Frequently asked questions
Answers to the questions we hear most often about aviation spares and maintenance in the Levant.
The Levant has limited MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) capacity compared to the Gulf. The largest facility is Joramco in Amman, Jordan — a Boeing- and Airbus-rated base-maintenance shop that works on the A320, A330, A340, 737, 777 and 787 families and holds FAA, EASA and JCARC approvals. Middle East Airlines runs a technical division at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut that primarily serves its own fleet with some third-party capability. Iraqi Airways maintains in-house line and light base maintenance in Baghdad and Basra. Syria had limited pre-war capability at Damascus and Latakia, but sanctions and the conflict since 2011 have effectively ended third-party MRO activity there. Heavy checks for Levant carriers are most often sent to Turkish Technic, Joramco, European shops such as Lufthansa Technik or AFI KLM E&M, or Emirates and Etihad Engineering in the UAE.
Dedicated third-party parts inventories in the Levant are scarce. The largest regional stocks are held by Joramco for its own MRO activities and forward stocking on behalf of customers, by Middle East Airlines Technical for its A320 and A321 fleet, and by Royal Jordanian Engineering for its A320, Embraer E175/E195 and 787 fleet. Iraqi Airways keeps limited rotables and consumables for its 737 and 747 operations. Most independent parts traders serving Levant carriers are based outside the region — in Turkey, Germany, the United Kingdom, the UAE and the United States — so pooled and exchange parts typically move through a 24 to 72 hour international transit from Europe or the Gulf.
On the MRO and airline-technical side, Joramco, Royal Jordanian Engineering, MEA Technical in Lebanon and Iraqi Airways Technical are the main regional operators. Turkish Technic is the closest large hub and handles a significant share of Levant heavy maintenance and component repair. Among independent traders and distributors active in the region, AJW Group, Werner Aero Services, AerFin, Aventure Aviation, Flightpath International and Unical Aviation are common suppliers of rotables and airframe parts, while GE Aviation, Safran, Rolls-Royce and CFM International dominate engines and nacelles. Airbus and Boeing ship OEM and power-by-the-hour programmes directly to the carriers. In the GCC, Dnata Aero Stores and the Abu Dhabi-based technical divisions of Etihad and GAL are also regular senders into the Levant.
The two main airworthiness authorities for Western-built aircraft are the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Both require parts installed on type-certificated aircraft to be traceable to an approved source via a standard airworthiness tag: FAA uses Form 8130-3 under 14 CFR Part 21, and EASA uses EASA Form 1 under Part-21. Maintenance and repair organisations are approved under FAA Part 145 and EASA Part-145. Non-OEM parts can be certified through PMA (Parts Manufacturer Approval) or TSOA (Technical Standard Order Authorization) at the FAA, and through ETSO and production organisation approvals at EASA. A Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement between the United States and the European Union allows mutual recognition of most 8130-3 and EASA Form 1 releases, so a correctly tagged part is normally acceptable to both authorities. Levant carriers commonly require dual-tagged 8130 / Form 1 documentation, and local regulators — JCARC in Jordan, LCAA in Lebanon, ICAA in Iraq and SCAA in Syria — generally require the same standards or defer directly to FAA and EASA approvals, reflecting ICAO Annex 6 and 8 guidance.
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