Five years after making its foray into the completions and refurbishment sector, Comlux is entering the green widebody completions market for the first time.
The Indianapolis-based Comlux America is at NBAA to promote the company as an alternative to the handful of established players in this niche yet highly competitive market sector.
Comlux is targeting Airbus ACJ330, ACJ340, ACJ380 and Boeing 767, 777 and 747 business jets. “We are not planning to add the carbon fiber A350s and 787s to our completions offering for the time being,” says Comlux Group president, Richard Gaona.
“Comlux has already completed several green aircraft including ACJ319s, BBJs, a BBJ3, an ACJ320 and ACJ321. We have done seven projects alone since 2010.” Gaona adds.
Comlux America is also a Bombardier authorized service center and provides maintenance and refurbishment on many traditional business jets. “In total, around 300 aircraft pass through our facility each year, “ says Gaona.
The market for narrowbody completions has shrunk since the financial crisis, but Gaona is confident Comlux will secure a widebody contract this year to make up for the drop in business.
“We have built a reputation as a highly skilled, professional company,” says Gaona. “There are only a handful of companies which have the capacity to offer widebody completions – Gore Design [San Antonio, Texas], Jet Aviation, AMAC [both in Basel, Switzerland] and Lufthansa Technik [Hamburg, Germany] – so there should be plenty of capacity in the market.”
To accommodate the widebody work, Comlux plans to extend its hangar from 128,000ft2 (12,000m2) to 157,000ft2. “This will give us the capacity for one widebody aircraft and up to six narrow bodies at the same time,” says Gaona.
He adds: “I have no doubt that Comlux America is ready for this move into the widebody VIP market. There is huge potential not only to catch green completions but also second hand aircraft refurbishments and maintenance. There are around 350 [narrowbody] ACJs and BBJs in service and I predict around 10% of these owners will be moving up to a widebody aircraft.”
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Source: Flight Daily News
