Comlux is undaunted by the slump in the completion market that has 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 can 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 says. Comlux has three Airbus ACJ320neos and two BBJ Max 8s on order – which will have their interiors fitted at Indianapolis – and Gaona expects more narrowbody business as corporate versions of the Neo and Max arrive.
He is also confident about securing retrofit deals. “There are about 300 BBJs and ACJs in the marketplace. After a certain number of years, the customers are keen to refurbish the cabin with the likes of internet connectivity,” he says.
Comlux is announcing at EBACE that it has sold a pre-owned ACJ319 to the government of Slovakia. It 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.
Source: Flight Daily News
