Satair leads Airbus A220 material management services

Airbus Canada has transferred global material support and services for A220 operators to Airbus services company Satair.

“All A220 customers will now benefit from the same level of service and global network offered by Satair on all other Airbus platforms,” says Rob Dewar, senior vice president, A220 Customer Services, Customer Satisfaction, and Product Policy.

“Satair’s footprint of service centers and warehouses will contribute to a greater scope of spare parts available for all A220 operators,” Satair CEO Bart Reijnen says.

Satair will oversee planning and inventory; purchasing; quality inspection; certification; warehousing and distribution; customer order handling; 24/7 aircraft-on-ground handling; initial provisioning; and tool lease, later developing A220 parts lease, repair, and exchange.

A220 program headquarters, engineering, and customer service are in Mirabel, Canada.

More than 100 A220s are in the fleets of seven operators flying routes in Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Africa.

Vertex Aerospace wins CH-53E maintenance contract

The Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Madison, Mississippi-based Vertex Aerospace LLC more than $111.4 million for Contracted Maintenance, Modification, Aircrew, and Related Services (CMMARS) for the U.S. Marine Corps’ CH-53E Super Stallion fleet. The 5-year task order, with one base year and four option years, includes inspecting, rebuilding, and restoring the aircraft to full mission capable status.

Since 2016, Vertex has delivered 23 CH-53E aircraft under the program, accounting for 16% of the current Super Stallion fleet. Vertex will support the effort at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River, Jacksonville, North Carolina; MCAS Miramar, San Diego, California; and MCAS Kaneohe Bay, Kaneohe, Hawaii.

Aviation Clean Air gains distributor

Environmental purification company Aviation Clean Air LLC (ACA) is partnering with Airbus services company Satair to distribute ACA’s Air Ionization and Purification System for all aircraft types.

ACA’s system improves interior air quality and neutralizes pathogens throughout the aircraft. Certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for aircraft installation, ACA deactivates airborne pathogens, viruses, and bacteria while reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and odors.

“This product has been used in VIP and military operation for years, and now will be made available to all airline customers via Satair,” says Matt Jessee, head of business development, global distribution, Satair.

The system uses Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization (NPBI) technology to create a high concentration of positive and negative ions. The ions travel through the air, continuously seeking out and attaching to particles. As these particles become larger, they are quickly eliminated from the air. Positive and negative ions also have microbicidal effects on pathogens, reducing their infectivity.

“Our NPBI concept neutralizes many pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2 without representing any health risks, as this technology does not create ozone,” says Howard Hackney, Aviation Clean Air managing director.

ACA – a partnership between Southern Aviation Parts & Services, TRIAX Partners, and American Ion Inc. – is based in Savannah, Georgia.

Bell adds Denmark maintenance center

Bell Textron Inc. will be adding its first Authorized Maintenance Center (AMC) in Denmark and the second AMC in Europe. Air Service Int’l. A/S in Billund, Denmark, will provide maintenance for the Bell 206A/B, 206L, and 505 helicopters.

“Air Service Int’l. will provide local field maintenance to customers and Bell will continue to support customers with heavier maintenance needs or additional requests from Bell’s Prague Service Center,” says Duncan Van De Velde, Bell’s managing director, Europe & Russia.

Established in 1979 by Poul Jensen, Air Service Int’l is an EASA Part 145 approved helicopter repair, service, and maintenance center.

Navy picks Avatar Partners’ AR-based QA

Huntington Beach, California-based virtual, augmented, and mixed reality software provider Avatar Partners won a contract to provide its simplified, intelligent augmented reality quality assurance (SIA-QA) solution to the U.S. Navy.

The SIA-QA solution will support aircraft wiring maintenance for the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Boeing V-22 Osprey aircraft. This augmented reality (AR)-based, automatic QA system combines instruction and artificial intelligence-based performance assessment to help inspectors rapidly observe conditions to speed installation and increase accuracy. The SIA-QA solution includes refresher training for aircraft maintenance technicians who have completed tours of duty away from the system for which they were trained.