UK engineering group GKN hopes to re-establish its latest acquisition - canopy specialist Pilkington Aerospace - in the civil market, although it concedes that most sales growth in the sector will still come from the US military market.
"Pilkington decided to withdraw from the civil market three to four years ago," says Marcus Bryson, managing director (Europe) of GKN's Aerospace Services division. "We have relationships with the prime contractors that Pilkington didn't have, and we will be more aggressive in the market."
Bryson also hopes to rebuild Pilkington's links with Airbus and expand in the helicopter market. "They had some problems with Airbus," he says. "The relationship basically fell apart. But we are a large supplier to Airbus, and we think this will give them a second chance."
GKN's polycarbonate and acrylic business has allowed it to compete in the military market, but glass, as supplied by Pilkington, is preferred for civil aircraft and helicopter cockpit windows.
"We are still very thin in the rotary market,"says Bryson. "We have made no great inroads yet on suppliers like Sikorsky."
Source: Flight International