Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008 - (Page 22)

MRO FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 Bedek Opens New 747 Conversion Hangars High Oil Prices Begin to Impact Composite Materials, Says Fabricator NORDAM The relentless rise in oil prices is dealing a double whammy to the aerospace industry: not only are its fuel costs soaring, but the price and availability of composite materials are becoming quite a worry, says Ken Lackey, chairman & CEO of the NORDAM Group. Composite materials are derived from oil, and Dow Chemical, America’s largest chemical maker, recently announced an additional 25% increase Ken Lackey. in its prices for July just weeks after hiking prices 20% in June. “Composites are a very critical part of our supply chain,” Lackey told Show News. NORDAM uses composites to make airframe structures for commercial, military and business jets. The good news, he said, is that NORDAM has been locked into “some very good” longterm contracts with its suppliers of composite materials. “But now we’re starting to see some of those contracts expire.” Someone is going to have to pay the sharply higher costs of composite materials. “We’re working hard to try to pass it along,” said Lackey, “but obviously you know in the aviation business it’s hard to pass along any cost increase. “We haven’t had to do it in recent years, but we’re all getting to the point now that it’s going to be very difficult for the vendor base to continue to absorb these very sharp increases in prices.” —John Morris In late June, Bedek Aviation Group opened two new hangars for converting Boeing 747-400s from passenger to freighter configuration. The hangars will allow for growth in conversions and heavy maintenance, said Bedek, a unit of Israel Aerospace Industries. The hangars are located at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, and each can accommodate one B747-size aircraft and two smaller aircraft at the same time. The two hangars have a total area of 1.6 million sq ft. Associated Air Center Celebrates 60th Associated Air Center celebrated its 60th anniversary in style at a gala event at the Westin City Center in Dallas, Texas, last month. AAC began operations in 1948, installing surplus radio equipment in former military aircraft that were operated by individuals and corporations. Since then, Dallas-Love Field-based AAC has become a world leader in the maintenance and modifications of Boeing, McDonnell-Douglas and Airbus aircraft. AAC performs completions on the entire range of Boeing narrowbody and widebody aircraft, from the 707 through the 747, Boeing Business Jet and Airbus Corporate Jet. ST Aero/Iberia Maintenance JV Founded Madrid Aerospace Services, a jv between Iberia Maintenance and Singapore Technologies, was officially founded on June 30. Launched with some $4.1 million capital, the new company will specialize in overhauling Airbus A320, A330 and A340 landing gears. EASA OKs StandardAero for PW600 StandardAero has received European Aviation Safety Agency Part 145 approval for Pratt & Whitney Canada PW600-series turbine engine maintenance at its Tilburg, Netherlands, facility. The authorization covers field-level maintenance and on-wing hot section inspections (HSI), as well as HSI capabilities in the facility. Specific engine models covered are the PW610 for the Eclipse 500 and PW615 for the Cessna Mustang. “Deliveries of PW600-powered aircraft in Europe continue to increase,” said StandardAero president and CEO Paul Soubry. “As a leading turbine-engine maintenance repair and overhaul facility in the region, we wanted to ensure we were positioned to support our customers in Europe.” Moog to Open Abu Dhabi Logistics Center Moog Inc., a designer, manufacturer and integrator of precision control components and systems, will open a logistics center in Abu Dhabi to provide rapid response support of its products to airlines operating in the Middle East, Southwest Asia and Northern Africa. “We are committed to delivering a superior level of support for all of our customers around the world, and this new logistics center is a key element of our overall strategy,” said Mark Trabert, group vice president of global support. The new facility, scheduled to open in the third quarter of this year, will be adjacent to Abu Dhabi International Airport. Moog is at Hall H4, Stand F11. Worldwide Interest in Bell’s Huey II Kits Bell Helicopter (Chalet L3-7) is seeing an increased interest in its Huey II kits as operators around the world look to upgrade their older Hueys for extended life and improved performance. Mike Blake, Bell's evp for Customer Solutions stated, “There are literally hundreds of Hueys around the world that can benefit from these kits. Once installation of them is performed the operators basically end up with a zero-time Huey.” The kits represent a major upgrade that involves some 9,000 parts and include a new tailboom, rotors and modifications to the engine for enhanced performance. 22 July 14, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008

Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008 Contents Thirty More Years CFM Reveals New Engine Boeing Reduces Forecast UAVs’ Quiet Revolution Finmeccanica: U.S. Success A Plethora of AESAs BAE North America Plus L-3 Becomes a Prime Better Late Than Never A Peek Behind the Curtain China’s J-10 Revealed Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner Breaking LM’s Hegemony

Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.