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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 1483.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION company-owned centre. "Authorised centres handle more than one type of aircraft, while company centres focus on Bombardier prod ucts and need a volume of aircraft," he says. Cessna says that it was the first company to create a service-centre network, and believes that it leads the industry in customer-support satisfaction as a result. Other manufacturers ".. .are hearing from their customers how good Cessna's support is," says Jim Morgan, vice- president service facilities. Three company- owned and six independent service-centres were in place even before deliver ' of the first Citation business jet in 1973, he recalls. Cessna's service centres are all inside the USA. The company has just opened its ninth, in San Antonio, Texas, and would like one more in the USA, Morgan says. The company is explor ing the international market, and an announce ment is expected at die Paris air show in June. The US manufacturer declines to comment on rumours that it will buy die Euralair fixed-based operation (FBO) at Paris' Le Bourget Airport, where the show will be held. COMPETING FOR BUSINESS .Morgan is open in acknowledging that, in the USA, the Cessna-owned sites compete for busi ness with the five factory-authorised indepen dent centres. With some 1,600 Citations in the US fleet, however, there is plenty of business. The Cessna centres account for some 46% of the US Citation-maintenance market, Morgan says, while the independents garner around 18%. Fixed-base operators and corporate flight-departments account for the rest. Some 85-90% of the US Citation fleet is no more than 45min flying time away from a Cessna-owned service centre, and 60% are only 30min away, Morgan says. The company sites compete with the independents by offering "reasonably accessible, high-quality services at good prices", he says. Data on Cessna's labour and parts rates are shared with the authorised independents, to re-assure them that the manu facturer is not manipulating prices, he says. Cessna also encourages its authorised ser vice-representatives (ASRs) to allow the manu facturer oversight of any modifications they develop. "Our customers operate all over the planet with their aircraft, and we want to facili tate maintenance of any system installed [by an independent!," Morgan points out. Outside the USA, Cessna now works exclu sively through ASRs, typically one per country where Citations are operated. YVidi the 360 air craft in Europe making up the second largest fleet outside the USA, it is inevitable that the manufacturer's current exploration of the potential for international service centres should focus first on this region. Europe is also the site for Raytheon Aircraft's first company-owned service centre outside the USA, at Chester in the UK. The expansion into Europe comes after Raytheon Aircraft Services (RAS) took the unusual step of reducing the FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4 - 10 June 1997 number of sites in its US network. John Willis, RAS president, explains fiiat Raytheon, which had acquired several fixed- base operations over the years, embarked on a product-support strategy based on service cen tres within lh flying time of their customers, able to to provide the "highest-quality service available for Beech or Hawker aircraft". A review of its existing sites for redundant locations or duplicated capabilities determined that six "were outside the programme's scope", he says. Two of three RAS service centres in Atlanta, Georgia, were judged to be surplus to requirements, for example. When Raytheon set out to find a buyer for the six sites,"... we looked for a partner interested in acquiring them with out the Raydieon franchise", Willis says. The sites were sold to Mercury Air Group for $9 million, and became part of the 12-location Mercury Air Centers FBO chain. Mercury's interest is in fuelling and line service, explains Willis. RAS' Dallas, Texas, site was sold, but Raytheon leased back the maintenance centre, with Mercury providing line services. Unlike Bombardier or Cessna, RAS provides FBO ser vices at ten of its 14 remaining US locations. "If we can pump a million gallons [of fuel] a year, it makes sense," says Willis. The main business is supporting Raytheon aircraft, however. Each of the RAS centres is expected to handle 50% of the aircraft based within its assigned area. In fact, they serve slight ly more dian half of the turbine fleet, Willis says. Raytheon is careful to work with, rather than compete with, its ASRs, he says. "We try not to duplicate die independents." The requirement is to have a sendee centre, company-owned or factory-authorised, within lh flying time of every customer. RAS is building a new centre in the North East, at Atlantic City, New Jersey. LOGICAL EXPANSION Chester was the logical place for RAS' first international service centre, says Willis. The location is die former final-assembly site for the Hawker business-jet line, acquired by Raytheon from British Aerospace in 1993. As part of its deal to transfer assembly of the Hawker 800 to the USA, Raytheon agreed to establish Chester as a depot-level maintenance centre for the Hawker family, targeting operators in Europe, Africa, the CIS and the Middle East. RAS is in the process of equipping some of its US centres to support Hawker aircraft. So far six sites have been upgraded, providing Hawker service within a "reasonable distance" of most operators. The Tampa, Florida, centre handles customers in the Caribbean, says Willis. RAS is evaluating whether to support Hawkers from its Rockford, Illinois, centre near Chicago, he says. In an example of its strategy not to compete direcdy with independents, RAS does not pro vide Hawker service at its Atlanta location, because Garrett Aviation Services does. Willis describes Chester as RAS' "first inter national centre", suggesting strongly that •
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