When a company says it wants one of its platforms to become “the Amazon of aviation”, then it is time to sit up and take notice.

That’s Embraer’s long-term vision for Beacon – to be a marketplace that connects MROs and operators, facilitating not only better communication but also more timely actions. The goal is to keep aircraft flying.

Beacon has been incubated by EmbraerX, Embraer’s market accelerator for bright ideas, and has the ability to disrupt the MRO sector. It could open up high-value interactions and business possibilities, and give companies the ability to be more agile and efficient.

At the moment, the mobile app can coordinate maintenance activity by tracking the current status of delays, which ones are being attended to, and what is happening at different bases. “It is a valuable tool for everybody involved in the maintenance chain,” says Daniel Moczydlower, president and CEO of EmbraerX.
The next breakthrough will be when people can find out where specific parts are available and order them. “For every region we will need the top local operators and the key MROs,” Moczydlower explains. He is fully aware this represents a “big project”, but he is optimistic.

“One of the reasons for that is that we are designing it to be a totally neutral platform regardless of the parts, or aircraft, manufacturer, or provider of the service” – potentially avoiding data and sharing issues which have hindered other apps and solutions.

Another company focused on the future, but also celebrating its past this year, is AJW. That’s because the company is marking its 90th anniversary, and it has been quite the journey for a company that started life as a surplus parts redistribution business supporting the Piper Cub aircraft. We spoke to chairman and CEO Christopher Whiteside about some of the company’s historic highlights, transitional moments, and current plans.

These features appear alongside our regular columns. In ‘Industry voices’, Conduce’s Hayley Russell presents the case for going paperless with electronic technical logbooks, while KGB Aviation’s Kevin Balys talks us through a handheld device that is helping to progress MRO through flight safety innovation. And in ‘Green sky’, we look at the positive impact CFM’s open fan engine architecture could have in advancing the aviation industry’s sustainability credentials. From a potential market disruptor, to a
possible revolutionary engine architecture, I hope you enjoy reading the issue.