Triumph Acquisition Jump-Starting AAR’s PMA Work

AAR’s integration of Triumph Group’s product support business is in its early stages, but the combination is already pointing to dividends for AAR’s nascent parts manufacturer approval (PMA) development efforts.

“We’re more excited about the potential for PMA than we were even before we closed,” AAR CFO Sean Gillen said at a recent Bank of America conference. “Triumph brings some capability that we didn’t have, [including] parts that are already through the process and in the market. They are where we wanted to be in a year or two. So, we’re getting there that much quicker with the Triumph acquisition.”

AAR identified PMA development as a new business opportunity about a year ago. Already well-established in parts distribution and used serviceable material, a PMA line would broaden the company’s already formidable parts offerings. The independent MRO specialist also has a direct pipeline to PMA-hungry customers through its heavy airframe maintenance agreements with some of the biggest U.S. carriers, including Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines.

AAR’s links to potential customers and the extensive, real-world maintenance trend data dovetail well with Triumph’s PMA capabilities, Gillen said.

“They’ve got an engineering process and PMA design and approval set of procedures that is further advanced than what we have,” he said. “We have a lot more data than they have ... we’re working on a 1,000 aircraft a year in our hangars, and we are able to collect data in terms of what parts might make good PMA candidates because of the volume of aircraft that we see,” he continued.

“That’s a good combination,” Gillen added.

AAR has “one or two” interiors parts that are “in the process to be approved,” Gillen said.

“The playing field is a bit smaller for us than other players,” Gillen added, noting existing distribution agreements with OEMs. “But we do think that there’s room for more than one, two, or three [sizable] PMA providers. So, that’s one of the reasons we’ve gotten into that business.”