FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1997
1997 - 1484.PDF
•S/V-a/Ml AVIATION Chester hi the UK is Raytheon Aircraft's first international service centre there will be others. "We are looking at emerg ing markets where [fleet] demographics could require a centre," and where there is no ASR available. "There is no finite plan to add cen tres," and any additional sites "...will be looked at in co-operation with authorised service-rep resentatives, not in lieu of, he cautions. This is good news for the independents, although they do not appear to be suffering too greatly at the hands of the manufacturers. One reason is that two of the makers of high-end business jets, Dassault Aviation and Gulfstream Aerospace, continue to rely heavily on ASRs. Now Boeing has entered the business-jet mar ket, and has picked independents Jet Aviation and K-C Aviation to compete and support its aircraft. Airbus is also targeting the market, gen erating the prospect of additional business. RELYING ON INDEPENDENTS Gulfstream is upgrading its factory-owned completion and service centres in a bid to win more business. The company has sites in Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia, and Long Beach, California, where the majority of new, "green" GIVs and GVs are completed, and a significant number of customer aircraft are maintained and refurbished. Outside these cen tres, the company relies on ASRs. Dassault, similarly, has two factory-owned sites: the Dassault Falcon Jet completion and service centre in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Dassault Falcon Service, at Le Bourget in Paris. Only Little Rock can complete new Falcons, but both locations can perform heavy mainte nance and interior refurbishment of customer aircraft. Outside these centres, again, Dassault relies on a network of ASRs. Large business-jets produced by Dassault, Gulfstrcam - and Bombardier - account for a large part of the business of major independents such as Atlantic Aviation, Garrett Aviation Sen ices, Innotech Aviation, Jet Aviation and Midcoast Aviation. While moves by manufac turers to capture new-aircraft completions are edging independents out, the influx of new air craft is generating demand for upgrades and refurbishment of existing business jets. Montreal-based Innotech sold its Canadair Challenger green-aircraft completion business to Bombardier in late 1996, yet in May unveiled a C$11.5 million ($8.3 million) expansion of its maintenance and refurbishment centre. Chief operating officer Stephen Flummer says that business is increasing. 'innotech holds factory authorisations from more manufacturers than any other service organisation in North America," he says. According to Plummer,".. .the maintenance business is strong" at Innotech's Montreal and Vancouver centres. Refurbishment work is also on the increase. "New aircraft are more expen sive, so a lot of customers are willing to refurhish their aircraft for $1-2 million," he says. Plummer is not overly concerned by neigh bouring Bombardier's moves into the service business. "Bombardier was always a competi tor," he says. Independents can compete with manufacturers on turn-around time and price, because they have lower overheads and are "quick on their feet", Plummer believes. Manu facturers and independents alike agree that air craft downtime is a major factor in an operator's decision of where to [jo for service. Innotech, like other independents, is looking to expand internationally. The company oper ates eight FBOs in eastern Canada, and one in the north-east USA, and plans three additional Canadian locations. Innotech is looking to acquire additional US sites, and has been trying for several years to establish an FBO in Russia, so far without success. Jet Aviation has just completed a year on expansion, adding a maintenance centre in Singapore in February 1996 and an FBO in Las Vegas, Nevada, in August. The Swiss company, which is based at West Palm Beach, Florida, is a global aviation-services company, with loca tions in the USA, Europe, the Middle East and Far East. Some 60% of its revenues come from maintenance, 5% from outfitting and 10% from FBO services. With 17 locations in the USA, Germany, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Moscow, the FBO business is "Very important" to Jet Aviation. "It allows customers to see the level and range of services offered. They fly in with minor maintenance problems and learn that we offer a full maintenance service," says vice-president, marketing, Heinz Aebi. Jet Aviation is forecasting substantial growth in the USA and Far East. FBO and maintenance business will increase in the USA, the company says. "We will acquire or build another two FBOs in the next year," says Aebi. In the Far East, Singapore-based Jet Maintenance "...is doing better than expected," he says. The next international venture is likely to be into South America. "Brazil is the second-largest market in the world, with 500 aircraft," notes Aebi. A joint venture is possible, "....but we need the right partners", he cautions. CIRCLE OF BENEFITS Aircraft management is an important part ofjet Aviation's business, accounting for 20% of rev enues, while charter management making up 5 %. Both help bring customers into the compa ny's "circle of benefits", Aebi says. Jet Aviation acquired K-C Aviation's management opera tions in September 1996, bringing its managed fleet to almost 150 aircraft, divided roughly equally between the USA and Europe - most of which are maintained by the company. The acquisition broughtjet Aviation into the charter-management business, enabling the company to generate income for customers by operating their aircraft on corporate charters. This is a market Bombardier entered in 1995 through its BusinessJetSolutions joint-venture with FBO chain AMR Combs. The venture took over AMR's Alliance charter-management programme, which now covers 75 aircraft. BusinessJetSolutions also operates the Flex- Jet programme providing fractional ownership of Bombardier aircraft, which is expected to cover 40 US-based Challengers and Learjets by- year end. With Executive Jet Aviation now- operating some 95 Citations, Hawkers and Gulfstreams under its pioneering Netjets pro gramme, and Raytheon planning a scheme involving King Airs and Beechjets, fractional ownership is now increasingly important to the business-aviation service industry. • 36 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4 - 10 June 1997
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
