Seven members of the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in vendor audits, line maintenance, maintenance training and joint purchasing of consumable parts, says Rashad Karaky, the association’s manager of economics and technology management.

Malaysian military maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider Airod has made some key appointments in an effort to expand its commercial operation. Industry sources in Malaysia tell Aviation Week Airod has appointed Roslan Ismail to head its commercial MRO business. Roslan previously was head of Malaysia Airlines Engineering & Maintenance (MAS E&M).

The Middle East air transport market may be among the fastest-growing in the world, but whether that translates into an equally fast development of the region’s maintenance, repair and overhaul business remains to be seen.

Hopes to decide this year if it will launch its own program

MTU Maintenance Zhuhai finds way to cope with unpredictable workloads

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has sent an investigator to Japan to study the latest incident involving a Boeing 787.

An unusual split winglet design, strikingly similar to the “dual feather” wingtip feature revealed by Boeing in May 2012 for its upcoming 737 MAX derivative, has been launched by Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) for retrofit on up to eight versions of the current Next Generation 737. The winglet development, dubbed the Split Scimitar, has been officially launched with an order from United Airlines and initially will be certified for retrofit of 737-800s.

Aeronautical Engineers (AEI) expects to receive a supplemental certification from the FAA certification by the end of this week for its program to convert MD-80s to freighters, enabling the company to begin production on the first of 20 orders by the end of this month. Those 20 orders bolster AEI’s confidence in its expectation for orders for more than 200 converted MD-80s in the next 10-15 years, says Robert Convey, VP-sales and marketing for the Miami-based conversion specialist. AEI is the only company performing conversions on MD-80s.