Category: Commercial

MK Test Introduces Tailored Engine, LRU, and AMU Test Solutions for MROs

MK Test, a provider of advanced test systems for the aerospace industry, is excited to announce the launch of its fully tailored test solutions for engines, Line Replaceable Units (LRUs), and Auxiliary Power Units (AMUs). Designed specifically for individual aircraft engine models, LRUs, and AMUs, this new offering directly addresses the needs of MROs who require precise, dedicated test systems for their specific variants, rather than one-size-fits-all solutions.

Historically, MROs have faced challenges with systems that offer compatibility across multiple engine variants and components. MK Test’s latest product offering eliminates this complexity by providing a complete engine test system designed for specific engines, such as the GE90-, CFM56-, and LEAP models, as well as LRUs and AMUs. This ensures that each system is optimized for the unique requirements of the component, improving reliability, efficiency, and reducing turnaround time (TAT).

The complete solution from MK Test includes:

  • Automeg Test System: A high-performance platform for testing engines, LRUs, and AMUs.
  • Custom Interface Cable Sets: Pre-configured to match specific engine models or custom-designed to the client’s requirements.
  • Pre-Written Test Programs: Tailored for individual engine models, LRUs, and AMUs, saving valuable setup time and reducing operational costs.

“Our customers told us that a system that works for multiple engine variants or components simply doesn’t meet their specific needs,” said Jeffrey Miller, Sales Manager at MK Test Americas. “We listened, and now we offer fully customizable test solutions for MROs which offer exactly what they need for each engine model, LRU, and AMU they service. This approach ensures faster, more accurate testing and improved overall efficiency.”

MK Test’s Engine, LRU, and AMU Test System Solutions are available for various aircraft engines, LRUs, and AMUs, with more options available upon request. The customizable nature of the solution allows MROs to choose from a full cable set, design-only options, and pre-written test programs, ensuring flexibility and cost-efficiency.

For more information, please contact MK Test at sales@mktest.com or visit https://mktest.com/products/engine-test-system-solution/.

FL Technics Indonesia Adopts Mototok Spacer 8600 NG Technology

FL Technics Indonesia says it has strengthened its commitment to sustainability, efficiency, and operational safety by adopting the advanced Mototok Spacer 8600 NG technology.

This technology has been in operation since January 2024 at the company’s hangar in Bali, positioning FL Technics Indonesia as the pioneer in the adoption of green technology within the country’s MRO sector. The Mototok Spacer 8600 NG, an emission-free Towbarless Aircraft Pushback Tug, offers an eco-friendly solution that enables high-precision aircraft ground handling for towing and pushback.

Martynas Grigas, The President Director of FL Technics Indonesia, says, “We take pride in being the pioneer and aligning with the government’s vision to support sustainability in Indonesia’s aviation sector. The adoption of the Mototok Spacer 8600 NG is part of FL Technics Indonesia’s proactive steps toward the global technological revolution in the MRO sector. Amid rapid innovation, FL Technics Indonesia is actively contributing to this transformation by introducing cutting-edge technology that prioritizes efficiency, safety, and environmental sustainability.”

With its modern design, the Mototok Spacer 8600 NG features advanced 96V AC electric motors with a rapid 3-hour battery charge time, supporting up to 30 pushbacks per charge. With a maximum push capacity of 105 tons and a front wheel load capacity of 11 tons, this technology is compatible with aircraft such as the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737. Enhanced with remote-control operation, an integrated display, IoT interface for performance monitoring, and error protection systems, the full capabilities of the Mototok Spacer 8600 NG enables FL Technics Indonesia’s team to work with greater precision, effectiveness, and productivity, while increasing operational capacity without reducing the need for skilled technicians.

The addition of the Mototok Spacer 8600 NG underscores FLTechnics Indonesia’s commitment to meeting the evolving, dynamic, and complex demands of the aviation industry. Furthermore, this technology supports the company’s mission to provide world-class facilities for both local and international airlines.

FL Technics Indonesia believes the strategic decision to adopt this innovative technology will further solidify its position as a leading player in the MRO industry, ready to embrace the new era of aviation technology. Through the adoption of Mototok Spacer 8600 NG, FL Technics Indonesia hopes to inspire the broader aviation sector to transition to better practices.

“With a strong spirit towards innovation and as a form of FLTechnics’ contribution to the transformation of Indonesia’s aviation sector, our second MRO facility in Bali is now fully operational. This larger-capacity hangar supports heavy maintenance checks for narrow-body fleets and other essential integrated services. Technological innovations like the Mototok Spacer 8600 NG exemplify the quality of services we provide and signify another step toward greater success,”  Martynas concluded.

Conair Expands Inhouse NDT Capability Critical for Safe Aerial Firefighting Operations


Conair Group has expanded the inhouse ability to perform Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) on their aerial firefighting aircraft maintained in Canada, a fleet of over 55 planes. This expansion mitigates the need to rely on third party providers, further enabling the company the ability to schedule and complete inspections between fire season contract periods, ensuring bird dog lead planes, airtankers and water scoopers are available to government agencies when needed.

Non-Destructive Testing is an essential component to safety and sustainability within aerial firefighting as aircraft fly in dynamic environments that challenge airframes, facing heat, repeated changes in altitude, and turbulent conditions, as well as dramatic changes in weight during flight due to water and
retardant drops.

A thorough NDT inspection of a large airtanker, such as a Dash 8-400AT, requires one to two weeks
of dedicated time to complete, including Eddy Current analysis, both conventional and Eddy Current
array, on wings, fuselage skin and the interior. The NDT team and Engineering teams at Conair work
collaboratively to enhance inspection requirements.

“NDT is split into surface and sub surface techniques. Conair is now fully equipped to support the fleet
using both technique types, performing inspections utilizing Eddy Current, Ultrasonic, Liquid
Penetrant, and Magnetic Particle testing” shared Alfred Modino, Conair’s Component Shop Level 3
NDT Technician. “We have six accredited NDT technicians within our shop, and a two-person team
dedicated to executing inspections, performed to OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) standards.”
All Conair-converted airtankers are fully supported by OEMs following OEM guidelines to maintain
airworthiness specific to aerial firefighting missions.

“In the future, we plan to develop the NDT program further, performing inspections on our US
subsidiary’s fleet, located at Aero-Flite in Washington state. And we are investigating adding Digital X-
Ray capability,” continued Modino.

This essential service is necessary to secure continued airworthiness of the aerial firefighting fleet,
ensuring safe missions and ongoing response. Each Conair aircraft undergoes a thorough period of
heavy maintenance once a fire season contract with a government agency has closed, typically taking
four to six weeks to complete, performed to the highest standards in the industry.

StandardAero Secures Indian DGCA Approval for Its OEM-Authorized PW127M Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Services

StandardAero announced that its Pratt & Whitney Canada authorized PW100 Designated Overhaul Facility (DOF) in Gonesse, France recently secured maintenance organization approval from the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This approval enables StandardAero to support the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) needs of PW127M operators in India, where over 100 of the turboprop engines are currently in operation. StandardAero’s Gonesse facility has already inducted its first PW127M engine for an Indian customer.

The Pratt & Whitney Canada PW100 family powers a broad range of applications including the ATR 42 and ATR 72 regional transports, and the Airbus C295 tactical transport aircraft.

StandardAero supports the PW100 engine family from two overhaul locations worldwide:  Gonesse, France (which began supporting the PW100 in 1986); and its Center of Excellence (COE) for Turboprop Engine MRO in Summerside, PEI, Canada (which commenced work on the PW100 in 1991). Operators are also able to benefit from access to six additional StandardAero PW100 service centers across North America, South America, Africa and Australasia.

“StandardAero is pleased to now be able to offer Indian PW127M operators the same high level of service and support to which hundreds of other PW100 customers worldwide have become accustomed,” commented Jeff Poirier, vice president/general manager of the Turboprops & Fleets (TPAF) Business Unit for StandardAero. “Efficient regional turboprop aircraft such as the ATR 42 and ATR 72 are playing a major role in supporting the expansion of the Indian Government’s UDAN Regional Connectivity Scheme, which is aimed at boosting economic development, employment and tourism by connecting small and remote cities.  StandardAero is now able support this effort by providing Indian ATR operators and their customers with reliable, cost-effective engine MRO support.”

PhysicsX Introduces Free-to-Use “AI for Advanced Engineering” to Transform Aerospace Development

PhysicsX, a London-based start-up bringing the power of generative AI to enable breakthrough engineering in advanced industries, has launched the first Large Geometry Model (LGM) for aerospace engineering, LGM-Aero, and a publicly accessible reference application, Ai.rplane, to showcase its power in designing aero structures.

Ai.rplane allows engineers to generate innovative aircraft designs in an infinitely wide design space and instantaneously assess the designed aircraft’s potential performance.

Developed and provisioned on AWS, LGM-Aero was trained on more than 25 million meshes, representing more than 10 billion vertices, and a corpus of tens of thousands of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulations generated with Siemens Digital Industries tools. It is a fully trained model that generalizes to a broad set of aeroelastic applications. It also infers aero performance, flight stability and structural stress for a large class of flying shapes as a zero-shot model. This technology creates geometry and assesses performance results in less than a second, compared to the several hours required for traditional numerical simulations.

“In the same way that large language models understand text, Ai.rplane has a vast knowledge of the shapes and structures that are important to aerospace engineering,” says Jacomo Corbo, co-founder and CEO of PhysicsX. “The technology can optimise across multiple types of physics in seconds, many orders of magnitude faster than numerical simulation, and at the same level of accuracy. We’re excited about what LGM-Aero brings as capabilities to our customers while recognizing that it is also an important stepping stone towards developing physics foundation models.”

In one seamless operation, the technology creates novel designs, predicts lift, drag, stability, structural stress and other attributes for each shape, then optimises the design according to the user’s preferences. When used in industrial applications, this workflow reduces development time from months to hours.

LGM-Aero was developed using an extensive set of simulation technologies from Siemens to automate and scale the generation of high-quality training data, as well as AWS Batch and Amazon EC2 to scale compute during training. It is available on the PhysicsX AI engineering enterprise platform, which is trusted by some of the most sophisticated engineering and manufacturing organizations across advanced industries.

“We are delighted to work with PhysicsX as they develop their first Large Geometry Model and release its showcase application Ai.rplane,” said Ozgur Tohumcu, general manager, automotive and manufacturing, AWS.  “This technology will accelerate the transformation of engineering in Advanced Industries for AWS customers, enabling them to bring their products to the market faster while increasing product performance. We’ve been impressed by PhysicsX’s pace of innovation and look forward to deepening our collaboration.”

“We are thrilled to continue to build on our deep collaboration with AWS, and to announce the release of LGM-Aero and of Ai.rplane. This is a first step in transforming the way engineering is practiced in Advanced Industries,” added Robin Tuluie, founder and chairman of PhysicsX. “Over time, we will bring new capabilities to LGM-Aero and to Ai.rplane, allowing users to select powertrains, add controls and further content to reach mature designs in days rather than months or years.”

Molex Completes AirBorn Acquisition to Expand Offering of Industry-Leading Interconnect Solutions for Mission-Critical Aerospace and Defense Applications

Molex, a global electronics and connectivity innovator, has completed its acquisition of AirBorn, a global manufacturer of rugged and highly reliable connectors and electronic components designed for mission-critical applications across aerospace and defense, commercial air, space exploration, medical and industrial markets. AirBorn brings an expansive product portfolio and proven aerospace and defense solutions to Molex, which is known for its deep electronics industry knowledge, value-added engineering expertise and worldwide manufacturing footprint.

“Molex is excited to complete this important acquisition, which enables us to expand into the aerospace and defense market while extending our capabilities across space exploration and other key sectors,” said Joe Nelligan, CEO, Molex. “As we begin to integrate AirBorn’s people, products and processes within Molex, we will focus on supporting the needs of our customers, distributors and partners through collaboration and strategic investment in innovation and technology, shaping the future of the aerospace and defense category.”

Combined Skills, Scale and Scope

AirBorn’s portfolio of military-grade connectors, cables and electronic assemblies will form the foundation of Molex’s new Aerospace and Defense Division. AirBorn’s CEO, Michael Cole, will lead this new Division while working closely with Molex’s integration team and global leadership team to align priorities, empower employees and create recurring customer value.

“The combination of Molex’s organizational scale and financial stability with AirBorn’s purpose-built products and unmatched customer experiences will enable us to solve the most complex rugged connectivity challenges,” said Michael Cole. “Together we can reinforce our role as trusted advisors serving the unique requirements of aerospace and defense customers and accelerate investments in the business that will drive growth and competitive advantage.”

The combined organization will total more than 50,000 employees and 85 plants located in 20 countries. The collective product portfolio will benefit from Molex’s robust global distribution network, which plays a pivotal role in driving regional and global demand generation, sales and inventory support.

As a highly valued distribution partner for both Molex and AirBorn, TTI, Inc. envisions tremendous potential emerging from this unique blend of capabilities, expertise, products and global operations. “We applaud Molex’s acquisition of AirBorn, which offers new business opportunities for the combined AirBorn and Molex entity and their valued distribution partners,” said Lew LaFornara, SVP, product and supplier marketing, TTI, Inc. “AirBorn’s solid reputation in aerospace and defense, coupled with Molex’s long-standing distinction as a provider of innovative, high-quality products in a diverse set of market segments is a powerful combination.”

Building on Proven Experience and Expertise

AirBorn’s legacy in the aerospace and defense industry complements Molex’s leadership in the broader connector and cable assembly space. According to Bishop & Associates’ Top 100 Connector Manufacturers Report, Molex was ranked No. 3 in total world connector sales and No. 2 in the computer and peripheral, business and retail equipment, medical electronics and consumer electronics connector market sectors.

Both Molex and AirBorn have long track records of product engineering and design capabilities focused on optimizing size, weight and power (SWaP) requirements, which are crucial in supporting aerospace and defense applications. Further, as an interconnect technology innovator across automotive, generative AI, hyperscale data center and mobile device applications, Molex brings electronic and fiber optic capabilities that will enhance signal integrity, reduce electromagnetic interference and enable greater product data rates.

Abaco Systems Introduces NVA500 Latest XMC GPU Card for AI and C5ISR

AMETEK Abaco Systems announced the launch of the NVA500, an XMC form factor AI/GPGPU card powered by the NVIDIA RTX A500 GPU. Designed to meet demanding computational challenges, the NVA500 brings advanced AI, ML and deep learning capabilities to mission-critical embedded systems, revolutionizing performance in defense and aerospace applications. 

“Abaco Systems has always been at the forefront of innovation,” said Simon Collins, director of product management at Abaco Systems. “The NVA500 is a testament to our commitment to delivering powerful, scalable solutions for modern defense systems. With its rugged design and superior computational performance, the NVA500 is set to become a critical enabler of advanced C5ISR operations.” 

Key features of the NVA500 include: 

  • NVIDIA RTX A500 GPU architecture with 2.7 TFLOPS FP32 single floating-point performance. 
  • 2048 CUDA Cores, 64 Tensor Cores, and 16 Ray Tracing Cores for exceptional parallel processing.
  • High-speed PCIe Gen 4 compatibility for seamless data throughput. 
  • Support for advanced software tools such as CUDA-X, OpenCL, and GPUDirect RDMA. 

The NVA500 excels in applications that demand low-latency processing, including real-time AI inferencing, sensor fusion, and complex image recognition. Its ruggedized engineering ensures reliable operation in harsh environments, conforming to MIL-STD-810 standards. 

Aligned with the MOSA framework, the NVA500 underscores Abaco’s dedication to open standards and future-ready solutions. Customers leveraging the NVA500 gain the advantage of reduced latency, streamlined data processing, and superior performance in mission-critical scenarios. 

LHT and Norwegian Air Shuttle Extend Cooperation for Another Five Years of Base Maintenance Support

Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, a low-cost airline headquartered at Fornebu, near Oslo, has extended its collaboration with Lufthansa Technik for an additional five years. This agreement covers the overhaul of Norwegian’s fleet of over 80 Boeing 737NG and 737MAX 
aircraft. The services will be delivered under a Base Maintenance Services contract at Lufthansa Technik’s Budapest facility. The renewed contract will commence on August 1, 2025, and includes a total of 120 scheduled maintenance checks.

Through this agreement, Norwegian will benefit from guaranteed slot availability for maintenance layovers and a tailored commercial performance package designed to meet the airline’s specific operational needs. Lufthansa Technik Budapest, one of five Lufthansa 
Technik overhaul locations in Europe, will provide the services. In addition, Norwegian will have access to Lufthansa Technik’s entire overhaul network for any unscheduled or additional maintenance needs. “We are grateful for Norwegian’s continued trust in Lufthansa Technik’s expertise, and we are pleased to extend our long-standing partnership,” said Marcus Motschenbacher, vice president and chief commercial officer Aircraft Maintenance Services at Lufthansa Technik. “This ongoing cooperation demonstrates that our services are aligned with our customers’ needs. We look forward to continuing to contribute the expertise of our B737 Center of Excellence in Budapest to the success of this innovative airline.”

Lufthansa Technik and Norwegian have enjoyed a business relationship for 17 years. The cooperation began with a contract for component services and later expanded to include the maintenance of wheels and brakes, as well as engine overhauls for CFM56-7B engines. Lufthansa Technik has been overhauling Norwegian’s Boeing
737NG aircraft since 2012.

TrueNoord Purchases Seven ATR 72-600s from GOAL

TrueNoord, a specialist regional aircraft lessor, has completed the purchase of seven ATR 72-600 aircraft from German asset manager, GOAL Aircraft Leasing, acting on behalf of KGAL. This investment in turboprops increases TrueNoord’s fleet to over 100 aircraft and brings three new European lessee airlines into the TrueNoord portfolio, expanding their footprint across the Continent.

The complete integration of these aircraft finalised last week. All seven ATR 72-600s are on lease to European carriers; four flying with Air Serbia, two with Emerald Airlines based in Ireland, and one with Greek operator Olympic Air. Making the century for TrueNoord is MSN 1159 flying with Air Serbia.

Nigel Turner, Chairman of TrueNoord, points out that the successful upwards trajectory of the business has been a team effort from day one. “As a lessor we set out to support the regional aviation market and work in partnership with those airlines that service this sector. In order to pursue growth, we have steadily developed our highly experienced team and established a global presence in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. We are proud of the support we receive from our stable group of equity investors, Freshstream, BlackRock, abrdn / PATRIA, and the wider international banking community. Their confidence in our business model has enabled TrueNoord not only to build a trusted reputation within the leasing community, but also to advance at a measured pace which is synonymous with our core values.

“Notwithstanding our approach so far, now we have secured our first 100 aircraft we intend to ‘turn up the volume’ and accelerate growth even faster. With aircraft values increasing and a strong underlying demand for the aircraft we own, scale will allow us to drive profitability and push towards our goal of becoming one of the world’s largest regional aircraft lessors,” Ahmed Ali, sales director at TrueNoord, said about the transaction. “It has been a pleasure working with GOAL on this deal. Their professionalism and cooperation have made this process smooth and efficient. We are very pleased to have added these ATR72-600 aircraft to our portfolio and further expand our lessee base in Europe. We look forward to building strong, long-term relationships with our new lessees and contributing to their continued success.”

Andreas Schneider, director of sales & marketing at GOAL, commented, “Facilitating this transaction with TrueNoord exemplifies our commitment to delivering high-value, sustainable aviation investments for KGAL’s funds. Our exclusive role as asset manager for KGAL’s aviation portfolio enables us to create attractive returns for investors while supporting airline fleet development across Europe.”

Anne-Bart Tieleman, founder and CEO of TrueNoord, added, “Our focus is on building and sustaining a fleet of latest technology aircraft that enhance our lessees’ operations, delivering fuel economy and dispatch reliability. We are very pleased that our OEM partners – Embraer, ATR, de Havilland Canada, and Airbus – share this vision. We cooperate closely to grow and develop the turboprop, large regional jet and small narrowbody sector for the benefit of all operating within it and the communities we collectively serve.” 

As the lessor sees growth accelerating at an ever-faster pace, Tieleman acknowledges the TrueNoord team. “The bigger you get, the bigger the deals you can do” he observes. “But you need the infrastructure to manage this effectively, and right-minded people who understand the business ethos and want to develop with you. Our team is expanding, we now have 37 people across our three office locations in Amsterdam, Dublin and Singapore and that number is set to rise as our plans for North America gather pace. These are exciting times for TrueNoord, and I am grateful for the enthusiasm of our team who are shaping our journey with their diligence, passion and fresh ideas, We are experiencing high demand and are always seeking new acquisition opportunities,” concluded Tieleman. “We have the full confidence of our financiers and cornerstone investors who are energizing our portfolio growth with the latest-technology aircraft.”

Lufthansa Technik and SkyFive Join Forces on Air-to-Ground (A2G) Connectivity for Commercial Aircraft

Smart inflight connectivity solutions provider SkyFive is joining forces with Lufthansa Technik in the aim to scale up its delivery capabilities for cost-effective Air-to-Ground (A2G) broadband services to commercial airlines around the world. According to a recently signed framework contract, Lufthansa Technik employs its comprehensive design and production organization to design, certify and manufacture installation kits. The latter enable SkyFive’s airline customers a quick and easy upgrade of their narrowbody fleets with fast A2G onboard connectivity.

According to figures published by research and analysis firm Valour Consultancy, 74 percent of today’s single-aisle aircraft are yet deprived of any broadband connectivity. A2G technology offers a relatively easy and cost-efficient way to close this “connectivity gap”. Connecting the aircraft and its passengers via ground stations of dedicated mobile networks requires a comparatively small installation form factor, with the lower-fuselage-mounted antenna only measuring about the size of a human hand. The number of aircraft committed to such A2G technology has already doubled over the last 24 months.

Capturing the opportunity of this soaring demand for A2G installations requires scalable and industrialized delivery capabilities. For this reason, SkyFive has opted to partner with Lufthansa Technik, who will lead the installation design and manufacturing of installation kits that significantly speed up the roll-out of the technology onto SkyFive’s customer fleets. The MRO company’s worldwide presence at major aviation hubs aligns well with SkyFive’s target markets for A2G. Lufthansa Technik already holds a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for A2G setups and has also gathered extensive experience with satellite-based connectivity
installations in the past.

“SkyFive is thrilled to cooperate with such a strong industry player on our journey of taking A2G global,” said Alois Sanktjohanser, Vice President Sales and Partner Management at SkyFive. “This new partnership significantly scales up our delivery capability towards airlines.”

“Efficient inflight connectivity is among the top desires of airline passengers nowadays. Hence, the necessity for reliable and fast, but also easy-to-install connectivity solutions is growing steadily,” says Andrew Muirhead, vice president OEM and Engineering Services at Lufthansa Technik. “We are thus happy to support SkyFive to meet the soaring demand. With our renowned expertise in Supplemental Type Certification for connectivity installations, we are able to provide our valued partner a fast time-to-market. With proven solutions for both satellite and A2G connectivity, we can bring almost any commercial aircraft cabin online now.”