Aviation News, Boeing, Airbus

Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) have signed an agreement under which Boeing will manage a majority of the airline’s spare parts inventory.

Boeing and JAL reportedly signed a previous agreement in 2001 for management of a limited scope of expendable parts. The new agreement significantly expands on that relationship and increases the value of JAL’s maintenance operations, according to Boeing.

The agreement is known as Integrated Material Management (IMM) and under the terms of the agreement Boeing will be responsible for purchasing, inventory management and logistics for JAL’s expendable aircraft parts.

No financial details have been disclosed.

The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) has announced that it is converting two MD-11 passenger airplanes into freighters for Aeroflot-Cargo.

AS well as the conversion, the company is also updating the flight deck features of the aircraft and the cargo-handling system so that they are consistent with the rest of Aeroflot-Cargo’s fleet.

In addition to these two MD-11s, Aeroflot-Cargo has committed to lease three more MD-11 Boeing Converted Freighters from the Boeing Capital Corporation within the 2007-2008 timeframe.

The companies said that the modification work will begin in November 2008 and Boeing Commercial Aviation Services will provide engineering design work and oversight of the Aeroflot-Cargo conversions, with SASCO, a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Aerospace, providing touch labour on the aircraft.