Jet Aviation is riding positive trends into EBACE (Booth A050), not the least of which is “an increasing demand for refurbishment work in parallel with light and heavy maintenance.”
Customers increasingly want to use their aircraft downtime during scheduled maintenance for simultaneous refurbishment projects, including new interior designs, re-upholstery, technology upgrades, or even a new cabin layout, said Vince Rongler, head of refurbishment, modification and upgrades at the company’s Basel maintenance center here in Switzerland.
“We see that our customers appreciate high-quality standards even more than a few years ago,” he said. “They invest time for refurbishments, modifications and upgrades. It’s not only about utilizing the downtime for mandatory maintenance anymore.
In 2014, Jet Aviation retrofitted a range of business jets and narrow-body aircraft, including numerous Falcon series EASy II upgrades and a Batch 3 avionics upgrade in a Global Express. There were also two complete in-flight entertainment and cabin management system replacements on BBJs, a configuration modification on yet another BBJ, and a complete interior upgrade based on a design developed by the company’s own design studio.
Already this year the center is working on a broad range of retrofit, modification and upgrade services. 747-400s and BBJs, an ACJ, and multiple Bombardiers, Falcons and Gulfstreams are either in the hangars or scheduled to arrive.
Jet Aviation has extensive experience with major Honeywell and Rockwell Collinsupgrades, as well as with ADSB upgrades on BBJs. It has scheduled several TCAS 7.1 upgrades to ensure customers are compliant with the EASA mandate that comes into force on December 1 this year. Meanwhile, added Rongler, “our research and development department is exploring new partnerships in the automotive industry while researching new manufacturing capabilities.”
To meet the growing demand in refurbishment and MRO, Jet Aviation has extensively upgraded its facility, including a new carpet edge sewing machine in the upholstery shop, new dust-reducing vacuum cleaners, new spray guns in the paint shop and an overall 30% increase in storage capacity.
http://aviationweek.com/ebace-2015/business-growing-jet-aviation-maintenance