PAC establishes global HQ in Oklahoma

Mexican maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) company Premium Aerospace Center (PAC) is establishing its international headquarters at the Oklahoma Air & Space Port complex at Burns Flat, Oklahoma. PAC will renovate and expand two existing hangars and build a third hangar at the facility to accommodate Boeing 737 and larger aircraft for paint and interior remodeling.

PAC initially plans to hire 30+ employees with future planned investments exceeding $120 million throughout the next few years; total number of jobs to be created is estimated between 450 and 600.

PAC will work with Western Technology Center, the Oklahoma CareerTech workforce development program, and local leaders to develop a skilled technical workforce to support operations and growth plans.

Boeing selects Spirit AeroSystems for KC-135 work

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. received a contract award from Boeing to provide new horizontal stabilizers for U.S. Air Force KC-135R Stratotankers. The contract is for an initial 34 horizontal stabilizer kits, to be produced at Spirit’s facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Spirit will support extending the life of the KC-135R through at least 2040 using its advanced assembly capabilities including determinant assembly. The KC-135 series aircraft first entered the Air Force fleet in 1957 and continues to provide aerial refueling capability for the Air Force, U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and allied nation aircraft.

Unison Industries expands relationship with AAR

Expanding a long-standing relationship, global aerospace and defense aftermarket solutions company AAR Corp. is now the exclusive worldwide aftermarket distributor for Unison Industries’ aviation, aerospace, military, and civil land vehicle products.

The agreement broadens AAR’s distribution of select Unison ignitor plugs, ignition leads, harnesses, and related spare parts to cover aftermarket customers worldwide. This builds on the existing partnership between AAR and Unison for aftermarket product distribution services and for 24/7 aircraft-on-ground (AOG) call center support.

ecube opens US aircraft teardown facility

Aircraft end-of-life services provider and asset custodian ecube opened a teardown facility at Coolidge Municipal Airport in Arizona. The newly founded American base joins existing sites in Castellón, Spain, and ecube headquarters in St. Athan, U.K., establishing the company in the two largest regions for aircraft activity – Europe and North America – supporting around 90% of the global aircraft part-out market.

Steven Taylor, ecube’s chief commercial officer, forecasts an uptick in both aircraft storage and teardown activity, saying, “The convergence of aircraft utilization and passenger traffic trends to pre-pandemic levels should elevate demand for used serviceable material (USM), and I anticipate a higher level of global retirements to service this need.”