Posted by Elyse Moody  on 6/22/2011 Overhaul & Maintenance’s associate editor

Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance broke ground on a 5,000-sq.-meter test cell facility for what it dubs Very Big Engines, or VBE, at Paris-Charles de Gaulle in April. The site still is being excavated, but here’s how AFIKLM E&M plans for it to look.

  
[All photos: AFIKLM E&M]

The test cell, supplied by MDS of Canada, will accommodate GE90-94/115, CFM56-5C and GP7200 engines. But Anne Brachet, senior VP of engine overhaul for the company, tells me today that it also will induct future engines — potentially the Trent XWB and GEnx. The MRO’s next move depends on what Air France/KLM decides to do, she says. But undoubtedly, she’s planning to do new engines — both testing and overhaul — either at Orly, the Constellation site at CDG or in Amsterdam.

To see full article go to: AVIATION WEEK’S aftermarket blog

Ottawa Business Journal Article

The head of one of Ottawa’s largest aerospace firms says a recently signed $30-million contract with Air France Industries gives the local company a foothold in a field traditionally dominated by its competitors.

MDS Aero Support Corp. designs and supplies test facilities and systems for gas turbine engines used by aviation, industrial and marine customers.

Officials at the 25-year-old company say they hold a dominant market position in the engine manufacturing industry, counting Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce and Siemens among its major customers.

However, the deal with Air France Industries is a “prestigious” contract that company officials hope will help MDS Aero win more business in the maintenance sector.

“It really put us on the map in the repair and overhaul field”, said company president and CEO Kevin Fitzgerald.

“(The contract) completes our market offering in the aviation space”, he added in an interview Tuesday. It followed a press conference featuring federal politicians, there to tout the industrial benefits of Canada’s participation in the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program.

                                                                                For the full article go to: Ottawa Business Journal