Alan E. Calegari has become CEO of Alenia North America in Washington. He was president and CEO of Ansaldo STS USA.

David Russell has joined Gogo, Itaska, Ill., as senior VP and general manager of Europe and the Middle East for commercial aviation. He was VP-strategic programs for SITA Group.

Boeing is studying several options, ranging from routine checks to minor structural modifications, to reactivate the closed-out tail fuel tank on the 747-8 passenger model.

Mergers and acquisitions activity in the aerospace and defense industry reached a record $43.7 billion in 2011, edging out the previous high from 2007 as consolidation in the commercial supply chain gained steam and underperforming defense units were spun off. A PwC study scheduled for release Feb. 7 tallied 341 acquisitions, mergers or spin-offs worth $50 million or more announced during the year.

Singapore Technologies Aerospace Ltd. (ST Aero) President Chang Cheow Teck spoke to AW&ST Asia Editor Leithen Francis at the company's corporate headquarters in Singapore. AW&ST: Is there a danger that demand for passenger-to-freighter (PTF) conversions will fall in 2012? I notice China's Jade Cargo has grounded its fleet.

The European maintenance facilities of the Mubadala Aerospace MRO network are sold out for the next five years, says James Stewart, group CEO. “We do very little work on the spot market” at SR Technics’ facilities in Switzerland and Malta. “In the Middle East, we’re moving toward longer-range contracts because they’re a better deal for us and for our customers,” he says. He also thinks there is definitely overcapacity in the airframe MRO market, which is why SR Technics did not expand its hangars in Malta as originally planned.

Aviation regulators from the Persian Gulf states plan to meet Feb. 7-9 to brainstorm on how to harmonize regulations that apply to aircraft maintenance organizations (AMO). “The idea is to establish a multilateral acceptance and may even go to one approval, similar to EASA [European Aviation Safety Agency],” says Ahmed Salem Al Rawahi, director of airworthiness for the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

The civil unrest and political changes in Egypt have hurt Egyptair’s MRO business, especially base maintenance. Hisham Nasser, vice chairman and accountable manager of Egyptair Maintenance & Engineering, tells Aviation Week that the decline in business is due mainly to the fact that its parent airline, which generates 70-80% of its work, has posted reduced international traffic. In addition, “It has been difficult to attract new customers,” he says.