MROs and Completion Centers

More space has been added at the Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania where a new 16.3 million dollar hangar was recently opened. The hangar encompasses 54,000 sq ft and has the capability to house bizjet sizes of G650. The extra space now brings the total hangared space to 250,000 sq ft at the airport. "If you search the Northeast corridor, hangar space is extremely limited," said Thomas Stoudt, executive director of the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority. They received an 8.8 million dollar grant from the PennDoT Bureau of Aviation to finish the new structure to its current state. "We are confident that Hangar 11 delivers a competitive advantage in attracting new tenants that strengthens economic growth within the Lehigh Valley." For corporate aircraft and travel, Stoudt said space is at a premium in the northeast, and LVIA’s hangar can offer cost savings compared to New York or New Jersey.

Bombardier Aviation has announced the extension of its worldwide customer support offerings through enhanced structural repair capabilities for its worldwide fleet of business jets. Bombardier’s structural repair offerings are a collaborative effort with The Mobile Repair Team, a company which specializes in the completion of aircraft structural repairs worldwide. Bombardier Aviation will continue to provide high-quality repair solutions at one single point of contact through Bombardier’s Customer Response Center at +1-866-538-1247 (North America) and +1-514-855-2999 (International). “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, and this extended partnership with The Mobile Repair Team will allow us to provide worldwide skilled and proficient structural repairs directly through our Customer Response Center alongside the outstanding service experience that our distinguished Bombardier customers expect,” said Andy Nureddin, Vice President, Customer Support, Bombardier Aviation.

Constant Aviation has seen a boom in Aircraft On Ground activity even during this Covid-19 period. "We’ve witnessed the business aviation rebound firsthand, and it has been dramatic," said Constant Vice-President of AOG line stations Paul Witt. "As flying has increased, our AOG division has been working at 120 percent capacity. That’s a big turnaround from March, when we were working at 30 percent capacity." With more and more business jets returning to service and transporting passengers and even cargo down times on the ground due to maintenance increase the chances for AOG teams to have more work and Constant Aviation has been reaping the successes of this recently.

Business Jet MRO market trends, growth and the forecast for 2020-2025.

https://www.reportlinker.com/p05867...rowth-Trends-and-Forecast.html?utm_source=PRN

A new paint shop has been inaugurated at RUAG. "The new facility allows us to carry out even the most demanding of paint jobs to the highest quality," says Stefan Schulz, Team Leader Paint Shop. In addition to the high technical standard, the closed arrangement of the two booths is particularly advantageous since it enables a direct transition from the painting to the drying process. This eliminates the risk of contamination and helps save time: "While one component is drying in the second booth, we can get on with painting the next component in the first booth," explained Schulz.

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. announced the official opening of a new company-owned service center at Palm Beach International Airport. The facility, shared with Jet Aviation, will have a hangar for each company and shared office space. "Gulfstream has had a presence in Palm Beach for almost 20 years with the capability to accommodate all Gulfstream models," said Derek Zimmerman, president, Gulfstream Customer Support. "We are excited to open a state-of-the-art facility that will offer world-class service to a greater number of Gulfstream aircraft simultaneously. The Palm Beach service center is well-positioned to support customers in domestic and international markets, including South America."

The all-new joint facility is nearly 161,000 square feet/14,960 square meters, with over 104,000 sq ft/9,600 sq m dedicated to Gulfstream. The air-conditioned facility can accommodate up to seven Gulfstream G650ER™ or G650™ aircraft. Jet Aviation occupies the remaining 56,700 sq ft/5,267 sq m. The Gulfstream Palm Beach facility offers a broad range of services, including major inspections; structural modifications and repairs; and major avionics installations and system upgrades. It is a certified U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and European Union Aviation Safety Agency repair station and has maintenance approvals from Argentina, Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Brazil, Burundi, Canada, the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man, Mexico, Peru, San Marino and Venezuela.

There is news that Bombardier has bought out Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services (LBAS). This move allows them to assume full control of the business aviation MRO facility. With the current direction that Bombardier is going in to become a full business aviation unit it makes sense. Bombardier expects to close on this deal by the end of 2020. Jean-Christophe Gallagher, vice-president and general manager, customer experience for Bombardier, says the move will "continue to grow our presence in Europe" and that our customers "will benefit from even more advantages and expertise offered by the OEM".

Dassault Aviation recently signed its 500th contract for its FalconCare guaranteed maintenance program and further expanded the program—already the most comprehensive in the industry—to meet a broader range of customer needs and budgets. Introduced in 2005, FalconCare offers a full range of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance services through C-Check, including airframe, avionics and landing gear parts, labor, consumables, service bulletins and maintenance tracking. This comprehensive coverage ensures predictable and stable annual maintenance costs for operators of Falcon aircraft. It provides maintenance coverage everywhere on the planet through more than 60 Dassault Owned and Authorized Service Centers and 16 Falcon Spares distribution centers.

"FalconCare provides three benefits," says Jean Kayanakis, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Falcon Customer Service & Service Center Network. "It guarantees a predictable budget, it offers peace of mind by eliminating unexpected maintenance costs, and it helps enhance aircraft value, as demonstrated by valuations in the aircraft Bluebook price guide." The new program expansion, based on feedback from flight departments and the Falcon Operator Advisory Board, enhances the flexibility of the pay-as-you-go Falcon Care service by offering operators two different levels of coverage, in accordance with their actual maintenance requirements: FalconCare Essential, the basic offering, covering the full cost of genuine Dassault spare parts, with additional services available as options. FalconCare Elite, an all-inclusive offering covering parts, labor, and consumables along with AOG GoTeam service, documentation, exchange items like batteries and wheels and other maintenance services.

Daher recently announced that Krasnodar-based Simavia has received Russian certification which enables this company to operate as an authorized Service Center for TBM very fast turboprop aircraft in Russia and the countries of Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The FAP-285 certification, issued by Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport (Rosaviatsiya), recognizes Simavia’s engineering quality and skills to maintain TBM-family airplanes. Simavia personnel were given a four-week training course at the Daher TBM factory in Tarbes, France. "We salute the expanding TBM activities at Simavia, which is a dynamic, dedicated and high-quality promoter of general aviation in Russia," said Nicolas Chabbert, Senior Vice President of Daher’s Aircraft Division. "We are fully committed to supporting on-demand transportation in Russia, as well as across Eastern Europe and Eurasia – especially from remote community airports where operators will benefit from the TBM’s speed, economical operating costs, and the ability to serve smaller runways."

Bonmbardier has opened a new service center in Melbourne, Australia. "We are thrilled with the addition of the new Melbourne Service Centre, which further builds on Bombardier’s commitment to Australia and the Asia-Pacific region," said Jean-Christophe Gallagher, Executive Vice President, Services and Support, and Corporate Strategy, Bombardier Aviation. "By adding more specialized know-how and greater capacity to support more aircraft in this key location, we are providing our customers even more reasons to bring their jets home."

King Aerospace is looking to expand significantly in Oklahoma. The Texas-based MRO company is expected to start build on a new 90,000-sq-ft hangar at their Oklahoma site which is now scheduled to complete by 2022. King specializes in bizliner class jets such as the BBJ. Its FAA and EASA certified repair station offers avionics, interiors, modifications, and paint areas are suited for these types of jets. The new hangar will bolster their work and allow for service and work on multiple larger cabin aircraft.

Pilatus has appointed TAG Maintenance Services to support the Pilatus PC-24 Super Versatile Jet for comprehensive base and line maintenance in Geneva, Switzerland. TAG Maintenance Services also offers services for the PC-12 single-engine turboprop. Ignaz Gretener, VP General Aviation of Pilatus says: "As the worldwide fleet of PC-24s continues to grow, we are constantly strengthening our support network. Geneva is a top destination for many of our customers, so we are delighted to expand our relationship with TAG Maintenance Services wit h its stellar reputation."

This is just a visualization by ACA-3D and designed by Jet Aviation showing certainly what can be done onboard a Boeing 777X BBJ. This was presented at the 2019 EBACE.

The latest Rolls-Royce customer support facility in Savannah is officially opened! The new 62,000 sq ft (5,800 m²) Savannah Customer Service Centre is a short distance away from the also new Gulfstream Service Center East and is scheduled to be fully operational by end of this year. It will house an on-site customer support office, an on wing services repair facility, a powerplant completion center, and a warehouse all under a single roof. Rolls-Royce business aviation customers & services SVP Andy Robinson said, "As the leading engine manufacturer in business aviation, our customers trust in us to deliver outstanding levels of in-service support."

Here is a look at some of the Customer Support MRO achievements Gulfstream initiated and or completed in 2020.

In February, Gulfstream announced a new service center at Fort Worth Alliance Airport in Texas. The 160,000-square-foot/14,864-square-meter maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility is scheduled to break ground in the first quarter of 2021 and open in 2022.

In July, Gulfstream opened an all-new, 225,000-sq-ft/20,903-sq-m service center in Farnborough, England. The facility can accommodate up to 13 large-cabin aircraft, including the Gulfstream G700™. Gulfstream Farnborough offers MRO services, as well as interior refurbishments and aftermarket modifications. In line with Gulfstream’s sustainability strategy, the Farnborough facility has been designed with environmental benefits, including rainwater harvesting, radiant heating systems in the purpose-built hangar, intelligent lighting controls and heat recovery systems. To complement the Farnborough site, Gulfstream FAST™ Field & Airborne Support Teams continue to maintain a presence at London Luton Airport for arrivals, departures and aircraft-on-ground (AOG) service.

In August, Gulfstream introduced a modernized service center in Palm Beach, Florida, shared with Jet Aviation. The all-new joint facility is nearly 161,000 sq ft/14,960 sq m, with over 104,000 sq ft/9,600 sq m dedicated to Gulfstream. The facility can accommodate up to seven Gulfstream G650ER™ or G650™ aircraft. With nearly two decades in the area, the all-new facility offers a broad range of services, including major inspections; structural modifications and repairs; and major avionics installations and system upgrades. The Palm Beach service center is well-positioned to support customers in domestic and international markets, including South America.

Gulfstream also opened a Customer Support parts hub in Atlanta, reducing shipping and delivery times and providing faster service to customers. Gulfstream’s partner in this operation is Crane Worldwide Logistics, which provides the warehouse space and handles logistics services. The Gulfstream parts network includes the main Customer Support Distribution Center in Savannah with additional distribution centers in Van Nuys, California; Teterboro, New Jersey; Amsterdam; Hong Kong; and Singapore. Gulfstream’s global parts inventory totals almost $1.6 billion.

For customers in the Africa, Middle East, Europe, Asia-Pacific region Dassault has consolidated an MRO sales operation bringing what were separate operations together. Dassault Falcon Service (DFS), TAG Maintenance Services and the Falcon section of ExecuJet MRO Services. "We are leveraging the combined strengths of our various MRO businesses, creating greater efficiencies and synergies across the group," said Jean Kayanakis, senior v-p of Dassault Aviation’s worldwide customer service and service center network. "This means customers will no longer be wedded to any particular service location but can access any center capable of accommodating the work scope, resource, and scheduling requirements of the job at hand."

Bombardier announced the completion of the previously announced acquisition of all the issued and outstanding shares of the aircraft service center in Berlin that it did not own. Bombardier purchased the shares from Lufthansa Technik AG and ExecuJet Aviation Group AG, thereby allowing Bombardier to establish a wholly-owned service center in Berlin and further expand its worldwide customer support footprint.

“We welcome the highly talented employees of the Berlin Service Centre to the Bombardier service network,” said Chris Debergh, Vice President, OEM Parts and Services, Bombardier. “We value their expertise and customer focus – as part of the Bombardier team, they will continue to provide best-in-class aircraft maintenance services to our valued operators of Bombardier business aircraft.” Strategically located at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, the service center has been providing exceptional MRO services to Bombardier business aircraft customers since 1997. With more than 160,000 sq. ft. (15,000 sq. meters) of service capacity and 240 highly-skilled employees on site, the service center provides customers with the highest-level maintenance and support for Bombardier’s growing fleet of Learjet, Challenger and Global business jets based in Europe, Russia, Africa and the Middle East. The service center has received several awards for its technical excellence and customer satisfaction, thanks largely to an experienced and dedicated workforce. Among its many milestones, it was the first in Europe to perform maintenance on Bombardier’s flagship Global 7500 aircraft. The state-of-the-art service center recently modernized and transformed its shop floor to maximize efficiencies and streamline processes, providing customers with an unsurpassed service experience.

Gulfstream is putting more investment into the Appleton, Wisconsin facility to boost service and completions work there. "This expansion is another effort in our long-range plan to upgrade and modernize Gulfstream facilities to further support our customers," said Gulfstream president Mark Burns. "Enhancing the Appleton completions operations is in line with Gulfstream’s culture of continuous improvement." Gulfstream is looking to complete the expansions at this facility by the end of the third quarter this year. Once completed it will see an additional 13,000 sq ft to its completions hangar area.

TAG Aviation Hong Kong has been appointed as a Dassault Falcon Authorized Service Center. "We look forward to providing our high quality maintenance support to Falcon operators in the region. This welcomed service center status further increases our existing range of maintenance and cleaning services, provided by our experienced and highly capable team." said Phil Balmer, TAG Aviation’s Director Maintenance.