Budgets drive Europeans to adapt military support contracts

Providers of military MRO begin to ponder their ultimate fate

The FAA in an airworthiness directive due to be released today says the cost of modifying the auxiliary power unit battery systems on United Airlines’ six Boeing 787 will total almost $2.8 million, or $464,678 per aircraft. Boeing has not disclosed the total cost of its modification program. Mike Sinnett, 787 Chief Project Engineer, says installations will take five days per aircraft.

JetBlue Airways says it spent $20 million in the first quarter to accelerate “engine performance restorations” on General Electric CF34-10s that power its Embraer 190s. CFO Mark Powers, during the company’s April 25 first quarter earnings call, said early restorations are being performed on its “higher flight hour” engines to improve their operational reliability and time on-wing, but was not more specific on the level of engine hours.

Sinnett says most common issue is over-discharge

Eight months after becoming the first U.S. airline to obtain FAA approval to use Apple iPads on the flight deck during all phases of flight, American Airlines on April 22 completed its rollout of the off-the-shelf electronic flight bags across its entire mainline fleet. Pilots of the carrier’s Boeing 757s and 767s, the last fleet type to equip, completed a 30-day transition with the iPads as primary flight support and paper charts as backup. American first tested the iPad on a Boeing 777 in January 2011.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has approved Boeing’s modifications for the litium-ion battery used for the 787-8’s axillary power unit.

Boeing’s engineering team of more than 300 personnel has started to install battery kits in 10 of the 50 grounded 787s and nine of the 25 787-8s produced since the FAA ordered a halt to flights mid-January, says Chairman and CEO James McNerney. During the company’s April 24 first quarter earnings conference call, McNerney said the company has a “high degree of confidence that we’ll get through it by mid-May.” Deliveries are expected to begin early next month.