forefront to establish capabilities for all current and future aircraft including EntryInto-Service support or even aircraft selection support,” he says. “With a continuing trend of outsourcing and pressure on business case optimisation for all airlines, the most successful MROs will be able to offer a full spectrum of services with a clear focus on total maintenance cost optimisation for the airline through a long-term partnership.”

■

Clear focus The Middle East, then, remains a fast-growing aviation sector, and this includes its MRO segment. The available domestic work will continue to increase at a rapid rate, as will third party customers from Europe, Asia and Africa.

With this growth it seems likely that other maintenance companies will enter the market, or existing ones will expand, as demand necessitates increased supply.

Inevitably, there are still many questions surrounding the region, primarily based on the relatively short history of the aviation industry in the Middle East, the fact that developments are still ongoing, and because the industry is “not yet at a mature stage”, as Chan points out. Nevertheless, he looks to the major infrastructure investments that are under way, along

❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙ 21

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Company profile: FL Technics Few regions suffered a more painful recession than the Baltic states. Yet one Lithuanian company, FL Technics, not only survived the recession but thrived, recording profits right through the downturn. Now the maintenance company is looking to build on its unrivalled expertise with the 737 in the region, as Alex Derber reports. hile India and China hog the limelight when aviation growth in discussed, other parts of the globe have equally encouraging expansion trajectories.

Airline fleets across Eastern Europe and Russia will continue to rebuild (there were actually more aircraft in the region 15 years ago) over the coming decade. In its Current Market Outlook, Boeing points out that 150 million people live within three hours’ flight of Moscow, adding that “long distances between cities and underdeveloped highway and rail systems make air travel particularly attractive”.

The manufacturer forecasts the need for 960 new aircraft in the region over the next 20 years and these, naturally, will require additional maintenance capacity. US consultancy TeamSAI predicts a compound annual growth rate for the Eastern European and Russian MRO sector of approaching 10 per cent. This would be the highest in the world, marginally above China and India.

W

22 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

Eastern Europe and Russia currently represent three per cent of global MRO spend, at roughly $1.8bn, but this could rise to $2.4bn per year by 2013, according to Frost & Sullivan, and to $5bn by 2020 if TeamSAI’s forecasts are correct. Eagerly eyeing a piece of that pie is Lithuanian MRO FL Technics.

Third party deliverance Emerging from the maintenance department of the now defunct Lithuanian Airlines, Vilnius-based FL Technics inherited an organisation that had already begun to see the value of third-party maintenance work. In 2005, Lithuanian performed its first D check for an outside customer; by 2010, 95 per cent of FL’s work was third-party, the rest accounted for by Small Planet Airlines, part of Avia Solutions, which owns FL Technics.

“One of the best things that happened to this organisation was that it became a thirdparty operator. Our quality is driven by cus-

tomer demand — third parties who will go to other providers if we don’t do a good job. That has accelerated the development of this organisation,” says FL Technics CEO Jonas Butautis.

Having been part of Aeroflot during the communist era, Lithuanian Airlines recovered its independence in 1991 and Lithuania became one of the first countries behind the former iron curtain to receive a Boeing 737. This means its engineers, and consequently those of FL Technics, have unparalleled experience with the aircraft in the region, which has been a mixed blessing for the company.

Butautis explains: “I’m not saying the CIS carriers are not demanding, but they have five or seven years’ experience with the 737 and for them we are the centre of expertise because our people have 20 years’ experience. But we always want to benchmark ourselves against the best in the world. When we work with Western customers and specialists they tell us how we can improve – then we can

INDUSTRY FOCUS

FL Technics has plans to treble its total number of line stations in Europe before 2013 as part of a $25m investment programme. pass that improvement onto CIS countries as well.”

This quality drive prompted FL’s management to reassess its customer base a couple of years ago. With almost all of its clients hailing from Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS, the board discussed attracting more Western customers both for the above-mentioned improvement and the lower credit risk.

In 2009, one of its customers, Russia’s KDAvia, folded. “We were not exposed too much but, yes, we had some wipeouts. However, it showed us our weak points and we created internal credit risk managing processes, press monitoring and so on, and it’s made us more disciplined,” comments Butautis.

Economic recovery has also lessened the risk of airline bankruptcy hitting FL’s balance sheet, and the company still boasts plenty of non-Western customers, with ex-Soviet states now accounting for about 80 per cent of its client base. Along with fatter margins, working with such airlines offers other advantages, as Butautis explains: “We understand those markets: we speak Russian, we know the customs, we know everything. In the future we plan to balance out a bit and have something like a 70:30 ratio, but we will remain focused on CIS countries like Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.”

FL’s present customers include Belarus’ Belavia; Russian airlines GTK Rossiya,

Transaero, Nordavia and Donavia; and French operator Europe Airpost.

Standing apart Competing with FL in the region is one of the giants of the MRO business, Lufthansa Technik (LHT). The German company has made no secret of its ambitions in Eastern Europe and Russia and has pursued a vigorous growth strategy in the region. Lufthansa Technik’s Vostok, Sofia and Budapest companies give the company a commanding presence in Russia, Eastern and Central Europe.

Butautis, however, regards the gradual encroachment on FL’s backyard with equanimity. “It’s anyone’s game,” he says. “Even Lufthansa Technik, as dominant as they seem, earn half their revenue coming from their own airline so it’s not so big a threat. There’s too many dollars changing hands in MRO markets for any one company to be that dominant or threatening.”

The CEO’s approach does, though, hide a deep admiration for LHT, and he wants his own company to replicate the one-stop shop model so successfully employed by the German MRO. “It’s a good example of the type of organisation we want to become,” he says.

“Lufthansa is number one in CIS countries, no question. But why is there no clear alternative? For us, we want to become the number one alternative.”

To achieve this, FL will have to compete with a cluster of independent MRO shops stretching from the Baltic to Turkey, all offering similar labour cost advantages to Lithuania. Yet rather than compete on man-hour rates, Butautis is aiming to position FL as the go-to provider in the region for high-value products such as spares pooling, landing gear overhauls and training programmes.

Declaring that there’s “no joy” in competing with countries like Turkey and Romania on labour rates, Butautis describes how FL transformed itself in only two years from an MRO shop deriving 90 per cent of its revenue from hangar work, to one focused on premium products: “Eighteen months ago we launched six separate business lines with higher-valueadding products. In 2010 our hangar revenue will correspond to less than 40 per cent of our total revenue; it will be our record profit and we were profitable through the recession.”

In keeping with FL’s new direction, when asked how his company attracts new customers, Butautis cites its flexible approach, lack of bureaucracy and customer care; not its prices. When pressed, he answers: “Yes, we could offer a lower price and still be profitable.

But why do that and ruin the market when the customer actually needs that higher standard of care and flexibility? For instance, we have lawyers working 24/7 to create a contract that would take other organisations a week because

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INDUSTRY FOCUS

CEO Jonas Butautis is aiming to position FL as the go-to provider in the region for high-value products such as spares pooling, landing gear overhauls and training programmes. they have law firms in the US actually doing the process.”

Back to basics Despite its customer-orientated approach, in some areas FL Technics hasn’t lost sight of the bottom line. The company’s labour rate advantages make high-cost regions like nearby Scandinavia and the UK a tempting target for man-hour-heavy activities like line maintenance.

The MRO has plans to treble its number of line stations in Europe before 2013 as part of a $25m investment programme that will also see it ramp up base maintenance capacity. At present, FL’s base sales are three times higher than line, but that could change once the company adds to its present network of nine line stations, especially if outsourcing trends for line maintenance continue.

FL is not ignoring its hangar work, either, despite moving away from a reliance on base maintenance sales. The global downturn saw CIS airlines slash frequencies and flight hours, which meant they could defer C and D checks. With the recovery underway, though, FL and other MROs expect a glut of airlines to come in for heavy checks. “We saw the recession hit the hangars very heavily, but we are overloaded now and are entering 2011 with a very good revenue visibility,” says Butautis.

24 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

In fact, FL is so overloaded that it estimates that the base work it turns away would account for a quarter of total heavy maintenance sales.

To rectify this, the MRO said in June that it would increase hangar space at Vilnius to 21,500 square metres, allowing it to service 12 aircraft simultaneously. That remains an option, but Butautis reveals that other possibilities are also being considered.

“We could build in Vilnius, but in the last few months we have started looking at several different options: starting something from scratch; renting hangars in Poland; or acquiring a company with full operations that is in trouble but has hangars, people and certificates,” he says.

Funding for FL’s expansion and investment programme will come from an IPO that had been expected in December, but has now been put back. Gediminas Ziemelis, president of FL parent Avia Solutions, said in a statement: “We have decided to suspend the IPO because we believe that our shares are worth more than the price offered by investors. We hope that we will soon have the opportunity to prove it as soon as the situation in financial markets stabilises. We expect that we will return with a public offering in early 2011.”

Building on a profitable downturn That an IPO was necessary at all was down to economic collapse in the Baltic

states, as Butautis explains: “No business can get any financing in Lithuania. Neither us, nor the manufacturers, nor anyone else — the banks just don’t give loans. Because of that there’s plan B to accelerate growth. Once we go through the IPO it will be very easy to talk to the banks because we will be more transparent, audited and so on. So I think we’ll come back to the banks with another question when the recession turns the corner in a year or so.”

Yet, bar a lack of financing, FL had little to complain about during a global downturn that hammered Lithuania. “Strange as it sounds, I’m very happy that it happened because it actually helped us,” says Butautis. His reasoning is easy to follow: FL Technics’ costs centre on a country with 20 per cent unemployment and substantial downwards pressure on wages, whereas almost all of its revenues stem from countries that are recovering. Russian domestic air traffic, for instance, picked up by a third in 2010.

And the good times, for FL if not Lithuania, may roll on if Butautis’ prediction that “the cost base will be sustainable for another few years because I don’t think the economy will pick up”, bears out.

To capitalise on its good fortune, FL is building on its expertise with the 737 and is also adding an A320-family line, “acquiring capabilities across all the product ranges”. Butautis believes that FL should receive certification for A320 engineering, spare parts, technical training, line and base maintenance by January 2011. In addition, he is confident that the company will be offering A320 spare parts before April 2011.

Other aircraft types, such as the 757, 767 and Bombardier CRJ family also interest the Lithuanian MRO. “Usually we are very customer driven,” says Butautis. “If we see the development of the fleet in the region we hold initial talks with customers and if we can generate a good customer base we apply capabilities.”

Much will depend on the success of the delayed IPO, of course, but despite a lukewarm response from the markets, FL’s current business is thriving and its approach concords with modern aircraft maintenance trends.

Butautis sums up the new reality: “The MRO business is becoming more capital than labour intensive. You just need a few very smart people and cash behind you to generate MRO revenue. We will move more towards premium, capital-driven products and that will differentiate us from the typical low-cost operation in Bulgaria or Turkey where they are competing against man-hour rates, which I think is a nowin situation.”

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TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

Creating space for MRO business

Aircraft hangars are long-term investments for their owners/operators and thus require careful planning before construction can begin. We asked planners and builders of different hangars, as well as the main supplier for fabric doors, about their experiences and solutions for maintenance facilities that will not stop working.

26 â?&#x2122; Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 â?&#x2122;

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

uilding an aircraft maintenance hangar necessitates detailed analysis of the MRO requirements of the facility’s operator and careful planning of the site’s layout and features. Given that the site will likely last for several decades, the hangar and any associated structures must fulfil not only the user’s immediate needs but also accommodate requirements, such as fleet/MRO business growth, which may arise in the long-term future.

Panagiotis Poligenis, senior consultant on maintenance and engineering at Lufthansa Consulting in Cologne, recently advised Silk Way Technics (SWT) on a green field MRO facility project at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku. The MRO arm of the Azerbaijani cargo carrier Silk Way Airlines plans to build a hangar that can accommodate up to two widebody aircraft and also be used for light as well as heavy maintenance.

The company requested Lufthansa Consulting’s support to evaluate the current hangar design and to provide valuable information in terms of determining the allocation of support facilities such as material storage, wheels & brakes shop, cabin interior shop, etc. In addition, an analysis on optimising the hangar layout in terms of ‘lean production’ was performed.

“The optimal planning base to tackle such a project requires a clear strategy and vision by the operator about what is required for the time being and what the hangar shall be able to accommodate in the long-term perspective,” states Poligenis. “Such a high value project needs to be based on a hangar design to be able to fulfil the requirements of at least thirty years.”

B

Short- and long-term needs The first step is to produce a plan covering how the site should be occupied in the shortand long-term future. This will determine what aircraft types are to be serviced, what processes the planned work will involve, and how the business is expected to develop over time. For example, aside from supporting its own fleet, SWT is to offer third-party MRO services in the future. This analysis should finally lead to the required hangar size and layout.

Poligenis’ team, which included a maintenance expert from Lufthansa Technik Maintenance International and an associate architect who had built a number of comparable aircraft maintenance hangars, recommended a facility with a clear span of 160m (525ft). This would allow heavy maintenance to be undertaken on two 747s, while still leaving space for light maintenance work to be conducted on up to three narrowbody aircraft.

❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙ 27

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

Building an aircraft maintenance hangar requires detailed analysis of the MRO requirements of the facility’s operator and careful planning of the site’s layout and features.

Another area the consultants focused on was the layout of workshops, storage space, offices and other support facilities in and around the hangar. Apart from the review of current plans the consultants provided information on how the building should accommodate supply chain requirements during MRO work, how the apron and landside periphery should be laid out, or any plans for an employee canteen, according to Poligenis. He recommended locating the material storage space in an area of the workshop complex at the back of the hangar, which could be expanded in the future if the business grows. A canteen, on the other hand, could be situated in a separate building near

28 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

the site’s perimeter. This is not just because the canteen is of indirect relevance to the MRO processes but also to avoid the catering suppliers from having to go through, and possibly delay, the security checks for airside material deliveries.

He anticipates that ground will be broken in mid-2011 and that construction work will take between one and two years. He estimates state of the art hangar buildings — with a nonclearspan of 160m — to cost between €25m to €30m ($33-39m), excluding docking systems. “[A hangar building] depends on what you want to have: a simple shelter for your aircraft or a maintenance facility that will fulfil

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TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

Questions that must be asked in planning a hangar include: what aircraft types are to be serviced? What processes will the planned work involve? And how is the business expected to develop over time? your requirements over the next 30 years. [That means] ensuring low operating cost, environmental sustainability and working conditions for the employees, which they deserve to accomplish their work with the required precision.”

Economic use of material Rollo Reid, technical director of John Reid & Sons (Reidsteel), states that the firm’s hangars are designed “to fulfil the requirements of customers, not the requirements of the customers’ architects.” The company has developed and patented an arch span frame construction that is geared towards economic use of material. Minimum eaves height, small ground loads and less demanding foundations

30 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

are typical features designed to keep the building costs under control. It is also important to note that Reidsteel makes its own doors, and this helps the company to design cost effective hangars within dimensional limitations. Over the past 20 years, the Dorset-based family business has erected approximately 1,000 hangars around the globe.

A recent example is a hangar at RAF Valley in Anglesey, northwest Wales, where the Royal Air Force conducts fast jet flight training. The principal contractor for the £20m ($31m) training and maintenance complex was the UK construction and regeneration group Morgan Sindall. Reidsteel came into the project as a commercial partner and tendered an alternative design for the hangar. The structure was

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

changed to create a tighter roof curve at the wishes of the client which enabled it to efficiently adopt its own construction system while maintaining the functionality of the original design. These changes not only lead to significant savings in steel tonnage but also reduced the number of foundations required at the same time as minimising the loads that these foundations had to withstand.

The MRO hangar and fixed base operation (FBO) facility of Rizon Jet, a Bahrain-based executive aircraft firm, at London’s Biggin Hill Airport is another recent project. The complex covers a total area of 13,000m2 (140,000ft2) and includes customer facilities, such as a VIP lounge, crew rest areas, flight briefing facilities and offices, on either side of the central maintenance hall. The main challenge was to realise a clearspan of 88m (289ft) at a relatively shallow building depth of 40m (131ft). At the same time the airport operator imposed height restrictions, which prevented the employment of a more efficient roof construction; the clear height of the hangar is 9.6m (31.5ft).

This was further complicated by the client’s request to install cranes with lift capability of up to two tonnes (4,400lb). Reidsteel installed

two underslung cranes, which are supported by four crane beams and can operate independently from each other across the whole hangar area. “We always knew we could do it,” says Reid; “what was quite surprising is that we could do it cost effectively. You could always put a mass of steel up there, but we didn’t do that. We designed a very efficient system.”

Reid urges customers to plan maintenance hangars with generous dimensions and foresight, and not to believe that larger facilities will necessarily be more expensive than smaller ones. He reports that many clients are misinformed and want to tailor the hangar too tightly around their aircraft, for example, keeping the general height low and building an extension around the vertical stabiliser “to save a few square metres of sheeting material”. Such apparent savings are costly or, worse, impossible to rectify later on when more space or flexibility is needed. “They never say ‘oh b*gger, I made it too big’,” jokes Reid; “they only say ‘oh b*gger, I made it too small’!”

Building challenges Ted Oberlies, vice president of engineering at Ghafari Associates, a Dearborn, Michigan-

❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙ 31

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

Maintenance hangars should be planned with generous dimensions and foresight, and customers should not believe that larger facilities will necessarily be more expensive than smaller ones.

32 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

headquartered architectural and engineering firm with satellite offices in India and the Middle East, explains some of the challenges in the planning of aircraft hangars. “Everything from building materials to utilities and overheads must be evaluated for its functional need, life cycle cost and impact on other building elements. Another common challenge we face as designers and engineers is a tight schedule afforded by clients to properly plan and develop the design. Typically, too much time is spent deliberating and administrating the launch of the project, often forcing aggressive schedules for design and construction.”

The company has designed or participated in the building of a number of international aircraft MRO facilities, including AeroMexico’s

heavy maintenance base at Guadalajara International Airport, Mexico; FedEx’ A380 maintenance base in Memphis, Tennessee; and Qatar Airways’ MRO complex at New Doha International Airport. Main challenges during the construction are work planning, scheduling and the management of subcontractors. This will in most regions be complicated by different climatic conditions, which will impose varying demands and allow only certain time windows for effective, quality construction. “Large hangar superstructures are typically complex, and require sophisticated schemes for material staging, subassembly and erection,” explains Oberlies. “[For example,] hangar floor systems constitute some of the more complex concrete systems in buildings today. Slab thickness, pressure formulation and reinforcement are all serious structural considerations, especially in the presence of poor soil conditions, higher water tables and/or under-floor utility systems and tunnel networks.”

Operational systems and equipment for the maintenance of aircraft have a significant impact on the design and construction of a hangar facility. Oberlies emphasises the importance of identifying the need for aircraft access installations and similar equipment in the early planning stages. “Once major systems such as cranes, telescopic platforms and docking systems are justified, their specific designs are developed. All this is completed before we con-

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

sider the size and structure of the hangar envelope. Heavy cranes and overhead platforms impose substantial dead and live loads on the building roof structure. The required strength of that structure will influence its depth and thus a component of building height above the clear operating area of the hangar.”

Lightweight construction Lightweight construction is a speciality of Rubb Building Systems. The company produces frame-supported tension membrane buildings.

It has its roots in Norway, where it originally supplied structures to the oil industry. The first aircraft hangar was erected for United Airlines’ 757 line maintenance at Boston’s Logan International Airport in 1992. However, just eight years later, the 54m by 55m (177ft x 180ft) facility had already become too small.

United decided to fly 777s from Boston to the Far East in 2000 and ordered a hybrid building with a membrane roof and insulated metal walls that was 78m (255ft) wide and 82m (270ft) deep.

The swop-over highlighted one of the main advantages of the unconventional building type: the 757 hangar was simply dissembled to

be erected again elsewhere. United initially wanted to put it up at Seattle Tacoma Airport, but this proved to be impossible due to conflicting building height restrictions. It was intermittently stored at Rubb’s premises in Sanford, Maine, and later sold to Pan American Airways to be assembled again at Sanford Airport in Florida. But this plan also failed when the reincarnation carrier of the former brand faltered in 2004. Nevertheless, the building survived and was finally re-erected by Shaheen Air International in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2008.

Rubb is participating in the planned construction of an air cargo and aircraft maintenance complex for Hawaiian Airlines at Honolulu International Airport. The first tension membrane section will have a span of 84m (275ft), be 105.8m (347ft) deep and will be used as an aircraft maintenance facility. The second tension membrane section will also have a span of 84m (275ft), be 58m (190ft) deep and will be used initially as an air cargo facility. However, the plan is to erect a separate, dedicated cargo facility, when the business expands, and then this second structure will be extended to function as a second hangar facility.

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❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙ 33

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

Some clients imagine a cost saving as a result of tailoring the hangar around the shape of the aircraft, but any reduction in the cost of cladding is illusory, as any savings are far outweighed by inefficient load paths in the structure and the high cost of irregular cladding areas.

Large hangar superstructures are typically complex, and require sophisticated schemes for material staging, subassembly and erection.

— Ted Oberlies, vice president of engineering, Ghafari Associates

34 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

Gordon Collins, director of marketing, reports that the company’s basic design could be employed for free spans of up to 91m (300ft), provided the building does not need to withstand excessive wind or snow loads.

Above this maximum width the roof truss components would become too large to be transported in standard 40ft containers and for the hot-dip galvanising process, which make the structure virtually maintenance free. The PVC-coated polyester fabric has a lifetime of approximately 20 to 25 years. Ultraviolet light causes the inherent plasticisers to migrate and the material to become brittle.

One of the challenges so far has been transport to locations far away from the company’s production facilities in Norway, the UK and US. The resulting cost disadvantage was exacerbated in regions with generally low labour costs, such as Africa, Asia and Latin America,

where conventional buildings could be erected at more competitive rates. However, Rubb merged with the Norwegian fabric structure manufacturer Hallmaker last year, which has its own production facility in Poland and a share in another one in China. This could prove to be a convenient gateway for the growing market in Asia.

Fabric doors PVC-coated polyester is also the main building material for Megadoor. Megadoor is a part of Cardo Entrance Solutions, which also includes the globally recognised Crawford brand for door and docking solutions. Recent projects include the A350 paint hall for Airbus partner STTS in Toulouse and a single-bay A380 hangar for Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies in the UAE. The company is also a contractor for Hawaiian’s aforementioned planned cargo and maintenance complex.

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

Better sealing is a central advantage of vertically lifting fabric doors over traditional bottom-rolling steel doors, according to Pierre Varlamoff, sales civilian aviation and aircraft manufacturing at the company’s US base in Peachtree City, Georgia. He states that deflections in the hangar structure, e.g. due to wind loads and temperature variations, lead to gaps around the individual leafs of steel doors. This is the main reason why fabric doors have been installed, especially in aircraft paint facilities, where the atmospheric conditions need to be carefully maintained for optimal paint results and any leakage of environmentally harmful substances must be avoided.

The fabric doors consist of the inner and outer skins, which are supported by horizontal aluminium profiles inside. All this is hoisted up and down by electric motors at the top. The skin runs tightly against aluminium door jam profiles on either side, and the door has a rubber seal at the bottom. Depending on the overall width, the door is split into individual sections connected by vertically-lifting mullions. The space in-between the inner and outer skin has to be hollow for the door to be lift and fold up. It cannot be filled up with insulation

material like in conventional steel doors.

However, Varlamoff states that approximately 80 per cent of heat is usually lost through air leakages around conventional doors, and that the fabric door design has thus proven itself in regions with extreme temperatures.

Another advantage of vertically lifting fabric doors is that there is no need for pockets on either side of the hangar, where conventional door leafs are parked during aircraft movement. Varlamoff reports that this has opened up crucial space in Continental’s 737 MRO facility in Cleveland, Ohio, when the airline changed from Classic to the wider-wingspan NextGeneration series. A fabric door can thus be an option to continue using older facilities that cannot be expanded, for example, due to surrounding structures.

Retrofitting existing hangars with fabric doors is one of Megadoor’s main business fields. Varlamoff reports that the company has delivered around 600 doors to the US military and has thus become the Pentagon’s main supplier for hangar doors. Another growth area is hangars in tropical regions, which originally had no doors but now need to be closed due to new FAA regulations for MRO facilities.

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❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙ 35

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

Screw by wire They are sometimes hidden from sight, other times indiscriminate blemishes on the outer skin of an aircraft and most times absent from conscious thought. They have changed little in the history of aviation fabrication and maintenance but are the metaphorical glue that binds. “They” are fasteners. And they are about to be given intelligence, says Tony Arrowsmith. n the modern aviation industry, mechanical fasteners have been the mainstay of the way in which aircraft are constructed in terms of transforming inanimate hoards of panels and mechanical anatomy into the completed flying machine.

Up until now, these small yet unassuming bolts and rivets had been attached and unattached manually. However, the industry could be on the precipice of something entirely new.

Potentially turning the world of mechanical fasteners upside down is a company named Telezygology, or TZ Inc., from Sydney in Australia, which has teamed up with Textron Fastening Systems to bring its first commercial application of Intevia intelligent fastening tech-

I

36 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

nology: a latching system for aircraft that meets the aerospace industry’s needs for security and systems integration and management.

These Intevia-enabled systems enhance aircraft cabin security and provide an all-new technology platform for customisation and maintainability of entire fleets and individual aircraft. Intevia systems comprise a network of mechanical fastening or locking devices driven by smart materials actuation, embedded microprocessing and integrated sensors for status reporting.

Dickory Rudduck is the founder of Telezygology, a prolific inventor and the architect of this new fastening technology that we

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TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

Up until now, mechanical fasteners have been attached and unattached manually. can expect to see being drip fed into the market very soon. He spoke exclusively to ATE&M about the concept of intelligent fastening, the science behind it, and the potential implications for the aviation industry.

“The simple concept behind this fastening technology is that rather than use a physical connection like a conventional screwdriver, we use a signal, which activates an actuator,” says Rudduck. With their embedded systems and actuators made from shape-memory materials, intelligent fasteners allow remote assembly via wireless devices. At the end of a product’s lifecycle, they can disassemble just as easily, supporting an increasingly important need to reclaim components at the end of the product’s life.

The intelligent fasteners get their “brains” from an embedded system that consists of a microprocessor, an energy switch, and sensors that monitor fastener status. Guided by firmware, this embedded system performs two important functions: it switches energy to the fastener’s actuating mechanism, and it links the intelligent fasteners to larger computer networks.

The fastener becomes just another device that lives on the network, and this communication capability gives intelligent fasteners much of their flexibility. Using standard programming tools, users will be able to create software applications that add functionality to their array

38 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

of intelligent fasteners. They might, for example, program an assembly sequence into the embedded system. Or they could add security features. Or they might gather information about fastener status and history in a central database.

These fasteners feature software that allows them to communicate with a computer network via wired or wireless connections, making it easy to capture information about fastener status and maintenance history. They can also be programmed to act as security devices, controlling access to sensitive components.

In the instance of the Intevia fastener, the actuators are made of an unusual material called shape memory alloy. This material is novel in that is able to “remember” its original, cold-forged shape: returning the pre-deformed shape by heating and in addition, the material is a lightweight, solid-state alternative to conventional actuators such as hydraulic, pneumatic, and motor-based systems.

Talk to me Naturally, this advanced material is well suited to the aviation industry and indeed is already used in other applications as well as proliferating in other cutting-edge industries.

Rudduck believes this could be the next big step in operation and maintenance. “We have suddenly made this big leap between a normal mechanical latch and this type of product which

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

is able to communicate with everything else at the same time as having the advantages of being remotely activated,” he says.

Communication is another of the key attributes this technology can offer the aviation market. “Sensing capabilities mean that the device is able to figure out various things that are happening to itself at the same time as being aware of the external environmental information such as temperature, humidity, vibration or whatever inputs are required to be linked in to it,” remarks Rudduck.

Although these fastening devices could be applied to many industries, TZ singled out aviation as a key focus, primarily because maintainability and re-configurability are extremely important. “We therefore looked through the aviation industry to find areas that could benefit from having some intelligence attached to them, for example overhead lockers, external latches on aircraft or latch down radomes,” he comments.

This of course adds an unprecedented amount of security, meaning that latches cannot be interfered with. “As soon as we introduce technologies that are effectively networked you can have authorisations for spe-

cific engineers or members of staff in the form of a swipe card or a pin code, for example.”

The security advantage of an Inteviaequipped aircraft versus one that uses screws and bolts is therefore undeniable. It is as different as a door equipped with an electronic security access system and one with no lock at all. In the case of overhead lockers, passengers wouldn’t be able to open them as they pleased as the pilot would be able to secure the interior of the aircraft with the flick of a switch, particularly in a situation where the aircraft is experiencing turbulence.

Given the number of accidents that have occurred when screwed/bolted hatches have inadvertently been left open — causing chaos and even disaster in flight — being able to confirm that all hatches are sealed on the flight deck would be a boon for both crew and passenger safety.

One of the other notable advantages to the technology is that Intevia-equipped aircraft would be far quicker to manufacture, maintain, and reconfigure, from removing hatches and avionics to changing out the seats. “We have also demonstrated that they are lighter, so they save weight, and naturally one of the things

The simple concept behind this fastening technology is that rather than use a physical connection like a conventional screwdriver, we use a signal, which activates an actuator.

— Dickory Rudduck, founder, Telezygology

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❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙ 39

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

that comes with this is a complete audit trail of information of the actions that have been created against it, which is a key benefit to manufacturers and suppliers,” says Rudduck. “So the normal manual systems that are currently used — for example writing things down on a piece of paper – can be replaced with much more real time functions.”

The challenges of developing this kind of groundbreaking technology have been many and varied. Cost, for example, could present a problem in the wrong applications. On a fastener-to-fastener basis, the intelligent fasteners will cost two to five times as much as their mechanical counterparts, however, says Rudduck “these fasteners are lighter and saving weight saves fuel”.

Notwithstanding, this technology is not really intended as a drop-in replacement.

Intelligent fasteners will mostly find a home in

40 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

new products where they can add value by performing tasks that ordinary fasteners can’t.

What’s more, intelligent fasteners may substantially lower total costs — by simplifying assembly operations such as the replacement of robots and other expensive assembly tools — effectively removing some of the capital intensity of manufacturing.

And that’s not all, says Rudduck. “In terms of maintainability the thing that I really believe is that in terms of time of maintenance procedures, the industry will just save masses of time because everything is automated. For example engineers will receive automatic logs when actions have been performed.

“There are other opportunities too where, because these fasteners have sensors built into them, they are able to measure their local environment and I believe that in the future these devices will be important in terms of predictive maintenance.” In other words, predicting that something is about to go wrong so that the device can be replaced before it actually fails.

Streamlining Intelligent fasteners could also prove their worth if the assembly ever needs service. For example, the fasteners could store serial numbers and other identification information. To ensure that only authorised personnel are able to service the product, the fasteners might be hidden, out of reach of the consumer. For added security, the signal to open or close the fasteners could even be encrypted. There’s no danger of marring the product during disassembly or stripping threads when the product is reassembled. Additionally, the fastener’s microprocessor could record when the product was serviced and even what repairs were done.

Fasteners can be internal and integrated with the part and allow pre-finishing. Critical assembly sequences are reduced and tool damage to the part during assembly is eliminated, while the assembly process itslelf is deskilled. Furthermore, the fasteners control the access and log of assembly/disassembly and service procedures, whilst hastening assembly, eliminating the need for fastener stations.

Another advantage is that they can monitor a part and log failure modes, or provide secondary switching, say to hold a light in place and also turn it on and off.

One of the major hurdles blocking the integration of this technology in the industry, said Rudduck, has been in gaining the confidence of engineers. Naturally, questions have been raised. Do the built in actuators add a new electronic failure mode to fastening? Will these fasteners unlock at the wrong time?

“In aviation one of the biggest challenges is the certification and approval process. We have

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

various other businesses where we are using this technology but aviation is notoriously safety conscious. We have therefore decided to partner with a supplier because we definitely require the expertise within the industry to be able to get through all the approvals.” In some of the ways that matter to design engineers, these new intelligent fasteners won’t differ much from today’s mechanical fasteners. Since they are mechanical fasteners, the joint strength considerations remain the same.

But in other ways, the new fasteners really do change things. On the plus side, they promise to provide additional design freedom because tool access and assembly sequence often dictate the fastener locations as much as joint strength does. With this new-found freedom it will be easier to place a joint anywhere one requires. The intelligent fasteners, because of the built-in actuation, can also eliminate some of the tolerance or orientation issues associated with assembly tools. Cross threading could be a thing of the past.

There shouldn’t be any packaging difficulties, despite the onboard electronics of the intelligent fasteners. They tap into a product’s existing wiring and electronics. Rudduck

believes that smart fasteners can attain much smaller sizes than conventional mechanical fasteners — in part because they overcome traditional spacing constraints and in part because smart materials will allow them to be smaller. Additionally, intelligent fasteners could also be the darlings of the aircraft recycling industry, since they can be released simultaneously and disassembly is simpler.

With the new Intevia latching and rapid reconfiguration solutions, Dickory Rudduck’s invention could be the launch pad to a new generation of technology that will bring fundamental changes to the way aircraft are designed, serviced and adapted to meet market requirements.

Even though this technology hasn’t yet proliferated the market, it has been rigorously tested and applied to applications in the aviation industry, concludes Rudduck: “At the moment these technologies are not up and running per se, but we have enough interest from various partners to say that it will be successful and we are in a position to decide on who we are going to run with.” With this in mind, it could be time for the conventional nuts and bolts to make way for their intelligent cousins.

■

In terms of time of maintenance procedures, the industry will just save masses of time because everything is automated. For example engineers will receive automatic logs when actions have been performed.

— Dickory Rudduck, founder, Telezygology

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❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙ 41

ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

Caring more with each passing year Total-care maintenance and health-monitoring business has grown considerably for engine manufacturers in the past decade and looks set to grow even more. Chris Kjelgaard reports. roviding total-service maintenance and health packages has grown to be very big business indeed for the manufacturers of today’s commercial-aircraft engines. From the inception of “power by the hour” (PBH) engine total-care deals back in the 1980s — Snecma says it was signing long-term care agreements on CFM56 engines as early as 1988 — the business has grown to the point where today all engine OEMs regard providing such maintenance-and-performance packages as a vital commercial activity.

So big is the business that GE Aviation currently has a backlog of service contracts totalling approximately $60bn across its CF6, CF34, GE90, CT7 and CFM engine lines, according to Bill Millhaem, general manager of material for GE Aviation. (The partners in the CFM International joint venture, GE and Snecma, each support the CFM56 independently with total-care packages). Other OEMs have huge contract backlogs too: Rolls-Royce has even more customers for total-care packages across its widebody-engine lines than

P

42 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

does GE, according to Paul Sheridan, Ascend Worldwide’s head of risk advisory for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“Rolls-Royce don’t quite require [customers to sign up for] total care but they have quite a strong grip on maintenance for their engines,” says Sheridan. Rolls-Royce is so strongly focused on this business that it has trademarked the name ‘TotalCare’ for its customised-service packages. Since the phrase ‘total care’ is commonly used throughout the airline industry for engine total-service agreements, this was probably a smart move.

Meanwhile, International Aero Engines (IAE) — which despite being a joint venture provides its own total care arrangements — says its comprehensive-management approach to engine care has been so successful in the market that more than 80 per cent of all V2500 engines ordered since 2007 are backed by an IAE Aftermarket Service Agreement.

Additionally, more than 80 per cent of IAE’s future current order backlog is covered by longterm service agreements. Today, IAE actively

manages some 2,800 engines enrolled in Aftermarket Service Agreements and some deals extend well into the 2030s.

Pratt & Whitney, too, has seen its total-care business grow substantially in the past few years. The company’s Fleet Management Programmes and maintenance-material management business now total “in the doubledigit billions” of dollars, says Bob Merrill, service programmes director for Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines. P&W now has “close to 2,000 engines” under management for services ranging from monitoring to comprehensive power-by-the-hour Fleet Management Programmes. Among them are more than 200 engines the company is managing of its own accord on a total-care basis and up to another 200 overhauled in its customers own shops but for which P&W is providing spares and other support.

In addition to supporting total care for its own PW4000 and PW2000 lines, P&W also provides partial care for the IAE V2500 line and OEM-quality, FAA-approved life-limited parts

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Today, all engine OEMs regard providing total service maintenance-and-performance packages as a vital commercial activity.

(LLPs) for the CFM56-3 engine series, under the Global Material Solutions brand. (P&W is not an OEM for the CFM56-3 but has obtained the only supplemental type certificates ever granted for non-OEM LLPs for the engine.)

A master-stroke on P&W’s part was to develop the EcoWash engine water-washing service, widely viewed as the industry-leading engine wash in terms of improving engine efficiency and environmental friendliness. In addition to offering EcoWash services for the V2500, P&W also offers it for the CFM56 and it has won some high-profile CFM56 customers for the service – including Southwest Airlines, which has contracted P&W to provide EcoWash service across its entire fleet of Boeing 737s, the largest in the world.

Total-care branding and practices An indication of how important total-care packages have become to engine OEMs is the fact that each manufacturer has registered its own trademarked name for its service-product suite. In 2010 Snecma launched the ‘EngineLife’ brand, emphasising that its CFM56 total-care packages are available to cover the entire lives of its engines. Pratt & Whitney uses the Global Service Partners brand for its across-the-board portfolio of services. GE Aviation uses the name On Point Solutions. IAE simply calls its aftermarket business Aftermarket Services and its deals centre on fleet hour agreements available for all V2500 engine models.

Where companies provide what Snecma calls “à la carte” menus of optional services, customers tend to contract for different services for different periods of time, according to P&W’s Merrill. For instance, customers usually contract for full-overhaul, full-maintenance packages for periods from five to 15 years — “for at least one [shop visit maintenance] interval, seven to 10 years on average,” he says.

However, P&W generally sees customers contracting for line-maintenance and water-wash-

44 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

ing for lesser periods of time, say one to three years on average — though some contracts include automatic renewals if both parties agree to this condition. Some OEMs — IAE is one — look for long-term contracts covering a comprehensive selection of services.

But whether OEMs offer total-care packages as a widely ranging menu of optional services or as a more comprehensive core package plus a more limited selection of optional additional services, the range of services provided will usually include some basics, says Sheridan. One is engine-overhaul performance restoration during one of the three major shop visits. Also often included is replacement of LLPs, and this is usually accomplished in the same shop visit in which performance-restoration work is carried out.

Depending on the deal concluded and the number of engines involved, other total-care services can include repair of foreign-object debris (FOD) damage; transportation of engines and parts; unscheduled maintenance (often a euphemism for repair of in-flight damage to engines); providing spares and spare engines; installing engine upgrades; performing inspections and parts replacements to comply with service bulletins and airworthiness directives; and health-monitoring of engines in-flight. “The technology is increasingly there to do [healthmonitoring] real-time,” says Sheridan, noting that “Rolls-Royce do a lot of that — they would know the status of almost everyone” operating the company’s engines on a total-care basis.

The growth of the engine total-care business According to Sheridan, engine OEMs’ totalcare business started taking off in the 1990s, as the manufacturers began offering cost-perhour guarantees “and offering a lot more certainty” to their customers in terms of managing risk. Total-care services have become much more profitable in the past 10 years, “and more driven by manufacturers,” he says. “All kinds of customers are buying into it as well,

and for all aircraft types” — even large airlines, particularly if they only have small numbers of a given engine type in service.

Although the acceleration of the total-care business has paralleled the rise of the Parts Manufacturing Authority (PMA) industry, which produces non-OEM spare parts, the OEMs’ interest in providing total-care packages appears not to be driven by concerns on their part about losing business to the PMA providers. Snecma says that even as the availability of non-OEM parts has grown, most CFM56 operators have preferred to continue using OEM aftermarket services and materials to protect the residual value of their assets.

Similarly, Millhaem says that the growth of GE Aviation’s total-care services — which the company began offering in the mid-1990s as an evolution of its traditional T&M business — “has mainly been driven by our customers’ needs for varied maintenance solutions”.

PMA-industry growth is “not a major driver” of OEMs’ increased focus on total-care business, agrees Sheridan. “The manufacturers probably think of it as a side benefit, in that it probably restricts PMA-provider competition,” he says. “Their main reasons are to win longterm maintenance contracts.”

The choice for the OEM is to seek the guaranteed, steady income provided over the long term by a total-care package versus the slightly higher-margin but less certain income it receives from selling parts and shop-visit overhaul services on an ad hoc basis. Another factor leading OEMs to tout their total-care services is that “packages tend to have retention – customers don’t go away from them,” adds Sheridan.

The attraction for customers For customers, engine total-care packages offer a variety of benefits. A key attraction is that total care can effectively provide an insurance policy against maintenance risk, says Merrill. In turn, the outsourcing of this risk can help airlines keep their costs down. “Because of the comprehensive service coverage, our customers do not need to hire experienced staff to manage the maintenance of their V2500s,” says IAE. “This allows our customers to stay lean and focus on their core business of flying passengers.” In addition, says IAE, “data shows engines managed and maintained

by IAE are more reliable … with the OEM, the customer receives expert advice and highly reliable maintenance at a predictable cost.”

Snecma says its EngineLife agreements always guarantee savings for its customers.

The best way to reduce customers’ direct operating costs is to decrease the number of shop visits that engines require during the life of the

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ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

agreement, argues the French company.

Accordingly, in its EngineLife deals, Snecma aims to keep each engine on-wing as long as possible; optimise the work-scope for each shop visit; and maximise the number of OEMproduced, repaired and used serviceable parts supplied to each engine.

However, P&W’s Merrill says that, depending on circumstances, a customer doesn’t always find it cheaper to contract for a total-care package than for a T&M deal. For instance, if the customer’s engine ends up staying on-wing for more than 20,000 hours without encountering any problems, the customer might not feel as good about paying for total care as it would if the package pays for the retrofit of a new, upgraded ring case for a 94-inch widebody engine two years after the customer has bought it.

Another big advantage of total-care contracts to customers is that nowadays most OEMs offer a variety of financing options to help customers pay for their engine maintenance. “GE’s OnPoint Solutions are more than just power-by-the-hour agreements,” says Millhaem. “They can also be by the cycle, or firm fixed-price not to exceed, or fixed-price labour schedule in dollars per shop visit, including flexible payment terms – or some combination … depending on the customer and the nature of the contractual relationship.”

Merrill says that, in addition to offering a monthly payment system for flight hours accrued during the month (the classic PBH schedule), Pratt & Whitney offers other totalcare payment options. These include payment on other schedules for accumulated hours; level payments at set intervals; partial payments every month plus additional payments at the time of each shop visit; and on occasion a “step-rate programme”, whereby the customer can begin the agreement at a low initial payment rate but step up later to a higher rate to fully cover the costs of the flight hours each engine has accumulated.

Where more than one engine type is available for an aircraft, engine OEMs can offer total-care services strategically as an integral part of a deal, say Sheridan. OEMs can do this either to win a single deal from the airline or to try to win a potential customer for other products in its line as well. Strategic marketing of hardware-andtotal-care packages results in some carriers concentrating on one OEM’s products. For instance, Aer Lingus operates A320-family aircraft powered by CFM56s and its A330 widebody fleet is powered by GE CF6-80E1 engines.

Differing philosophies among OEMs Different OEMs have differing philosophies about how they offer their engine total-care

46 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

service products. For instance, Snecma customers can pick from an “à la carte” menu of all maintenance, monitoring and materials services on CFM56 engines beyond line maintenance (which Snecma notes airlines have a regulatory responsibility to support themselves). However, competitor International Aero Engines does not offer such a menu, instead providing a core, multi-service product as standard and offering several additional services as options.

“IAE’s Aftermarket Services Agreements include a comprehensive core suite of coverage, and offers some optional services as well … This is not a sliding-scale or menu of services,” notes the joint venture. The venture’s core suite of services includes all shop labour; materials and fees; a clear outline of modifications and upgrades included throughout the term of the agreement; and coverage for foreign-object damage and damage that may be deemed beyond economic repair. IAE’s optional services are for customers wanting more coverage for items such as LLPs, engine accessories, line replaceable units (LRUs), transportation and emergency spare-engine support.

Other engine OEMs offer wide ranges of total-care packages. For instance, GE Aviation offers packages ranging from complete engine maintenance solutions for airlines to material logistics for MRO customers — a business that GE says is growing in popularity with airlines that have their own maintenance, repair and overhaul operations and also with third-party MROs. Snecma’s à la carte menu includes everything from a basic time-and-material (T&M) contract for a shop visit to services such as spare-engine support, fleet management, full engineering monitoring, remote diagnostic work, LRU support, on-site support — and so on.

For Pratt & Whitney, providing EcoWash services and Global Materials Solutions LLPs are only the tip of the iceberg. “Total care starts

Airlines don’t want to tie up their capital in expensive items. Engine maintenance is not where an airline wants to put their money.

— Bob Merrill, service programmes director, Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines

with engine health monitoring,” and extends through line maintenance tasks such as boroscoping and blade-blending — performed either

by P&W itself or by its global network of support providers — to off-wing shop activities, says Merrill. In the past three to four years, as P&W has witnessed its total-care business grow strongly, the company’s aftermarket business has seen “a lot of step-up” in providing line-maintenance services and spare-engine support.

According to Merrill, P&W’s total-care business has also evolved to include performance assessments for customers, which look at the performance of the engine and airframe together and suggest ways to create improvements. These assessments can include fuelmanagement programmes, which analyse factors such as cruise speed selection, flap settings and engine de-rate procedures on take-off in order to help airlines operate more fuel-efficiently.

Future prospects for total care There are three major reasons to think that the total-care business is going to become even more important to OEMs — and their customers — in future than it is today, says Merrill.

He believes that, as engine technology evolves and commercial-aircraft powerplants become more complex, airlines are increasingly likely to want to have the OEMs handle maintenance rather than perform it themselves.

The situation is analogous to the average driver facing the need to change the oil in his or her car, Merrill argues: It is easier to let a specialist company which is expert at performing the task change the oil rather than doing it oneself. In the case of the airlines, “they will want to put it back to the manufacturer, because that’s where the expertise is,” he says. “The LEAP-X and Geared Turbofan are complex engines.”

Secondly, as the airline industry becomes ever more competitive, airlines will be disinclined to want to put money into heavy-maintenance equipment and resources. “Airlines don’t want to tie up their capital” in expensive items such as engine test cells, says Merrill.

“Engine maintenance is not where an airline wants to put their money.”

Third, as airlines’ desire to outsource increases and OEMs benefit from this, the OEMs themselves will have greater opportunities to bundle services, argues Merrill. If he is right — and the past decade’s growth in engine OEM total-care business does nothing to indicate his outlook is too optimistic — then the commercial-aircraft engine manufacturers will be viewing the aftermarket-services business with much hope.

■

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ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

CF6 reaches 40 years old: MRO market review

48 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

Over the life of the 52 C-5M aircraft programme, CF6 engines save more than one million tonnes of carbon dioxide and over 90 million gallons of fuel compared to the current TF39-powered C-5 fleet. With regards to time on wing, the –80C2 will provide 10x improvement.

CF6 MRO revenues are set to decline about 17 per cent by 2019, but the maintenance market remains intense. Scott Hamilton reviews the CF6’s maintenance record and future outlook as it reaches four decades Aviation’s CF6, the company’s first commercial widebody engine, will be 40 years old next year. There is an installed base of 4,500 — including about 3,000 of the -80C2 series — but the market forecast for the rest of this decade shows an overall decline in revenue projections, according to data analysed by the MRO consultancy AeroStrategy.

The CF6 market includes five versions powering a dozen basic aircraft and several subtypes, ranging from the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 that introduced the CF6-6 to the world, to the latest versions on Airbus’ A330200/300.

The older versions, the CF6-6 and CF6-50, have already been eclipsed by the -80 series, but the -80A and -80C2 will see sharp declines in MRO revenue by 2019, according to David Stewart, a partner at AeroStrategy, which focuses on the global MRO market.

AeroStrategy projects that CF6 MRO revenues will end this year at just under $2.7bn, declining to $2.2bn through 2019, about 17 per cent. The -80E is a bright spot, with revenues projected to increase 90 per cent

GE

through 2019, according to Stewart.

Revenues from the -80C2 will decline by 25 per cent but will remain at a hefty $1.5bn, according to Stewart.

Stewart believes MRO spending on the CF6 will decline for every subtype except the -80E as CF6-powered aircraft are retired. He concurs with the Airbus view that the A330 passenger family will sell for the balance of this decade, tapering off as the A350 and Boeing’s 787 replace the A330 passenger version. Airbus sees production continuing at a lower level for the A330F, particularly if its parent, EADS, wins the hotly contested competition for the US Air Force’s KC-X aerial refueling contract. The USAF, which so far has seen two KC-X contracts voided due to improprieties and mismanagement of the 2002 and 2008 deals, seeks to procure 179 tankers in the current competition.

Contenders are the EADS KC-45, based on the A330-200 and CF6-80E engines, and the Boeing KC-767 with Pratt & Whitney engines.

The USAF currently suggests an award in January 2011, but in November made another misstep in procedures that has both

❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙ 49

ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

CF6 Models CF6-6: CF6-50:

DC-10-10, 747-100SR DC-10-30, A300B1/B2/B4 /200/300, KC-10A, E4 CF6-80A: 767, A310 CF6-80C2: A300-600R(P)/600R(F), A310-204/300, 767-200 /200ER/300(P)/-300(F)/-300ER(P)/300ER(F) /400, 747-200BAF/300/400, MD-11, C-5M, Kawasaki C-X CF6-80E1: A330-200/300 Source: GE Aviation

Five active operators 41 active operators 57% within US 15 active operators 160 active operators

27 active operators

sides talking about a protest after the contract is awarded.

Procurement would be at a dinky 15 aircraft a year from full production beginning in 2015, extending the need for new-production CF680Es at least through 2027 should EADS win.

Airbus plans to build A330 cargo aircraft on the same production line in Mobile, AL. Airbus currently foresees sales of the A330 freighter extending perhaps up to seven years after A330P production ends.

GE Aviation’s Chuck Williams, CF6 product line manager, says his company foresees another 10 years of production for the -80C2 and 15 years for the -80E, reflecting new aircraft sales and spare engine requirements, including the C-5, KC-X and KC-45 potential.

Stewart also notes that the MRO life for the CF6 continues well beyond the production life of the aircraft for which they were designed.

Future opportunities The CF6-6 first appeared on the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 in 1971, followed by the Airbus A300B2 in 1974. The engine was an outgrowth of the TF39 developed for the military’s Lockheed C-5, the first jumbo jet which had its maiden flight in June 1968 (preceding the first flight of the Pratt & Whitney-powered 747-100 in February 1969).

CF6 Market Share $ million 2019

2010 CF6-6 CF6-50 CF6-80A CF6-80C2 CF6-80E Total Source: UBM Aviation/AeroStrategy

50 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

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ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

The CF6-80C2 is the engine of choice for the USAF’s C-5M upgrade, which includes replacing the TF39s with the newer technology, more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly -80C2. It’s also on the new Kawasaki C-X, an aircraft that looks sort of like a twinengine Boeing C-17 and which represents a major step in Japan’s emerging aerospace industry.

“Over the life of the 52 C-5M aircraft programme, CF6 engines save more than one million tonnes of carbon dioxide and over 90 million gallons of fuel compared to the current TF39-powered C-5 fleet. With regards to time on wing, the –80C2 will provide 10x improvement,” says a GE Engines spokesperson.

Stiff competition Competition in the engine MRO market is stiff, with OEMs often tying MRO packages with point-of-sale contracts to lock in future profits. It’s widely acknowledged in the industry that engine makers have been known to literally give away the engine to a customer providing MRO and parts contracts are awarded to the OEM. Further, as engines now achieve on-wing times of 10 years or more

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ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

(compared with the one-two years of the early CF6-6 days, for example), the service business is all the more important for OEMs to recoup their research and technology costs in developing the engines.

The leading engine MROs illustrate the OEM-MRO tie-in. OEMs take four of the top five providers positions in 2009 and six of the top ten, according to MTU (a joint venture partner in International Aero Engines and a key OEM provider in a variety of other engines) and AeroStrategy.

Not surprisingly, GE is the leading engine MRO provider. GE’s MRO business is part of the company’s core philosophy to provide services (and profits) in addition to the hardware units like engines or the aircraft leasing arm, GECAS. GE’s philosophy is also to be No. 1 or No. 2 in any business it is in.

AeroStrategy’s Stewart provided a listing of those major companies and airlines undertaking CF6 maintenance, but he did not rank them (see page 56).

Shifting market The CF6-80 has long-since eclipsed the CF6-50 as the engine of choice for newly

ordered aircraft. The CF6-50 retains a wide user base of 620 engines and 42 operators, 85 per cent of whom are freighter/cargo.

GE’s Williams says that the CF6-80 will eventually be eclipsed by the GE90 (although not directly replaced), which is on the 777.

There are currently 1,000 GE90s on the 777, which shares its power with Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney. GE is the exclusive engine supplier for the 777-300 and the 777-200LR. Then there is the GEnx, developed for the 787 and 747-8, and from which technology has already been borrowed for the CFM International LEAP-X, the engine for the A320neo and COMAC C919. The LEAP-X will supersede the ubiquitous CFM 56 series now on the 737 and A320.

In the meantime, MRO providers have to shift with the transition from CF6-6s to -50s to -80As and -80C2s to -80Es. This is where an MRO like Kelly Aviation Center comes in.

Going independent Kelly was formed in 1999 following the closure of Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX. A USAF Request for Proposals for the Propulsion Business Area (PBA) Competition

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ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

CF6 MRO Revenue 2010 $million $195 7%

$130 5%

$225 8%

$125 5%

CF6 MRO Revenue 2019 $million $370 17%

$125 6%

$186 8% $27 1%

CF6 Subtype Installed Base, 2010 $2,000 75%

190 4% $1,500 68%

730, 16% 220, 5%

410 9%

Key CF6-6 CF6-50 CF6-80A CF6-80C2 CF6-80E 3120 66%

Top 10 Engine MRO Providers 2009 MRO Provider

GE Engine Services Rolls-Royce Lufthansa Technik MTU Maintenance Pratt & Whitney Delta TechOps Air France/KLM American Airlines Snecma Services SR Technics Sources: MTU Aero Engines, AeroStrategy 2009 All engine types

54 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

Market Share

14% 10%-13% 7%-9% 7%-8% 6%-7% 6% 5%-6% 4% 3%-4% 3%

for the F100, TF39, T56, and aircraft accessories workloads maintenance put Kelly into business. Teaming with Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center and Lockheed Martin, the group won the contract and Kelly Aviation Center was born. The company is now 95 per cent owned by Lockheed Martin and five per cent by Rolls-Royce.

Up to this point, Kelly’s work has been military focused. It has only recently begun to expand into the commercial arena, with the CF6-50 MRO in operation now and expansion underway for the -80. Kelly has 15 commercial customers for the -50 for 10-15 aircraft, largely cargo carriers in the Americas.

Kelly has one million square feet of hangar space, four test cells and provides complete overhaul of all the modules and components.

“Other shops don’t have these,” says Frank Cowen, business development director for Kelly. “There are four or five other -50 shops in the States, but not full service.”

Cowen says Kelly has a goal of signing -80 contracts this year for shop work; field work is

ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

already underway. Kelly is bringing in all the required -80 equipment. It has finished first training with Lufthansa and the second round is to be completed in February. First inductions are planned for July.

None of the contracts are long-term and each is for a single engine. None at this time is power-by-the-hour, though Cowen says Kelly will grow into it.

The challenges of a new entrant into this concentrated market are large, however. While Cowen points out that Kelly is an established company, it is new to commercial business.

“If they have economies of scale, then they have a chance to compete,” says AeroStrategy’s Stewart. “The critical success factor is that for a primarily military organisation, can they compete in the commercial market, write a complex contract without getting the shirt ripped off their back, and have a good turn-time? They have to move in a very competitive commercial market with competitive time and cost. That’s by no means easy.”

Cowen is confident. “You have some exceptional people out there doing work now,” he says. “An advantage is that we have a very flexible workforce, very customer-ori-

ented, customise solution for the operator.

This gives us an edge over the big existing OEM type operations.”

Kelly is non-union and Texas is a lower-cost state (wages, cost of doing business) than Europe and other parts of the US. “Our rate is very, very competitive with everybody else compared with operations in US Northeast or unionised costs, or OEMs, or Lufthansa,” Cowen said.

Kelly will be going up against GE, which was actually a former JV partner up until two years ago, by expanding into commercial CF650/80 MRO. To use a Texas term, GE suggests to operators that they ought to ‘dance with the one that brung ya’. GE’s Williams believes that relying on GE’s experience with designing the engines, parts and relying on OEM aftermarket support — including original parts rather than Parts Manufactured Approval (PMA) — provides better quality and reliability. “We don’t recommend PMA as an option or a choice,” Williams says.

“Temperatures approach 3,000F, and parts are under high pressure move at super-sonic speeds. PMA vendors don’t have access to all the design data to understand why a part was designed that way.”

Our customer-driven focus is around total cost of ownership.This is the long-term operating cost on wing, fuel consumption and time-on-wing.

We’ve historically focused a tremendous amount of attention on these. Once it comes in for overhaul, we look for ways to increase the time on wing.

— Chuck Williams, CF6 product line manager, GE Aviation

❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

55

ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

Companies undertaking CF6 maintenance Asia Model

Status

ANA

-80C2

Self

China Airlines

-80C2

Self

EGAT

-80C2

Self

Japan Air Lines

-80C2

Self

LTQ Engineering

-80E

Self

Model

Status

Air France Group

-50, -80C2, -80E

Self, Third Party

GE Caledonian

All except -80E

Third Party

Lufthansa Technik

-50, -80C2

LH, Third Party

MTU Maintenance

-50, -80C2

Third Party

-80C2

Self

-80A, 80C2

Self, Third Party

Model

Status

-80A, -80C2

Self, Third Party

-80A, -80C2, -80E

Self, Third Party

All

Third Party

-50, entering -80

Third Party

-50

Third Party

Europe

TAP Portugal Turkish Technic

USA American Airlines Delta TechOps GE Engine Services Kelly Aviation Center MTU Canada EGAT is joint venture EVA Airlines, GE. LTQ is joint venture Qantas and Lufthansa

Source: AeroStrategy Cowen takes a different view, and had this to say about PMA parts. “They are FAA certified,” he says. “If these are not rotating parts, PMAs can be very cost-effective.”

The nuts and bolts One of the challenges facing MROs is the increasing on-wing time achieved by engines.

The OEMs love to tout on-wing time as major benefits in sales campaigns, and clearly the airlines want times to be as long as possible.

The original CF6-6 initially had 1,300 cycles on wing equaling 2-3 years between overhaul.

“That was pretty good by 1960s-1970s standards,” says Williams. “Our HT-90 pro-

56 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

gramme effectively doubled the time on wing.

FedEx is pretty much the world’s only operator of this engine, so they are benefitting tremendously from this.”

Today’s CF6-80C2 has an on-wing time of around 20,000 hours.

“Our customer-driven focus is around total cost of ownership,” says Williams. “This is the long-term operating cost including fuel consumption and time-on-wing. We’ve historically focused a tremendous amount of attention on these. When engines come in for overhaul, we look for ways to increase the time on wing.”

With 20 years on-wing, MROs have to be concerned about the evolving environmental regulations. This is another area where dealing with OEM MROs is an advantage, says Williams. “[GE] always tries to design beyond the current standards as much as we can,” he says. “Even though the earliest CF6 design originated in the 1960s and had its EIS in 1971, we foresaw fuel consumption being a significant driver. Long before it was cool, in the 1980s, we were focused on emissions. We anticipated at some point there would be regulations that would come

out that would be tighter than the current ones.”

GE can help the installed base with ‘Product Improvement Packages’ (PIP) to achieve gains in fuel consumption and environmental regulations. Kelly’s Cowen says independents can work with PIPs as well. “We can use DERs and PMA parts to help on the cost side.”

Other independents tout their innovation.

Lufthansa Technik claims it developed an “advanced repair” that is an “innovative method that eliminates the need to scrap an expensive engine component.” Lufthansa says the compressor rear frame stationary CDP air seal in the -80C2 can be repaired, “a solution clearly superior to purchasing a spare part [from GE], both financially and technically.” The CDP costs about $100,000, the MRO says.

The company also points to what it calls the Superalloy Welding at Elevated Temperatures to repair low-pressure turbine nozzles, also on the -80C2, as another cost-cutting repair technique. “The SWET procedures enable even heavily worn parts to be repairs, thus reducing the scrap rate,” Lufthansa says. The MRO claims that by following such practices, overhaul costs can be substantially reduced. ■

[GE] always tries to design beyond the current standards as much as we can. Even though the CF6, which essentially began its design in 1960s and had its EIS in 1971, we foresaw fuel consumption being a significant driver. Long before it was cool, in the 1980s, we were focused on emissions.

— Chuck Williams, CF6 product line manager, GE Aviation

❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

57

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

CURRENT SITUATION PAPER-BASED PROCESSES

IDENTIFIED PROBLEMS

EFFECTS OF PROBLEMS

MANUAL INPUT, MANUAL RETRIVAL, ERROR PRONE, FREQUENT DUPLICATION OF TASK, & LATENCY OF DATA

BENEFITS LESS THAN Q2 MONTH ROI SIGNIFICANT COST SAVING

HIGH UNNECESSARY COSTS INEFFICIENCY OF OPERATION

SOLUTIONS ELECTRONICALLY MAP EXISTING PROCESSES INTEGRATE SOLUTION WITH EXISTING APPLICATIONS

Integration of flight operations and technical services During 2005/06, Skypaq conducted significant research into areas of inefficiency and unnecessary cost within the airline industry. A survey of 60 airlines discovered that the low levels of integration between flight operations and technical services was identified as a significant contributor to the problems. aving identified the problems, further research indicated that costly paper based operational and maintenance processes were the root cause of the inefficiency. A solution became apparent immediately. If Skypaq could develop a suite of regulatory approved solutions that electronically map existing ‘paper based’ processes, it would unlock the full potential of the existing processes and remove significant costs from the operation.

A specific process, the ‘Aircraft Technical and Maintenance Logbook’ process, was selected to prove the business case to the airline industry. The logbook was chosen as it is the primary source of technical and operational data and its upkeep is a regulatory requirement for each and every flight. The logbook records

H

58 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

malfunctions, block times and fuel consumption. It also records all maintenance carried out on an aircraft between scheduled base maintenance visits. In a nutshell, it is one of the most important documents for various departments within an airline.

The next stage of the development was to create a framework whereby the major stakeholders (airlines, regulators and Skypaq) clearly laid out their objectives. These objectives had to be addressed and met, otherwise the paper based process would remain in place.

In 2008, Finnair decided to overhaul their existing paper based technical and maintenance logbook process in three stages: 1. Electronically map existing processes with a regulatory approved software solution that

would work across their diverse fleet of aircraft (Embraer, Airbus, Boeing, MD and ATR).

2. Integrate the new electronic solution with existing MRO and operational software applications.

3. Address other costly areas of the process with ‘lean technology software’.

Finnair went to the market and following an extensive tendering process, Skypaq’s suite of applications was selected due to its high level of functional capabilities and the ‘less than 12 month return on investment’ fundamentals.

The applications were evaluated and deployed across the Finnair fleet, while full regulatory approval followed with minimum impact on Finnair internal resources.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Finnair’s Toni Kivinen, development manager of flight operations, stated: “Skypaq’s range of MRO software and integration solutions have removed up to 30 per cent of the direct labour costs associated with maintaining paper based processes and improved the quality of managing the airworthiness of the Finnair fleet.” In particular, Finnair now enjoys unrivalled visibility across its fleet and has achieved: ❏ Live feed of aircraft flight hours and cycles to flight operations and technical services. ❏ Accurately scheduled maintenance planning and improved co-ordinated availability of technicians, tool and parts. ❏ Minimal cost and managed impact regarding the routing of aircraft with limitations. ❏ Live feed of CRS data ensuring compliance with regulatory, safety and emissions requirements. ❏ Direct defect data transfer by the technician from the hanger to the aircraft. ❏ Accurate reporting of aircraft status and complete transparency with regard to parts and warranties. ❏ Work order data input at the technicians desktop during scheduled line maintenance. ❏ Multiple aircraft management from one location. ❏ Airworthiness directives and service bulletins tracking.

Finnair is utilising the solutions within its own bases and also at remote bases in the US, Europe and Asia.

In additional to the Finnair technicians, third party providers of MRO services are also utilising the benefits of the remote maintenance capabilities of the solution.

John Corrigan, Skypaq company director, states: “The Skypaq suite of applications provides an ideal solution for any airline seeking to eradicate unnecessary costs and unlock the full capabilities of their processes.” Corrigan goes on to say that “software as a solution not only works, but Skypaq has proven that the solution is delivered on time and within budget”.

The winning philosophy of the solution within the Finnair operation is underpinned by the fact that the solutions are agnostic of all hardware platforms, software applications and communication networks. In fact, the deployment of Skypaq has resulted in the data transmissions costs between the aircraft and the head office averaging €40 per aircraft per month.

Finnair’s Kivinen concludes: “Unnecessary visits by technical staff to the aircraft have now finally been eliminated. This has resulted in greater productivity and improved turnaround times”.

Skypaq and Finnair have now formed a technology partnership and this has resulted in a number of airlines in the US and in Europe initiating an evaluation of the solution. Skypaq chief executive Richard McKenna stated: “Our sales pipeline has seriously ramped up over the last six months due in no small part to the significant cost savings that the software can bring to any airline — small, medium or large. Airlines are now actively seeking out leading edge technologies that have regulatory approval to improve the bottom line and improve operational efficiency”.

■

Skypaq’s range of MRO software and integration solutions have removed up to 30 per cent of the direct labour costs associated with maintaining paper based processes and improved the quality of managing the airworthiness of the Finnair fleet.

— Toni Kivinen, development manager of flight operations, Finnair

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❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

59

DATA & DIRECTIVES

Aircraft data: 737 Classic Operator fleet listing with engine Operator

Operator Country

Equipment Role

Engine Family

Equipment Utilization

Aircraft Count

Engine Count

ADRIA AIRWAYS AEGEAN AIRLINES AERO CONTRACTORS AEROFLOT CARGO AEROFLOT-DON AEROFLOT-NORD AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS AEROLINEAS GALAPAGOS AEROSVIT AIRLINES AIR ALGERIE AIR AUSTRAL AIR BALTIC AIR BERLIN AIR BUSAN AIR CHINA AIR ITALY AIR MADAGASCAR AIR NAMIBIA-NATIONAL AIRLINES AIR NEW ZEALAND AIR NEXT AIR NIPPON AIR ONE [ITALY] AIR PHILIPPINES ALASKA AIRLINES ALASKA AIRLINES ALEXANDRIA AIRLINES ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS ARIK AIR ASIANA AIRLINES ASTRAEUS AIRLINES ATLANT-SOYUZ AIRLINES ATLANTIC AIRLINES [UK] AURELA AUSTRALIAN AIR EXPRESS AVE.COM AVIACSA AVOLAR AEROLINEAS AXIOM AIR BELAVIA BH-AIR BLUE AIR-TRANSPORT AERIAN BLUE PANORAMA AIRLINES BLUEBIRD CARGO BMIBABY BOLIVIANA DE AVIACION BREMENFLY BRITISH AIRWAYS BRUSSELS AIRLINES BULGARIA AIR CAAC SPECIAL SERVICES DIVISION CARDIG AIR CARGO AIR CAYMAN AIRWAYS CHANCHANGI AIRLINES CHILEAN AIR FORCE CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES

SLOVENIA GREECE NIGERIA RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA ARGENTINA ECUADOR UKRAINE ALGERIA REUNION LATVIA GERMANY (PRE-10/90 W.G) SOUTH KOREA CHINA ITALY MALAGASY (MADAGASCAR) NAMIBIA (FMR. SW AFRICA) NEW ZEALAND JAPAN JAPAN ITALY PHILIPPINES UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) EGYPT JAPAN NIGERIA SOUTH KOREA UNITED KINGDOM RUSSIA UNITED KINGDOM LITHUANIA AUSTRALIA UNITED ARAB EMIRATES MEXICO MEXICO NIGERIA BELARUS BULGARIA ROMANIA ITALY ICELAND UNITED KINGDOM BOLIVIA GERMANY (PRE-10/90 W.G) UNITED KINGDOM BELGIUM BULGARIA CHINA INDONESIA BULGARIA CAYMAN ISLANDS NIGERIA CHILE CHINA

PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER FREIGHTER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER

CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3

1684 12645 22036 1174 13481 28186 39116 1560 16972 3338 2515 33346 2002 2266 82817 4004 2032 5118 33207 18089 21205 30633 2170 12223 63668 1396 4095 4188 19431 2002 1684 1319 3368 3700 5526 8101 2446 829 11088 1758 8281 9309 6668 18562 4893 2002 52219 19812 4733 3034 685 1041 6600 4966 1340 50800

1 5 10 1 10 16 17 1 10 1 2 18 1 1 32 2 2 2 16 8 10 17 1 6 28 1 2 2 9 1 1 1 2 4 3 3 1 1 7 1 5 5 5 17 2 1 21 11 5 4 2 1 4 2 2 20

2 10 20 2 20 32 34 2 20 2 4 36 2 2 64 4 4 4 32 16 20 34 2 12 56 2 4 4 18 2 2 2 4 8 6 6 2 2 14 2 10 10 10 34 4 2 42 22 10 8 4 2 8 4 4 40

60 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

Engine Utitlization 3368 25291 44072 2348 26963 56373 78232 3120 33944 6675 5031 66693 4004 4532 165633 8009 4064 10236 66414 36178 42411 61266 4339 24447 127335 2792 8190 8377 38862 4004 3368 2639 6736 7399 11052 16203 4893 1657 22176 3515 16561 18618 13337 37124 9786 4004 104437 39623 9465 6068 1370 2081 13200 9931 2681 101600

DATA & DIRECTIVES

Operator fleet listing with engine (cont...)

Operator

Operator Country

Equipment Role

Engine Family

Equipment Utilization

Aircraft Count

Engine Count

CHINA POSTAL AIRLINES CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES CHINA UNITED AIRLINES CHINA UNITED AIRLINES CHINA WEST AIR CHINA XINHUA AIRLINES COMAIR [SOUTH AFRICA] CONTINENTAL AIRLINES CONVIASA CORENDON AIRLINES CSA CZECH AIRLINES DEER JET DNIEPROAVIA EAST AIR [TAJIKISTAN] EGYPTAIR ESTAFETA CARGA AEREA ESTONIAN AIR EUROPE AIRPOST FLAIR AIRLINES FLYANT CARGO FLYLAL CHARTER EESTI FLYLAL CHARTERS GARUDA INDONESIAN AIRWAYS GEORGIAN AIRWAYS GERMANIA GLOBAL JET LTD. GLOBUS GOL TRANSPORTES AEREOS HAINAN AIRLINES HEAVYLIFT INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES HOKKAIDO INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES HOLA AIRLINES ICAR AIRLINES INDONESIA AIRASIA ION TIRIAC AIR IRAQI AIRWAYS JAL EXPRESS JAPAN AIRLINES INTERNATIONAL JAPAN TRANSOCEAN AIR JAT AIRWAYS JET TIME JET2 JET2 JET4YOU JETCONNECT JETSTAR PACIFIC AIRLINES JORDAN AVIATION KALININGRAD AIR KARTHAGO AIRLINES KENYA AIRWAYS KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES LAS VEGAS SANDS CORPORATION LION AIR [INDONESIA] LITHUANIAN AIRLINES LOCKHEED MARTIN AERONAUTICS CO. LOT POLISH AIRLINES LUFTHANSA LUXAIR MACEDONIAN AIRLINES [MACEDONIA] MADAGASCAR GOVERNMENT MAGNICHARTERS MALAYSIAN AIRLINE SYSTEM MARAGE AVIATION LTD. MERPATI NUSANTARA AIRLINE METRO BATAVIA MEXICAN AIR FORCE MIAMI AIR INTERNATIONAL MISTRAL AIR MSG FLIGHT OPERATIONS MYANMA AIRWAYS NAYZAK AIR TRANSPORT NEW AXIS AIRWAYS NEW AXIS AIRWAYS NIGERIAN EAGLE AIRLINES NOK AIRLINES

CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) VENEZUELA TURKEY CZECH REP.(FMR CZECHOSLOVAKIA) CHINA UKRAINE TAJIKISTAN EGYPT MEXICO ESTONIA FRANCE CANADA SPAIN ESTONIA LITHUANIA INDONESIA GEORGIA GERMANY (PRE-10/90 W.G) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES RUSSIA BRAZIL CHINA UNITED ARAB EMIRATES JAPAN SPAIN UKRAINE INDONESIA ROMANIA IRAQ JAPAN JAPAN JAPAN SERBIA DENMARK UNITED KINGDOM UNITED KINGDOM MOROCCO NEW ZEALAND VIETNAM JORDAN RUSSIA TUNISIA KENYA NETHERLANDS UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) INDONESIA LITHUANIA UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) POLAND GERMANY (PRE-10/90 W.G) LUXEMBOURG MACEDONIA MALAGASY (MADAGASCAR) MEXICO MALAYSIA UNITED KINGDOM INDONESIA INDONESIA MEXICO UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) ITALY UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) MYANMAR (BURMA) LIBYA FRANCE FRANCE NIGERIA THAILAND

FREIGHTER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER

CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3

21022 1332 68538 890 2250 7101 23282 32762 129613 7378 8009 27014 12751 9935 3562 9808 6228 6141 23115 5372 2639 1684 1878 102561 6736 11341 2068 5386 42787 29244 860 11302 1569 1963 22003 1293 2339 15891 2175 34674 11875 10087 4632 36636 7324 17178 12404 10871 21893 10210 7079 34616 275 18600 1740 657 23004 125576 1858 1470 127 1767 74784 423 15861 32214 683 2850 5217 277 1998 5153 1780 2382 3806 8643

12 1 25 2 2 2 8 17 57 3 4 18 4 6 2 4 4 4 17 2 2 1 1 39 4 7 1 4 15 9 1 5 1 1 8 1 1 7 1 15 7 5 4 18 3 7 6 5 13 4 4 20 2 9 1 1 15 63 1 1 1 2 35 1 7 20 2 2 3 1 1 3 1 1 4 4

24 2 50 4 4 4 16 34 114 6 8 36 8 12 4 8 8 8 34 4 4 2 2 78 8 14 2 8 30 18 2 10 2 2 16 2 2 14 2 30 14 10 8 36 6 14 12 10 26 8 8 40 4 18 2 2 30 126 2 2 2 4 70 2 14 40 4 4 6 2 2 6 2 2 8 8

Engine Utitlization 42044 2663 137075 1779 4501 14202 46564 65524 259225 14755 16017 54027 25501 19870 7124 19615 12457 12282 46231 10745 5278 3368 3755 205122 13473 22681 4136 10773 85575 58488 1720 22605 3139 3925 44006 2585 4678 31783 4351 69349 23751 20174 9265 73272 14648 34356 24808 21742 43787 20420 14158 69233 550 37199 3480 1314 46009 251152 3715 2941 255 3533 149568 845 31723 64428 1366 5701 10433 554 3996 10306 3560 4765 7611 17286

❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

61

DATA & DIRECTIVES

Operator fleet listing with engine (cont...)

Operator

Operator Country

Equipment Role

Engine Family

Equipment Utilization

Aircraft Count

Engine Count

Engine Utitlization

NORDSTAR NORWEGIAN AIR SHUTTLE OKAY AIRWAYS OLYMPIC AIRLINES ORENBURG AIRLINES OUR AIRLINE PACIFIC SKY AVIATION PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES PAMIR AIR PEGASUS AIRLINES [TURKEY] PERUVIAN AIR FORCE PRECISION AIR SERVICES QANTAS REPUBLIC OF KOREA GOVERNMENT ROSSIYA RUSSIAN AIRLINES ROYAL AIR MAROC ROYAL FALCON OF JORDAN ROYAL THAI AIR FORCE SAFAIR SAFI AIRWAYS SAGA AIRLINES SAMA AIRWAYS SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES SYSTEM SCAT SEAGLE AIR SHANDONG AIRLINES SHENZHEN AIRLINES SHENZHEN DONGHAI AIRLINES SILVER AIR [UAE] SKY AIRLINES SKYEXPRESS SKYLINK ARABIA SKYNET ASIA AIRWAYS SMARTWINGS SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS SOUTHWEST AIRLINES SPORTS JET LLC SRIWIJAYA AIR SURINAM AIRWAYS SWIFT AIR SWIFTAIR [SPAIN] TAILWIND HAVA YOLLARI TAROM TATARSTAN AIRCOMPANY THAI AIRASIA THAI AIRWAYS INTERNATIONAL THOMSON AIRWAYS TITAN AIRWAYS TNT AIRWAYS TOLL PRIORITY TOR AIR TOUMAI AIR TCHAD TRANSAERO AIRLINES TRAVEL SERVICE AIRLINES TRAVIRA AIR TUI AIRLINES BELGIUM TUNIS AIR TURK HAVA YOLLARI TURKMENISTAN AIRLINES UKRAINE INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES UKRAINE INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES UNITED AIR LINES UNITED STATES MARSHALS SERVICE US AIRWAYS UTAIR AVIATION VIKING AIRLINES VISION AIR [NV-USA] VISION AIR [NV-USA] VIVA AEROBUS WEBJET LINHAS AEREAS XIAMEN AIRLINES XTRA AIRWAYS YAMAL AIRLINES YANGTZE RIVER EXPRESS AIRLINES ZAMBEZI AIRLINES

RUSSIA NORWAY CHINA GREECE RUSSIA NAURU CANADA PAKISTAN AFGHANISTAN TURKEY PERU TANZANIA AUSTRALIA SOUTH KOREA RUSSIA MOROCCO JORDAN THAILAND REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA AFGHANISTAN TURKEY SAUDI ARABIA SWEDEN KAZAKSTAN SLOVAK REPUBLIC CHINA CHINA CHINA UNITED ARAB EMIRATES TURKEY RUSSIA UNITED ARAB EMIRATES JAPAN CZECH REP.(FMR CZECHOSLOVAKIA) REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) INDONESIA SURINAME UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) SPAIN TURKEY ROMANIA RUSSIA THAILAND THAILAND UNITED KINGDOM UNITED KINGDOM BELGIUM AUSTRALIA SWEDEN CHAD RUSSIA CZECH REP.(FMR CZECHOSLOVAKIA) INDONESIA BELGIUM TUNISIA TURKEY TURKMENISTAN UKRAINE UKRAINE UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) RUSSIA SWEDEN UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) MEXICO BRAZIL CHINA UNITED STATES (&TERRITORIES) RUSSIA CHINA ZAMBIA

PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER FREIGHTER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER OTHER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER PASSENGER FREIGHTER PASSENGER

CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3 CFM56-3

1684 70117 2797 48541 10879 4554 657 5659 2353 8875 1328 2020 37672 181 6922 30566 2859 362 794 4532 3100 12185 13211 5159 6983 33695 24279 4383 4136 8760 15686 1374 18243 2091 1692 587955 657 20757 4893 5220 7916 5616 6632 4278 10160 11242 19910 4381 12260 2192 2457 2094 36843 2070 1906 6225 8999 11576 3424 1107 27873 18570 386 174669 15235 4972 657 5220 8748 35049 4205 2289 8421 9636 3858

1 28 3 17 6 2 1 2 1 6 1 1 17 1 5 12 1 2 1 2 1 6 15 3 4 12 9 4 2 6 9 1 8 1 2 191 1 10 2 2 6 3 4 3 3 6 7 4 10 3 1 1 17 1 1 2 4 5 2 1 15 26 1 71 8 2 1 2 3 14 2 2 5 6 2

2 56 6 34 12 4 2 4 2 12 2 2 34 2 10 24 2 4 2 4 2 12 30 6 8 24 18 8 4 12 18 2 16 2 4 382 2 20 4 4 12 6 8 6 6 12 14 8 20 6 2 2 34 2 2 4 8 10 4 2 30 52 2 142 16 4 2 4 6 28 4 4 10 12 4

3368 140235 5595 97081 21758 9108 1314 11319 4706 17750 2656 4039 75343 362 13844 61133 5718 724 1587 9064 6200 24370 26422 10319 13966 67390 48558 8766 8272 17521 31371 2748 36487 4183 3384 1175911 1314 41514 9786 10441 15833 11232 13264 8556 20319 22485 39820 8763 24521 4385 4915 4188 73686 4139 3812 12451 17998 23153 6848 2215 55745 37140 772 349337 30470 9943 1314 10441 17496 70098 8411 4577 16841 19272 7717

62 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

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DATA & DIRECTIVES

FAA airworthiness directives - large aircraft Summary of biweekly listings for the last two months Biweekly 2010-19 2010-17-14

Boeing

737-100 and -200

2010-18-08S

Bombardier

CL-600-2C10 and CL-600-2D24

2010-18-10

BAE Systems

BAe 146 series, Avro 146 series

2010-18-11

Bombardier

CL-600-2C10, -2D15, -2D24

For specified aircraft, do a detailed inspection for cracks and damaged fasteners of the fuselage frames and stub beams and an eddy current inspection for cracking of the inboard chord fastener hole of the frame at body station 639, stringer S-16. If any crack or damaged fastener is found, repair or do a preventive modification IAW SB 737-53-1061.

Supersedes AD 2009-10-10. Install modified or new CPC units, P/N GG670-98002-7, IAW SB A670BA21-022.

Install new aileron interconnect cable pulley guards IAW SB 27-183-36246A. Inspect HSTAs having P/Ns 8489-7 and 8489-7R to determine if applicable S/Ns are installed. Replace if applicable.

Biweekly 2010-20 2010-18-13

Pratt & Whitney

PW40,41,44 series

2010-19-01S

Rolls-Royce

AE 3007A

2010-19-02

Bombardier

DHC-8-201, -202, -301, -311, -315

2010-19-03

Boeing

737-700

2010-19-04

Embraer

EMB-120s

2010-20-04

Gulfstream Aerospace

Galaxy and Gulfstream 200

2010-20-11

Rolls-Royce

RB211 Trent

Perform a local fluorescent penetrant inspection for cracks in the HPC drum rotor disk assembly blade locking and loading slots of the specific stages of the HPC drum rotor disk assemblies from which any of the blades are removed as specified by AD. Remove as appropriate.

Supersedes AD 2009-08-51. For specified engines, remove applicable wheels from service.

Do a detailed inspection of each collector tank flapper valve for the presence of a valve spring, IAW SB 8-28-54. If the valve spring is not present, apply an identification mark. If the valve spring is present, remove the valve spring and apply an identification mark.

Deactivate the auxiliary fuel tanks, IAW a deactivation procedure approved by the Manager, New York Aircraft Certification Office (ACO).

Modify the auxiliary fuel system by doing all the applicable actions IAW SB ST00936NY-D-28-SB-001–K. Do an external detailed inspection for corrosion of the APU, auxiliary and center mounting rods, and rod ends. If any corrosion is found during any inspection, before further flight, do corrective actions IAW SB 120-49-0023.

Revise the Limitations section of the Gulfstream 200 AFM to include the applicable statement.

Perform a one-time, piece-part, full inspection, including all applicable focus inspection Subtasks, of the IP and HP compressor shafts.

Biweekly 2010-21 2010-19-06

Boeing

747

2010-20-03

Bombardier

CL-600-2B16

2010-20-07

International Aero Engines

V2500 and related

2010-20-08S

Boeing

747

Install certain equipment associated with the flight deck door IAW SB 747-52-2293.

For specified S/Ns, do an inspection to determine if the symbol ''24-5'' is marked on the ADG identification plate.

Perform an initial ultrasonic inspection of the HPC stage 3 to 8 drum IAW SB V2500-ENG-72-0594. If cracks or crack indications are identified, remove the drum from service before further flight.

Supersedes AD 2001-16-02. do a detailed inspection, an open hole high frequency eddy current (HFEC) inspection, a surface HFEC inspection, and a subsurface low frequency eddy current (LFEC) inspection for cracking of the forward edge frame of the number 5 main entry door cutouts, at station 2231, between stringers 16 and 23; IAW SB 747-53A2450.

Note: The letter ‘C’ after the AD number denotes a correction to the original AD The letter ‘S’ after the AD number indicates that the AD supersedes a previous AD The letter ‘R’ after the AD number indicates a revision to the original AD The letter ‘E’ after the AD number indicates an emergency AD The letters ‘FR’ indicate the final rule of an emergency AD Please note that the above information is quoted for interest purposes. The latest versions of the ADs issued by the FAA must be used for reference purposes

64 ❙ Aircraft Technology - Issue 109 ❙

THE MRO YEARBOOK 2012 Launched in 2007, The MRO Yearbook is an official annual publication of award-winning magazine, Aircraft Technology Engineering & Maintenance (ATE&M).

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