aces building

It’s 1946, and World War II has officially been over for one year. Unlike most European countries, which are in the process of reconstructing and recovering from the war, the United States is experiencing a period of economic growth and revitalization. The future looks bright—and there is no shortage of people who are willing to seize the moment, and secure their position in that future.

It is in this climate that William Bergstrom, George Snowden, and John Fitzgibbon, see an opportunity to take advantage of their wartime experience as production managers for Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, and open Air Carrier Engine Services, Inc. (ACES), on the grounds of the newly-named Miami International Airport. Not long thereafter, on December 16, 1946, ACES received its Repair Station Certificate #3604 from the Civil Aeronautics Administration (predecessor to the FAA) and began providing its customers with expert service on their reciprocating engines.

From the very start, ACES set the bar for customer service excellence, through unprecedented and innovative programs like Engine Exchange, Engine Leasing, Power-by-the-Hour, and Engineering Follow-Up. By the mid-sixties, and after twenty years of providing such services, ACES sees the diminishing need for overhaul on reciprocating engines, and gears up for the repair, maintenance and overhaul of Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines. ACES’ first JT8D engine (left) was repaired for National Airlines in 1967. By 1979, ACES serviced 1,000 JT8Ds.

title

In 1982, new ownership changed ACES’ name to AeroThrust. The company’s focus on the maintenance, repair, overhaul, sale and leasing of the JT8D remained unchanged. In fact, in the mid-1980s, services were extended to include the JT8D-200 engine, with the first -200 being repaired for AeroMexico in 1986.

In 1992, Pratt & Whitney showed its confidence in the excellent services provided by AeroThrust on their engines, when they selected the company to be an approved Warranty Repair Station for the JT8D-200 series engines. By the end of the millennium, AeroThrust had solidly established a worldwide reputation as a premier maintenance and repair facility for the most dependable and widely used jet turbine engine in the air. Without a doubt, this reputation was a direct result of having consistently provided superior customer service, outstanding performance, and exceptional value during the previous five and a half decades.

Like the entire aviation industry, AeroThrust was heavily impacted by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As fate had it, the company changed ownership in November 2001, a transition which turned out to be quite fortunate. With all odds stacked against it, and with real concern in early 2002 about staying open for business, a new AeroThrust was birthed. Defying all odds, the company came together as a team to do whatever was necessary to prevail, and in doing so, it showed what it was made of—character to endure the most trying of times!

In recent years, AeroThrust has added the maintenance, repair, overhaul, sale and lease of the CFM56-3 and -7 engines to its vast array of quality services. The first CFM56-3 engine was received in 2004. All of the tooling necessary for the complete tear down and assembly of all CFM56-3 and -7 engines, including balancing equipment, was acquired in 2006. Today AeroThrust produces CFM56 engines for many airlines and leasing companies around the world. In addition, we maintain a pool of engines for spare engine support to our customers, and stand prepared to handle the anticipated influx of CFM56 engines needing performance restoration.

For over 60 years (9,000+ engines) AeroThrust has proven that it is a serious competitor in the engine maintenance and repair industry, and with the addition of the CFM56 product line, we will continue to be so. One thing is for sure—AeroThrust is prepared to do Whatever It Takes to deliver extraordinary service for many years to come!