AMC Issues Call for Support

The Avionics Maintenance Conference (AMC) opened in Phoenix on Monday with an unvarnished appeal to non-contributing airlines to step up and support the annual technical meeting organized by ARINC. "Unfortunately, there is a lack of interest regarding the funding of AMC," Axel Mueller of Lufthansa Technik, who chairs the AMC Steering Committee, said in opening remarks. "Nothing in life is for free, so in order to have a successful AMC, we need to financially support it in a balanced and fair manner." ARINC's Industry Activities organization has endeavored to negotiate new membership agreements with airlines to support activities of AMC, the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee (AEEC) and the Flight Simulator Engineering & Maintenance Conference (FSEMC). Some airlines have signed agreements; others haven't responded. Mueller said an "operators-only" session would be held today to discuss the situation. "We will express our concerns during that meeting," he said. "We will also have to discuss the consequences if funding issues are not resolved."