Spairliners, a JV between Air France and Lufthansa Technik, appointed Oliver Mazzucchelli as its new CEO managing director. Mazzucchelli comes to the position after serving as sales director, regional fleets for AFI KLM E&M.

Navigating the MRO market will be easier to understand by knowing what changes are coming. Narrowbody aircraft will dominate airframe checks—especially the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737-800—and their landing gear will require the most overhauls. In the twin-aisle market, Airbus A330s and Boeing 777s will lead maintenance demand. While the GE CF34-8, CFMI CFM56-7B and IAE V2500 will propel the most growth over the next few years, the Pratt & Whitney PW100 still holds a top spot in overhauls events.

Lufthansa Technical Training announced that Holger Beck now serves as COO of the company's marketing, sales and product management division. Beck previously served as COO of Lufthansa Technical Training. Karsten Schmidt became COO of Lufthansa Technical Training after working as managing director of Lufthansa Systems Aeronautics.

The narrowbody airframe MRO market continues to show signs of recovery from the worst points of the economic downturn, when even relatively young aircraft were parked to defray operational expenses and defer maintenance costs. The narrowbody airframe MRO market value grew slightly less in 2011 (which exhibited a rate of 0.6%) than it did in 2010, when market value increased by 1.4%. However, it continues the generally positive reversal from the same 12-month period in 2009–10, when the market value for narrowbody airframe MRO services contracted by 12.6%.

The Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 will dominate visits; hangars will get larger.

Engine maintenance, repair and overhaul will outpace the total commercial aviation MRO market growth this year, largely because engine events are more expensive. The main driver is “engine parts [that] continue to get marked up at a rate exceeding CPI on an annual basis, often in the 5-7% range in terms of annual increases,” says David Marcontell, TeamSAI president and COO. Material expenses represent 70-80% of total engine MRO costs, so this obviously impacts the engine aftermarket value.

Precision Conversions has announced the continuation of the 757-200PCC Combi program. The 1994 Pratt & Whitney-powered Boeing 757-200 has been inducted at Flightstar Aircraft Services' facility in Jacksonville, Fla., as part of a deal for two aircraft with the option of up to four from Cargo Aircraft Management.

Correction: November's Biznet incorrectly stated that Component Control's Web store is located at aeroinv.com. Aeroinv.com, an aftermarket supplier of aircraft parts, launched its online commerce store for aftermarket parts and services and selected Component Control's ERP system for the technology backbone. Joint Ventures/Acquisitions