As executive editor of MRO and business aviation, Lee Ann Shay directs Aviation Week's coverage of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), including Inside MRO, and business aviation, including BCA.
She won the World Leadership Forum’s Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards in 2009 (propulsion category) and in 2002 (maintenance category), and has been a finalist in other years. In 2017, Lee Ann won the Aerospace Media Awards' Best Future Tech submission.
She holds a B.A. in English and political science from Luther College and an M.A. in nonfiction writing from Johns Hopkins University.
Air China ordered the CFM56-5B engine to power its new fleet of 24 Airbus A321s, to be delivered between 2008 and 2012. The contract includes 48 engines and five spares worth $345 million at list prices (US$6.5 million per engine). CFM's contract actually will climb because the companies also announced that Air China plans to sign a 15-year maintenance agreement with CFM for the repair and overhaul of its new engines, along with a 15-year material agreement that will provide Air China with new, used and repaired material.
Air Canada Technical Services expects to close this quarter on its 80% stake worth US$44.7 million in Aeroman, the MRO in El Salvador owned by the TACA Group. Aeroman said it started evaluating ways to expand its four-line MRO operation two years ago and decided to align with another maintenance business that also is part of the Airbus MRO Network.
Swiss International Airlines will likely end up with an equity stake in SR Technics (SRT) when the MRO giant is sold off by SAirGroup, Swiss CEO Andre Dose said. SAirGroup in mid-June was reviewing five bids for SRT. Dose would not discuss specifics, but he confirmed that each bidder had talked to Swiss about equity participation and the airline's recently struck deal with SRT. ``After all, we are their biggest customer,'' he said. SRT in late March won a deal to do maintenance on Swiss' 52 mainline aircraft, including Airbus A320s, A330s and A340s.
