Latest about aerospace MRO

AAR celebrates 70 years

Photos courtesy of respective companies

Aviation services provider AAR Corp. is celebrating its 70th anniversary. Among the largest independent maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) companies in North America, AAR serves commercial and government customers from more than 60 locations across six continents.

In 1955, AAR’s founder, Ira A. Eichner, began selling aircraft radio equipment in Chicago. The company flourished, expanding capabilities and opening locations internationally. After more than 40 years of Eichner’s leadership, David P. Storch became AAR’s second CEO in 1996. He built the company’s engine parts business, which became AAR’s largest business unit.

For the past seven decades, the company optimized its parts and services portfolio and has been recognized for its milestones, including becoming the first non-original equipment manufacturer with an FAA-accepted corporate safety management system.

Now a $2.7 billion provider of aftermarket services, AAR is led by John M. Holmes, who became the company’s third CEO in 2018. https://www.aarcorp.com

MTU Maintenance expands in Texas

MTU Maintenance is adding CFM LEAP and GE Aerospace GEnx maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services in the United States. MTU’s site in Fort Worth, Texas, will develop from an on-site service center to full disassembly, assembly, and test facility.

“We are heavily investing in the ramp-up of this site and are strongly committed to providing expertise and capacity to the North American market long-term,” says Michael Schreyögg, chief program officer, MTU Aero Engines.

In 2023, MTU Maintenance moved to a 430,000ft2 facility and has since been expanding its offerings as one of only six exclusive Premier MRO service providers for CFM LEAP-1A/1B engines. Premier MRO status allows MTU to offer full performance restoration and extensive repair capabilities for those engines powering Airbus and Boeing single-aisle jetliners.

A new long-term GE Aerospace Branded Services Agreement (GBSA) makes MTU Maintenance Dallas an authorized service provider for GEnx engines with the highest level of training, support, and greater access to proprietary overhaul and repair technology.

MTU is responsible for design, manufacturing, and assembling the GEnx turbine center frame, for which it currently performs MRO services at its facility in Hannover, Germany. https://www.mtu.de

AELF partners with Turbo Resources Int’l for surplus parts sales

Chicago-based Aircraft Engine Lease Finance Inc. (AELF) is partnering with Chandler, Arizona-based Turbo Resources Int’l for consignment of the leasing company’s surplus aircraft and engine parts.

“Engaging with a specialist partner like Turbo Resources Int’l for the disposition of excess material makes good business sense for us at this time,” says Jerry Michael, fleet manager for AELF.

During the past 10 years, AELF has accumulated spare parts from its fleet during normal operations or from parting out. The A330-200, A340-300, 767-300, and 737 classic parts have been housed in AELF’s Miami, Florida facility. That material is now with Turbo Resources as part of a three-year consignment arrangement.