Jets Need Maintenance, Whether Flying Or Not

Bombardier is buying out its partners Lufthansa Technik AG and ExecuJet Aviation Group to turn Berlin’s Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services into a fully owned service center. “We continue to grow our presence in Europe,” said Jean-Christophe Gallagher, Bombardier Aviation vice president and general manager of customer experience. “This investment is critical to the expansion of our service footprint in Europe and around the world.” The service center is at Berlin-Schoenefeld Airport and has been providing services to Bombardier business aviation customers since 1997. The 160,000-ft.² center employs 240 workers.

The first aircraft have arrived for scheduled maintenance at Gulfstream’s new service facility at Farnborough Airport, England. The center was announced in May 2018 and opened ahead of time. The company’s UK MRO capability, originally based at London Luton Airport, has been rebuilt at Farnborough, though Gulfstream maintains a presence at Luton with teams providing arrival, departure and on-ground services. The first aircraft to arrive at the all-new 225,000-ft.² (20,903-m²) facility was a Middle East-based G450. The eco-friendly building can accommodate up to 13 aircraft of sizes up to and including the G700 and perform after-market modifications and interior refurbishments as well as all aspects of regular maintenance.

Construction has begun on Bombardier’s new 250,000-ft.² (23,226-m²) hangar at London Biggin Hill Airport. Steel for the expanded facility arrived in late June; the supplier of much of the metal, ReidSteels of Dorset, traces its aerospace history back to building hangars for Louis Bleriot. The facility marks a significant expansion of Bombardier’s existing Biggin Hill footprint, and when complete will have a capacity to accommodate 14 Global 7500s. The project involves developing apron and surrounding space totaling 650,000-ft.². The construction program will help Biggin Hill meet its target of generating 2,300 jobs by 2030. The new facility is expected to open in 2022, said Andy Patsilides, the airport’s head of marketing.

Gulfstream also has opened a service center at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida. The site, which came on line in August, is owned by the airframer but shared with Jet Aviation. Each company has a hangar and shares office space. The 161,000-ft.² (14,960-m²) facility is not evenly split. At 104,000-ft.², Gulfstream has almost twice Jet Aviation’s footprint. Its part of the complex can accommodate as many as seven G650/ER jets at one time. In addition to FAA and European Union Aviation Safety Agency certifications, the facility is approved for maintenance by the aviation authorities of Argentina, Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Brazil, Burundi, Canada, the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man, Mexico, Peru, San Marino and Venezuela.

RUAG MRO International has opened a combined painting and drying shop at its Oberpfaffenhofen site in Bavaria. The painting and drying booths are adjacent to one another, and each big enough to accommodate parts as large as elevators and rudders. “The new facility allows us to carry out even the most demanding of paint jobs to the highest quality,” said the paint shop’s team leader, Stefan Sculz. Shop managers say it exceeds requirements for environmental protection, energy consumption and the safety of those operating the equipment.

Metrojet is opening a new maintenance hangar at its site in Clark, the Philippines, and expects it to see a lot of use as aircraft owners in the region struggle to find protected parking space for jets that are experiencing lower levels of utilization due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our existing hangar in Clark has been supporting the region in helping to resolve the lack of hangar parking,” said Sarith Vaikuntan, the general manager of Metrojet Engineering Clark, the Hong Kong-headquartered company’s local division. The 7,100-m² hangar is scheduled to be operating before year-end.

AVIAA, the start-up that aims to bring the benefits of group purchasing to business-aviation clients, has increased its maintenance provisioning for its members via a partnership with New World Aviation of Allentown, Pennsylvania. New World is a Part 145 MRO with expertise working with Bombardier Challenger, Dassault Falcon, Gulfstream, Hawker and Learjet business jets. AVIAA says the partnership adds to one it already has with Brunswick Aviation, which is headquartered at the same airport. “We will offer AVIAA members comprehensive, one-stop service,” said Matt Stothoff, New World’s director of maintenance.

Owners of Bermuda-registered Dassault business jets flying in Asia now have another option for maintenance: ExecuJet MRO Services Malaysia at Subang Airport. The Dassault-owned MRO house is able to perform 12-, 72- and 96-month checks on aircraft including the Falcon 7X, 8X, 900EX and 2000EX. The facility, which is FAA-certified to work on Bombardier, Dassault and Gulfstream aircraft, also offers rapid-response teams.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused some concerns about the value of older business aircraft, but Greg Hatcher, owner of The Hatcher Agency, a Little Rock, Arkansas-based insurance broker, has provided the marketplace an object lesson in wringing value from the pre-owned marketplace. He bought a 32-year-old Falcon 900B, and contracted with Duncan Aviation to transform the aircraft’s interior. The project was completed at Duncan’s Lincoln, Nebraska, shop and included designing and building a 16-seat cabin and—a must-have for Hatcher—illuminated cup-holders in his favorite color, blue. “I purchased this aircraft knowing it needed love and care,” Hatcher said. “In the end, I flew away with an aircraft that looks better than the new one next to it on the ramp, for a lot less money.” He will be returning the aircraft to Duncan for installation of an updated Universal Avionics EFI-890 flightdeck.

Jet Aviation’s Geneva facility has completed its first 240-month check on a Global Express and begun work on a combined 120/180-month check on a Global Express XRS. The 240-month check is, in essence, the largest inspection a Global Express can undergo and involves the overhaul of all major systems and structures. “To take advantage of the downtime, the customer elected to have a K_a-band satellite system installed in parallel to the check,” said Guillaume Hamez, Jet Aviation Geneva’s director of maintenance. “As expected with an inspection of this magnitude, we found various defects, including corrosion on the aircraft’s flaps and vertical stabs, which we successfully addressed.”