Category: Commercial

AJW Technique, the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) hub for AJW Group’s global component repair and overhaul capabilities, has won the International Influence Award at the Gilles-Demers Gala – standing out among 11 world-class finalists.

AJW Technique’s win is an acknowledgement of its global contributions, not only across AJW Group’s worldwide ecosystem, but also as part of Québec’s mission to grow its aerospace footprint, attract international investment, and compete at the highest level of the aerospace industry.

The Gilles-Demers International Influence Award was established by Québec‘s aerospace cluster, Aéro Montréal, to recognise the SMEs that strengthen the region’s global aerospace leadership. The award celebrates companies whose export growth, international partnerships, and global presence elevate Québec on the world stage. This year’s event welcomed an exceptional audience and featured guests of honour invited by AJW Technique: Christine Fréchette, Québec’s Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, and Guy Nadeau, Vice President at Desjardins Entreprises.

Over the past few years, the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility has sharpened its focus on workflow optimisation, manpower efficiency, and strategic parts support in collaboration with suppliers and operators. By accelerating the adoption of digital tools across product development and shopfloor operations, the team has reinforced its commitment to delivering an exceptional customer and delivery experience. These efforts have resulted in expanded MRO capabilities across the latest generation aircraft types, including the Airbus A220, A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX and 787.

Announcing the award, Aéro Montréal commented: “The International Influence category recognizes companies that export their know-how, forge strategic international partnerships and make Québec shine on the world stage. AJW Technique occupies an important place on the global scene thanks to its MRO expertise, the quality of its operations and the trust placed in it by major international clients. Congratulations AJW Technique!”

Louis Philippe Mallette, president of AJW Technique, added: “It is with tremendous pride that AJW Technique accepts the honour of winning the Gilles Demers International Influence Award 2025. This recognition is testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire team at AJW Technique, and we are so proud to contribute to Québec’s global presence, influence, and continued growth on the world stage.”

Fifteen years ago, the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on Iceland closed large amounts of airspace across Europe, disrupting flights and leading to widespread cancellations and delays. 

A new volcanic ash forecasting provision that launches on 27 November 2025 could halve the disruption and keep airspace open in the event of a similar eruption to the one in 2010.

The 2010 eruption demonstrated that ash produced by volcanic eruptions posed the one of the greatest single short-term threats to air travel.

Volcanic ash encounters can cause significant problems to aircraft and if high concentrations of ash enters jet engines it can stop or severely damage them, as well as causing a range of other issues with the aircraft.  At lower concentrations flights may operate through ash (if certified by their engine manufacturer, and if authorized by their CAA). 

Ash forecast data provided by the Met Office – in its role as the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) – assists airlines with the decision-making process for where they can safely operate and reduces the amount of North Atlantic and European airspace that must be avoided.

VAAC London is responsible for issuing forecasts for volcanic eruptions originating in Iceland and the north-eastern corner of the North Atlantic. 

The Met Office’s Mark Seltzer, expert operational lead for VAAC London, said: “As we saw in 2010, volcanic ash eruptions in the north-east Atlantic can cause major air travel disruption due to dense flight routes and high seismic activity, resulting in widespread delays and cancellations between the UK, Ireland, Europe, the Far East and North America. And then of course there are the secondary impacts of those cancellations to the public, businesses, hospitality and the tourist industry.

“With our new service we estimate that the disruption today from an eruption of Eyjafjallajökull would be half of that experienced in April 2010.”

The Met Office is one of the first of the nine VAACs – in tandem with Meteo France (VAAC Toulouse) – to start producing the new higher-resolution Quantitative Volcanic Ash (QVA) forecasts required under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulations on 27 November 2025.  The seven other VAACs will follow one year later. 

The Met Office’s new QVA service will be available free to all airlines and the aviation industry worldwide. It comprises gridded forecasts which provide the expected ash concentration for 12 horizontal slices of the atmosphere (from the ground up to approx. 60,000ft) as well as probability forecasts which indicate the likelihood that certain ash concentrations will be exceeded.

With ever busier skies, the need for enhanced, more accurate and informative volcanic ash forecasts is growing. QVA forecasts provide higher-resolution detail and include both a single, specific forecast snapshot and probabilistic forecasts of ash concentration which provide greater understanding of the risks of the uncertainties of the dispersion of potentially harmful volcanic ash within the boundaries of an eruption.

The new forecasts are intended to support a shift away from traditional discernible/visible ash criteria, and instead take advantage of engine and airframe volcanic ash certification specifications.

Karen Shorey, a Met Office aviation specialist, added: “QVA data will help airlines make more informed decisions to avoid higher concentrations of ash, and will minimise the airspace that needs to be closed in the event of a future eruption.”

Aviation industry experts will realise some of the new service’s features including a fourfold increase in vertical levels (from three to twelve), more timesteps and a higher horizontal resolution.

AerFin, the aviation asset specialist that buys, sells, leases and repairs aircraft, engines and parts, has once again been accredited as a Great Place to Work, following feedback from employees in the company’s latest employee survey.

81% of AerFin employees agreed that it’s a great place to work – up from 77% last year – reflecting continued progress in areas such as integrity, collaboration and leadership behavior.

“Our employees have spoken – they’ve said that AerFin is a great place to work,” said Jo Rival, chief people officer at AerFin. “This recognition shows how much emphasis we’ve placed on building a culture that focuses on performance, not just results. We listen to our people, and we act on what matters most to them.

“Earlier this year we launched the AerFin Promise – our commitment to our people. The AerFin Promise is built on a simple truth: when people feel like they belong, they thrive and businesses succeed. Through our values and High Performing Culture, we’ve created an organisztion built on inclusivity and respect.

“Through our learning and development program, we’re helping people grow their careers, achieve their potential and drive performance.”

AerFin CEO, Simon Goodson, said: “This result is the outcome of a lot of hard work throughout the business – and we’re proud of what we’ve achieved together. Well done and thank you to everyone across the organisation that have helped make AerFin such a great place to work.”

With over 600 customers worldwide and operations across Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas, AerFin continues to invest in both its people and its purpose: to breathe new life into aviation.

Hi Fly is honored to announce that it has been recognized as a Gold Winner at the World Luxury Awards 2025 in the Jet Service & Airlines category for the company’s website.

As a leading name in the global aviation industry, Hi Fly is internationally recognized as the world’s largest Airbus widebody aircraft wet lease specialist, providing flexible and sustainable solutions to airlines and governments worldwide. This same spirit of innovation and excellence is reflected in the company’s digital presence, now celebrated on the world stage.

The Hi Fly website (www.hifly.aero) was produced by Bürocratik, an award-winning digital branding studio, and was recognized for its exceptional digital craftsmanship, combining immersive 3D experiences, cinematic motion design, and a clean, minimalist interface. The result is a visually striking and technologically advanced platform that embodies Hi Fly’s core values of elegance, innovation, and excellence in aviation.

The World Luxury Award, held in Monte Carlo, is the only global award recognising the very best in creativity within luxury advertising and communication, and each year it honors outstanding achievements across the luxury sector.

This award underscores how Hi Fly’s digital transformation translates the world of aviation into an interactive and inspiring journey, showcasing the company’s ability to blend technology, creativity, and brand identity with sophistication and precision.

Dual investment in Seattle, WA expansion and Americas debut of advanced solution enhances rapid tooling capabilities across aerospace, medical, and automotive sectors.

High Wycombe, UK — 20 November 2025 — Quickparts, a leader in on-demand manufacturing, today reinforced its commitment to “Limitless Manufacturing” with the completion of a significant US$2.5 million investment in new equipment and facility upgrades at its Seattle, WA headquarters. The improvements formally establish the site as an Aerospace & Defence Centre of Excellence, strengthening the company’s long-standing expertise in high-fidelity casting patterns and advanced stereolithography (SLA). At the same time, Quickparts is officially launching its Quick Mould solution — announced last month in EMEA — across North America, delivering production-quality moulded parts in as little as five days.

Together, these initiatives align under one objective: accelerating global manufacturing with precision, speed, and reliability.

“For more than three decades, we’ve been driving and redefining global manufacturing — delivering continuous innovation across on-demand services,” said Avi Reichental, CEO of Quickparts. “As we continue to build upon our rich history and proven track record of innovation to help companies rapidly address their most complex manufacturing challenges, today’s announcements reflect this ongoing vision and commitment

to our customers.”

Seattle Expansion: US Hub for Precision Investment Casting Patterns and Advanced SLA

With this latest investment, Quickparts has expanded its QuickCast®  investment casting patterns and next[1]generation SLA capacity in the Americas. This enables higher throughput, increased repeatability, and even greater fidelity for precision investment casting patterns used in drone, satellite, propulsion, aviation, and defence systems.

The expansion builds on Quickparts’ 35-year legacy of delivering advanced manufacturing solutions globally, including decades of producing high-fidelity casting patterns. The enhanced operation strengthens the company’s ability to support aerospace and defence programmes where consistency, dimensional accuracy, and repeatability are mission-critical.

Global Expansion of Quick Mould: Production-Quality Parts in as Little as Five Days

Coinciding with the Seattle expansion, Quickparts is introducing Quick Mould to customers across North America, following its strong uptake in Europe. Quick Mould delivers production-quality injection-moulded parts in as few as five days, enabling engineers to compress design cycles, validate materials earlier, and respond quickly to programme changes — all supported by Quickparts’ engineering teams and expert DFM

guidance.

Quick Mould uses rapidly machined aluminium tooling and engineering-grade thermoplastics to move customers from design to functional, production-grade parts at unprecedented speed.

This process has already delivered measurable customer results, including:

• 1-day design-change cycle using PA66 GF50
• 4-day turnaround for high-stress automotive components
• A luxury vehicle button redesigned, tooled, and moulded in four days

These achievements demonstrate Quickparts’ commitment to helping manufacturers reduce development time and maintain momentum, even under demanding schedules.

“The addition of enhanced SLA capabilities and the Seattle expansion represent significant steps in strengthening our global manufacturing footprint,” said Peter Jacobsen, EMEA President at Quickparts.

“Seeing the strong momentum of Quick Mould across Europe, I’m especially excited that our multinational customers will now have access to this transformative technology.”

Quick Mould is now available to customers across North America and Europe.

Haggan Aviation, a premier FAA Part 145 Repair Station located just outside Denver Colorado at Centennial Airport (KAPA) is proud to announce a new chapter of leadership under CEO Chris Haight and Director of Maintenance Kevin Fenske. Together, this dynamic duo is redefining what it means to put the customer first in every hangar, every inspection, and every handshake.

This leadership transition marks a strategic evolution for Haggan Aviation, shifting from a legacy “reactive” service model to a more structured, data-driven and customer-aligned operation. While Haggan Aviation has always delivered quality maintenance, today’s business aviation clients demand faster cycle times, real-time communication, and deeper technical insight. Chris and Kevin have implemented clear operational frameworks, transparent work-order controls, and enhanced quality management systems to meet those expectations head-on.

Chris Haight became CEO and equity partner in July 2025, bringing decades of operational and leadership experience to Haggan Aviation. Just a few months later, in September 2025, Kevin Fenske joined as Director of Maintenance, rounding out a powerhouse leadership team built on experience, integrity, and customer care.

“After nearly three decades of trusted service to the aviation community, Haggan Aviation is entering a new era—one built on personal connection, accountability, and an uncompromising standard of quality,” said Chris Haight, CEO of Haggan Aviation. “We’re not just maintaining aircraft, we’re rebuilding relationships and elevating expectations.” Since this new leadership took the helm, Haggan Aviation has expanded its capabilities to include additional aircraft and broadened its service portfolio, further strengthening its position as one of the most comprehensive independent MROs on the front range.

“Our customers trust us with their most valuable assets,” said Kevin Fenske, Director of Maintenance. “That responsibility drives everything we do. At Haggan Aviation, we set the bar high, delivering exceptional quality, transparent communication, and a level of service that defines who we are as a company. Every aircraft that departs our hangar reflects the pride and discipline of a team committed to doing things right the first time.”

Under this new leadership, clients can expect:

• Faster turnaround times supported by disciplined project management and open, transparent communication.
• Expanded maintenance and modification capabilities across a multitude of aircraft manufacturers and models.
• A reinvigorated commitment to personalized service and uncompromising technical standards.
• Improved scheduling efficiency through proactive planning and resource alignment.
• Comprehensive quality oversight that safeguards FAA conformity and guarantees airworthiness through every phase of the maintenance process. 
• A customer-first mindset built on integrity, accountability, and operational excellence.
• Continuous investment in training, tooling, and technology to meet evolving operational requirements.

This isn’t simply a change in title, it’s a change in tempo,” said Chris Haight, CEO. “Kevin and I are committed to building a culture where accountability is clear, communication is crisp, and every customer interaction earns trust. Haggan Aviation is not just maintaining aircraft, we’re elevating the entire service experience.