The MRO Americas 2017 conference and exhibition was held at the Orange County Convention Center south concourse, and attracted over 13,000 registered industry professionals. As per Aviation week, the host of the conference and exhibition drew representatives from 89 countries and 49 states, as well as Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. The conference kicked off with a welcome note by the Editor-in-Chief of Aviation Week Network followed byThe Chairman’s address delivered by Ed Walton, Director, Engineering, UPS Airlines; A4A Engineering Maintenance and Materiel Council Chairman. Aviation Week Network’s MRO Lifetime Achievement Award included 2017 Lifetime Achievement Laureate for former NASA Chief Charles Bolden and Boeing Composites Chief John Tracy. Airlines for America (A4A), presented Dec Lee, American Airlines’ vice president of engineering, quality and training, and Larry Slate, vice president of customer support, Americas at Boeing Commercial Aviation Services with its 2017 Engineering, Maintenance, and Materiel Council (EMMC) Nuts and Bolts Award.Aviation Week Network presented its Lifetime Achievement in MRO award to Hisham Nasser, Egyptair Maintenance & Engineering’s chairman.
The featured 139 speakers which included many of the prominent members of the industry and delivering varied topics. There were product briefings by AvMax, Capgemini, Lufthansa Technik, GE, FedEx, Goldratt, Honeywell, Panasonic to name some.
The exhibition floor was busy among the 800 plus exhibitors and the dedicated IT Zone was well attended by delegates and visitors particularly because of the focus on technology as a major impact to improving efficiency and reducing cost in MRO space.
MRO Military was co-located with MRO Americas and was held from April 26-27, the Aerospace Maintenance Competition was held alongside MRO Americas for the 3rd year in a row, which normally attracts many teams, this year MRO America’s University was introduced which helped the attendees to get certified training while attending MRO Americas.
Annual Industry Analysis and Forecast was back this year by popular demand, leading aviation experts analyse the status and trends of the MRO and aviation industries, including challenges and opportunities for the future, speakers included Richard Brown from ICF, Dave Marcontell from GM and Oliver Wyman from CAVOK. Dr. Johannes Bussmann from Lufthansa Technik AG presented the Digitalisation of MRO and introduced the solution from Lufthansa Technik to the future demand of going digital called AVIATAR. Many panel discussion and product presentation were seen related to technology in the MRO, the BIG data handling problems industry are facing and how technology can increase efficiency in the industry.
Many announcements were made which included, Boeing Airplanes announcement of an agreement between AerData and emirates, Safran and ELALUSA signed a 787 carbon breaks support agreement during the exhibition and much more.
The show ended with exhibits walking away with a load of orders, enquiries and follow ups which will keep them busy for the coming months. MRO Americas will be returning back to Orlando next year.
