Boeing and KLM Engineering and Maintenance (KLM E&M) have begun implementing the Global Airline Inventory Network (GAIN) at the airline's maintenance facility at Amsterdam Schiphol airport. KLM is the European launch customer for GAIN, for which Boeing will manage KLM's supply chain for expendable airframe parts. The KLM scheme creates a stock of 27,000 part numbers in support of the airline's Boeing fleet, as well as for airlines that use KLM E&M for maintenance. Britannia Airways has received the first of 11 Hapag-Lloyd Boeing 737-800s at its London Luton base under a contract to conduct annual maintenance for its sister airline. TAT Industries has won a three-year contract extension from the French interior ministry to provide maintenance and modification work on various aircraft types including Bombardier CL-415s, Fokker F27s, Grumman Trackers and Raytheon Beechcraft. Work will be carried out at TAT facilities in Marignane, Nîmes and Dinard in France. Pratt & Whitney Canada has opened a new quick-turnaround heavy maintenance line at its service centre in St Hubert, Quebec. A second facility is being opened this month at its Bridgeport service centre in West Virginia. General Electric Engines Services (GEES) has won a 15-year maintenance and overhaul contract from DHL Worldwide Express worth $400 million to maintain 68 Rolls-Royce RB211-53C engines on the express parcel carrier's fleet of 34 Boeing 757-200SFs. The European arm of DHL will have the engines of its fleet of ex-British Airways 757s serviced at GEES's plant in Cardiff, UK. Sparwise, an AAR and Air France Industries joint venture, is to offer full component management for the Airbus A320 family in North and Central America. The first Airbus A300-600 converted to freighter by EADS EFW in Dresden, Germany, made its first flight on 13 December. It is due US Federal Aviation Administration supplemental type certification this month.
Source: Flight International
