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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 2583.PDF
PEOPLE • Frederic Gagey has been appointed chief financial officer of KLM. Gagey, now vice-presi dent, finance for Air France, will join the airline on 1 January, suc ceeding Rob Ruijter. • Israel Aircraft Industries has named Shimon Eckhaus executive cor porate vice-president for marketing and business devel opment, Menahem Shmul corporate vice-president for quality management, Brig Gen Miki Bar general manager of the military aircraft group, David Dagan deputy general manager of its Bedek Aviation Group and general manager of the group's aircraft division, and Yosef Melamed general man ager of the Lahav division. • Northrop Grumman has appointed five new vice-presi dents. Dennis Averyt for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; Maureen Heath for civil and space; Peggy Nelson, who becomes project manager of the Prometheus 1 programme; David Rosnerfor subcontracts; and Ron Smith for Six Sigma. • Lockheed Martin has named Ross Reynolds head of its air mobility business, with overall responsibility for the C-130J Super Hercules, C-5 modernisation, C-27J Spartan and Air Mobility Support pro grammes. Reynolds was previously vice-president, C-130J programmes. • Ashok Baweja, previously director, design and development at Hindustan Aeronautics, has been appointed chairman of the company. He played a key role in the design and development of the Dhruv advanced light heli copter. • Bernie Smith, chief executive of Airservices Australia, has brought forward his retirement by a year to January 2005 following contro versy surrounding the role played by Airservices in Australia's National Airspace System reform programme. During his six-year tenure, Smith reduced costs and improved profitability at the cor poration and was behind the introduction of new technologies. • Soren Stark has been named managing director of Lufthansa Technik Logistik, succeeding Dr Karl-Rudolf Rupprecht. BUSINESS LAUNCH JUSTIN WASTNAGE / LONDON DVB Bank sets up unit to finance jet engine leases Firm foresees change in future market and is confident of securing 5-10% of business Transport financing specialist DVB Bank envisages jet engine funding being split from airframe deals in future as more players enter the engine finance market. DVB Bank launched its own Aero Engine Finance Unit last month, joining a sector dominated by engine manufacturers and third par ties, including Willis Lease Finance, Dana Lease Finance (DLF) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). Bert van Leeuwen, DVB Bank's head of aviation research, says the unit will concentrate on financing spare engine lease deals, which make up LO-12% of all engine sales, but adds that the future shape of aircraft finance deals may evolve to permit the separation of engines from airframes. "Once aircraft finance deals no longer include engines, then we're no longer talking about only 10% of the market, but we can tackle the installed base too," he says. The bank, which has completed its transition from a general com mercial bank to a specialised trans- Van Leeuwen expects DVB Bank to be one of the top five players port financing firm, has decided to create the new unit in anticipation of such a market shift. "You need to position yourself early enough to take advantage when the market opens," says DVB Bank chairman Wolfgang Driese. Van Leeuwen estimates the spare engine business generates about $1.75 billion a year in revenues and DVB Bank expects to be one of the top five players, with 5-10% of the market. DVB Bank says it is in talks with a "third-party engine technical spe cialist" with which it expects to sign "an umbrella agreement" to monitor the maintenance condi tion of engines financed through the new unit. "We recognise that you can't just jump into the market, you need to look at the nuts and bolts, and to do that we will need to build a team of partners from OEMs [original equip ment manufacturers] to mainte nance providers to engine leasing companies," says van Leeuwen. Eventually the Aero Engine Finance Unit may move to leasing engines itself, says Driese. "We would start with the debt side then move to an equity position. That would be a natural progression." MAINTENANCE HELEN MASSY-BERESFORD / LONDON R-R finishes Trent overhaul jigsaw Rolls-Royce and Lufthansa Technik are to locate their €100 million ($133 million) Trent engine over haul facility near Erfurt in the cen tral German state of Thuringia. Construction is set to begin at the end of next year and the two com panies expect it to be completed at the end of 2006. From 2007, the joint venture - N3 Engine Overhaul Services - will provide technical support for Trent 500, 700 and 900 engines, which power Airbus A340-500/600s, A330s and A380s. R-R and Luft hansa Technik have each invested €50 million in the company. More than 50% of R-R's revenues already come from after-market services activities, with 16 overhaul sites for 40 engine types across the world. N3 Engine Overhaul Services expects to service about 50 engines in its first year, doubling that total within two years, and offering repairs to engine parts. Up to 40% of the facility's work will come from maintaining the engines of Lufthansa's fleet, with a similar amount of work expected to come from engines covered by R-R TotalCare agreements in Europe, America and Africa. John Paterson, managing direc tor of R-R's aero repair and over haul business, says the Erfurt site offers "the best in logistics, a com petitive cost structure and the potential for high-quality man power". Lufthansa Technik chief execu tive August Wilhelm Henningsen cites "excellent infrastructure and a high level of flexibility of working conditions". A new £30 million ($56 million) repair and overhaul facility is also being built at R-R's repair and over haul headquarters in Derby, UK. The company will also be invest ing £45 million in a similar engine overhaul facility in East Kilbride, Scotland. N3 Overhaul Services, launched in February 2003, is the fourth joint venture facility between R-R and Trent customers, following alliances with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific (HAESL) and Singapore Airlines. 38 7-13 DECEMBER 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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