MRO Industry Roundup, October 2026: StandardAero, Air India, Embraer and Ascent Announce Contracts and Facilities
Why It MattersEngine shop-visit contracts, widebody hangar capacity and pooled component support are all expanding at once, pointing to airlines and lessors locking in maintenance and spares supply well ahead of need.
Etihad Engineering's training program at its MRO facility near Zayed International Airport has begun with its first intake of Emirati trainees; future intakes will be open to other regional and global applicants.
In engine support, Air Corsica selected StandardAero for performance restoration shop visits on the CFM International Leap-1A engines powering its Airbus A320neo fleet, with component repairs, short-term engine leases and engine health monitoring data analysis delivered from San Antonio, Texas. Romanian carrier TAROM signed an engine time and material support agreement with StandardAero for the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127M engines on its ATR 72-600 and -500 turboprops, with work at Summerside, Canada, and Gonesse, France. The U.S. Air Force also awarded StandardAero a contract.
On facilities, Air India broke ground on a new MRO facility at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, including a hangar able to hold one widebody and one narrowbody aircraft simultaneously, a cabin shop, engineering offices and a spare-parts warehouse. The first aircraft arrived at Ascent Aviation Services' facility in Marana, Arizona, for Israel Aerospace Industries' North America Boeing 777-300ERSF passenger-to-freighter conversion program; Ascent will run two parallel conversion lines in two widebody hangars that opened in December 2025.
Supply chain agreements included a memorandum of understanding between Satair and Vietjet Air on supply chain, material management and life cycle solutions, and a power-by-the-hour component support agreement between Setna iO and Fly2Sky Airlines for its Airbus A320 family fleet. Portugália Airlines signed an Embraer Component Pool Program agreement for 12 E190s and seven E195s, and LATAM signed one to support 24 E195-32 aircraft; each covers more than 300 components.
In used serviceable material, Corax acquired an Airbus A321-200 for teardown at its Copenhagen headquarters inventory, and GA Telesis acquired three Airbus A320neo airframes and announced its first Boeing 737 MAX 8 disassembly program. Heico subsidiary Prime Air acquired a CFM56-5B6/P engine being disassembled at Jet Engine Technicians in Miami. Werner Aero acquired two Embraer E190 aircraft for dismantling in Toulouse Francazal and Greenwood, Mississippi, and Executive Jet Support acquired two serviceable GE CF34-10 engines for disassembly in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
On the corporate side, HAECO signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam's UNETI on training collaboration, and FEAM Aero unified its European operations, including BOSA and Northern Aerotech, under the brand FEAM EMEA. Rotables specialist AirStart was renamed Sentry Aerospares following its July acquisition by the company.
