Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance, Aviation Technical Services and First Aviation Services are named the 2016 winners of the “MRO of the Year” Awards presented today by Penton’s Aviation Week Network, the largest multimedia information and services provider to the global aviation, aerospace and defense industries. “Infusing technology, providing greater efficiencies and saving customers money are the primary themes of this year’s MRO of the Year Awards,” says Lee Ann Shay, Aviation Week’s Chief Editor MRO.

The prestigious awards, which honor outstanding achievement and innovation in the aviation aftermarket industry, were presented at a ceremony during the MRO Americas 2016 Conference & Exhibition at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas.

Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance (AFI KLM E&M) won the Outstanding Airline Maintenance Group Award. AFI KLM E&M launched the MRO Lab in 2015 to serve as a program where all the innovations developed by the company and its network converge. This convergence includes employees’ suggestion programs, engineering R&D, and collaborative projects.

Aviation Technical Services (ATS) won the Leading Independent MRO Award. ATS developed a turnkey technical fleet integration service for an airline customer that accelerated capacity growth by introducing midlife aircraft into its fleet. The program allows the carrier to add capacity in a way it has not done before — using midlife, rather than new, aircraft — and expand lift at a fraction of the time and cost by taking new deliveries.

First Aviation Services received the Military Center of Excellence Award. First Aviation Services has worked hard to increase competition for military sole-source aftermarket contracts. First Aviation Services has brought to the government’s attention its rights to technical data required to maintain and repair aircraft that had not been previously exercised in a majority of Defense Department aviation programs.

Following presentation of the MRO of the Year awards, Chris Doan was awarded this year’s coveted Lifetime Achievement Award. Doan is a vice president with Cavok, a leading global aviation services and consulting firm, and division of Oliver Wyman. He has more than 45 years of airline, maintenance and manufacturing experience — including CEO of TeamSAI, president of Triumph Precision Castings, COO of a component MRO business, and senior vice presidents of operations and maintenance for US Airways and Northwest Airlines. Doan, a licensed FAA pilot and mechanic, is highly recognized for its talents in strategic planning, organizational change and development, and project execution.