Comlux is undaunted by the slump in the completion market that coincided with the unveiling in April of a widebody extension to its Comlux America centre in Indianapolis.
Richard Gaona, chief executive of the Swiss business aviation services group, says Comlux had “no other choice than to move up to widebodies” because of a drop in sales of Airbus Corporate Jets and Boeing Business Jets narrowbodies worldwide as buyers await Neo and Max versions due towards the end of the decade.
The new hangar, able to take an aircraft up to the size of an Airbus A380, complements the existing facility, which is able to handle four narrowbodies.
Comlux America is carrying out its 12th completion project, on an ACJ330. Also undergoing completion in the Indianapolis facility are one of Comlux’s own 737 BBJs and a Sukhoi Superjet-based SBJ.
While Gaona says Comlux will have to work to secure a follow-on widebody contract, there is plenty of narrowbody completion work in the pipeline, he points out. Comlux has three Airbus ACJ320neos and two BBJ Max 8s on order – all of which will have their interiors fitted at Indianapolis – and Gaona expects more narrowbody business as corporate jet versions of the Neo and Max begin to roll off the production line.
He is also confident about securing retrofit deals. “There are about 300 BBJs and ACJs in the marketplace. Normally after a certain number of years, the customer is keen to refurbish the cabin with the likes of internet connectivity,” he says.
Comlux is also announcing at EBACE that it has sold a pre-owned ACJ319 to the government of Slovakia, along with a cabin upgrade and ongoing maintenance package. The company says this is the fourth head of state aircraft it has supported in this way, after deals with Jordan, Kazakhstan and Malaysia.
Comlux has boosted its credentials in the government-owned aircraft market with the appointment to its board of former Airbus Military chief Domingo Ureña Raso, a 30-year veteran of the European aircraft maker.
Source: Flight Daily News
