With orders at an all-time high, there’s for completion centers · net, the number of business aircraft operators grew from 17,178 in 2006 to 17,993 in 2007, and the worldwide corporate

By almost every market barometer available, theU.S. economy is in dire straits. Housing startsremain stagnant, the Department of Agriculture

is predicting a 4.5-percent increase in food prices thisyear, the U.S. dollar has only recently begun to gain onthe euro and the nationwide average for jet-A is about$6 a gallon.

On the other hand, the business aviation industryand the cabin completion and refurbishment business,have never been stronger. What is going on?

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association(GAMA) earlier this year reported a new-aircraft back-log valued at a record $58 billion. At the same time,manufacturers are selling airplanes into 2012, and wellbeyond in some cases. “A lot of it is driven by the inter-national marketplace [which] suggests that our industry

will be able to power through any softness in the U.S.economy,” said a GAMA source.

“There’s no doubt that the backlog of new airplanesis driving sales of used airplanes, which is in turn keep-ing my shop pretty busy,” said Randy Keeker, presidentof Indianapolis Jet Center, a medium-size independentcompletion and refurbishment facility. Keeker wasbeing modest. In March he delivered nine Challengersthat had been in for a combination of maintenance andrefurbishment, and as of early May his shop was doing aBoeing 737 and a Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ200)major cabin reconfiguration, as well as two Challenger604 refurbishments. And, he added, “I always havethree or four Learjets in here.”

NBAA sees little sign that the faltering economy hasaffected business aviation. According to numbers pro-

vided to the association by research data specialist Jet-net, the number of business aircraft operators grew from17,178 in 2006 to 17,993 in 2007, and the worldwidecorporate aircraft fleet topped out at 27,130 airplanes.

And if the forecasts released last year and early thisyear are accurate, it is only going to get better. Earlierthis year major industry analysts, with a few exceptions,all seemed to be forecasting from the same remarkablybright globe.

Citing high corporate profits, business globalization,high commodity prices, growth of emerging marketsand a weak dollar, the Teal Group’s 18th annual busi-ness jet overview projects a 10-year demand for 14,289business jets valued at $218 billion. That is almost dou-ble the production of 6,958 business jets worth $124million in the previous 10-year period.

26aaAviation International News • July 2008 • www.ainonline.com

With orders at an all-time high, there’s no bad news for completion centers

by Kirby J. Harrison

Some call converted Canadair RegionalJets (CRJ) the poor man’s Gulfstream, butyou won’t hear that from the people whohaul them out of retirement and convertthem for executive use. And you won’thear it from the ready pool of buyers.

The 50-passenger CRJ200s consignedto retirement are now finding their way intorefurbishment centers and thence into newroles as large-cabin private and corporatetransportation–and for good reasons.

Perhaps the most important is cost. Arelatively low-time CRJ200 can be had forabout $10 million. And even after addinganother $7 million for maintenance, anengine upgrade and an executive interior,the price tag is considerably less thanthat of a new Bombardier Challenger 850at about $29 million, or an EmbraerLegacy 600 at approximately $26 million.

At about 3,000 nm with auxiliary tanks,the range of an executive CRJ200 takes itout of the running against the 6,000-nmlegs of a circa-$50 million Global Express

XRS or Gulfstream G550. The $30 millionG350 could perhaps be regarded as anew but higher-priced alternative to anexecutive CRJ.

Also to be considered is the fact thatan available delivery slot for a new Gulf-stream, Challenger 850 or Legacy 600might well be sometime in the nextdecade. From purchase to delivery of arefurbished executive CRJ200, the cycleis typically less than a year.

With demand growing for CRJ200conversions, independent completion andrefurbishment specialists are throwing el-bows to claim the lion’s share of the mar-ket. Indianapolis Jet Center is doing them.Alan Mann Group in Surrey, England, isdoing them. So is Fokker Services in theNetherlands; Flying Colours in Calgary,Canada; and MJet of Montreal.

Redmond, Wash.-based Tailwind Capi-tal, a leasing and remarketing firm, is hav-ing CRJ200s done at the PATS AircraftCompletions facility in Georgetown, Del., as

is Tailwind Capital and its partner GlobalPrincipal Finance. In the United Arab Emi-rates, Dubai-based Project Phoenix isusing Skyservice at Toronto Pearson Air-port in Canada to do the maintenance workon its first CRJ200 project before movingthe airplane to Flying Colours and ActionAviation in the UK for cabin outfitting.

Refurbishment Centers Cashing InMJet of Montreal has completed work

on its first CRJ200 conversion for charteroperator Corpac Canada and was sched-

uled to deliver the airplane last month.No less important than the MJet cabin

STC is the Elisen Elite 500 auxiliary fuelsystem, which meets the latest FAA andEASA requirements, including the FAA’sSFAR 88. The system adds 4,500 poundsof fuel and extends the airplane’s maxrange to “in excess of 3,000 nautical miles.”MJet is an Elisen Company subsidiary.

At the European Business AviationConvention & Exhibition in May, Tailwind

CANADAIR REGIONAL JET CONVERSIONS BOOST COMPLETION BUSINESS

The first CRJ ExecLiner from Flying Colours was delivered to India’s Club One Air last month.

SPECIAL REPORT

Refurb centerssee plenty ofpotential in thebizliner market.Clockwise fromtop: a 747interior byEdése Doret, a BBJ2 byRWR Designsand a 787cabin by L-3.

INSIDEthe centers.....................................................................p.40-46suppliers and vendors by product/service.....p.47suppliers and vendors directory...........................p.48

Rolls-Royce’s 20-year prognostication forecasts39,000 business jets (equating to 19,500 aircraft adecade). Honeywell has a slightly less bullish outlook,predicting a market for 13,000 business jets over thenext 10 years.

While decidedly optimistic, Teal sees some “verypreliminary” signs of a softening market and resultingdip after 2010. Rolls-Royce predicts a market dip start-ing around 2014, but suggests a return to 2014 deliveryrates by 2016.

Bombardier offered an optimistic 10-year deliveryforecast but a somewhat more subdued short-term out-look in terms of orders. Sustained by a healthy backlog,deliveries will double those of the past equivalentperiod, said the Canadian manufacturer. However, thecompany expects a “cyclic” decrease in orders over thenext two years.

The helicopter industry came away from the Heli-Expo 2008 trade show on a market high that had noth-ing to do with the flow of champagne. Show organizersat the Helicopter Association International had ex-pected some 14,000 visitors but logged a total of17,356, well over the previous record of 16,628, loggedin 2005. More remarkable were orders booked at theshow totaling nearly $2 billion.

At Heli-Expo 2008, both Honeywell and Rolls-Royce were predicting continued growth in all turbinehelicopter market sectors through 2016, with demandintensifying over the next half-decade. Honeywell’s five-year forecast, covering only civil turbine-powered heli-copters, forecasts deliveries of 4,450 ships through2012. Rolls-Royce’s 10-year outlook predicts deliveriesof 9,095 civil helicopters through 2017.

“The projections of deliveries for the next 10 yearsshow an industry operating at levels approaching capac-ity,” said Ken Roberts, acting president of Rolls-Royce’shelicopter engines division.

For Europe alone, “The growth of business avia-tion...looks set to continue for the foreseeable future,with the number of jets rising from 1,900 today toaround 4,000 by 2017,” according to a recent Eurocon-trol analysis released in May. The study also forecastthat by 2017, the number of business flights in the Eu-ropean Union would be approximately 4,300 a day.

Planned activity in the charter and fractional owner-ship markets appears to reflect the forecasts, thoughperhaps with some crossed fingers. The past half-decade has seen major changes in the charter marketwith such innovations as card membership programsand online charter brokers, and at least a dozen varia-tions on those strategies.

According to one charter insider, if there has beenanything impeding growth in the charter in-dustry it’s the FAA. “Whether it’s simple bu-reaucratic lethargy or an intentional slowdownas a plan to force Congress to a much-neededbudget increase, they’re not acting as quicklyas in the past on requests for aircraft Part 135certification.

“To a large extent, the charter industry isdependent on the FAA’s willingness to moveahead on charter certification requests, and thefact is, it’s taking months to get an approvalfor an aircraft,” he said.

Some assert that the granting of Part 135approvals is linked directly to the new A008Operational Control Specification. The newOpSpec, said Washington, D.C.-based aviationattorney Gary Garofalo, has posed “significantchallenges” for the charter industry. At the

same time, said an Air Charter Guide source, “It’s cer-tainly not because fewer people are trying to get intothe business.”

A SHIFTING GLOBAL MARKET PROVIDES INDUSTRY STABILITY

There is no doubt that new and used aircraft sales arethe driving force behind completion and refurbishmentwork, respectively. And many in the industry point torapidly expanding international demand for businessjets and private jet transportation as a major factor in reducing the impact of a U.S. economic downturn.• According to Bombardier, “At least half of our sales

now are coming from outside the U.S.”• Last year, Dassault noted that for the first time more

than 50 percent of its sales were coming from cus-tomers outside the U.S.

• Gulfstream said that this year, for the first time, inter-national sales (accounting for 53 percent of the company’s business) are exceeding domestic NorthAmerican sales, “And that’s in an environment inwhich our North American sales rose 30 percent,”said a spokesman.Those OEM representatives willing to speculate are

now saying that this year, the number of sales to cus-tomers outside the U.S. will approach 70 percent.

“Let’s just say that the current exchange rates make

www.ainonline.com • July 2008 • Aviation International Newsaa27

exhibited with DeCrane Aerospace andannounced the first of five plannedCRJ200 conversions. Dubbed the “Hemi-sphere 200XR,” the first airplane will go toDutch concern Solidair and will be outfit-ted with a 15-passenger cabin and FAA-approved fuel system that Tailwind sayswill give it a max range of 3,000 nm.

Stork Fokker Services in the Nether-lands got into the game last year, convert-ing a larger CRJ700 for a Middle Eastcustomer. But according to business de-velopment manager Peter van Oostrum,the company is not seeking CRJ200 con-version customers, preferring instead tofocus on the Airbus ACJ series.

Ontario-based Flying Colours recentlyfinished its first CRJ200 conversion, whichit calls the “ExecLiner.” The 16-passengerairplane was delivered to Indian fractionalownership operator Club One Air lastmonth. Included in the cabin is a digitalaudio/video entertainment system andcabin management system from DeCrane’sAudio International. Flying Colours directorof sales Sean Gillespie said that with an

auxiliary fuel system by Flying Colours,the airplane expects a range of 3,000 nm.

One of the most active promoters ofthe CRJ200 executive conversion isDubai-based Project Phoenix, with what itmarkets as the “CRJ Phoenix.” The firstexecutive conversion project will go toMacau-based operator Ritz Pacific and iscurrently at Skyservice in Toronto for atwo-month maintenance upgrade. It willmove from there to Flying Colours for theinterior completion process, including in-stallation of auxiliary fuel tanks that willgive the airplane a range of 3,000 nm.While Flying Colours is doing the first CRJPhoenix, Project Phoenix has also part-nered with Action Aviation at LondonLuton Airport to do interior outfitting.

According to Project Phoenix managerMike Cappuccitti, the company has beenin discussions with some 30 potentialcustomers and might produce as manyas 10 CRJ Phoenix a year.

Project Phoenix announced the launchof the CRJ-Phoenix program at the DubaiAir Show last November, citing “rapidly

escalating prices and increasingly longlead times” for new aircraft as the moti-vating factors behind the project.

Bombardier Aerospace estimates thatthere are more than 1,000 CRJ200s inservice. Aircraft brokers familiar with thatmarket segment estimate that there mightbe about 15 CRJs immediately availablefor conversion to executive use, more ifU.S. major airlines continue to cull re-gional jets from their partners’ fleets.

If there is a marketing hurdle to over-come in selling the idea of convertedCRJ200s, it is the perception that they arehigh-time airplanes. Most have typicallylogged between 15,000 and 20,000 hours.In the corporate aviation world, in which aGulfstream IV with more than 6,000 hoursis considered mature, 15,000 hours quali-fies a business airplane as geriatric. On theother hand, explained Al Caruso, CEO ofMarine Aviation, Bombardier calculates thelifespan of the CRJ200 to be about 80,000hours. “It’s a matter of educating the buyerthat what he’s getting is worth the price.”

It’s a reliable airplane made for ease of

maintenance. Operating costs (includingdebt) are about $2,000 less than those ofbusiness jets of comparable cabin size.The bottom line, according to Caruso, isthat the converted CRJ200 is a “win-winairplane” for an owner who wants a largecabin at a reasonable price and isn’t soconcerned about range. –K.J.H. and G.P.

Continues on next page u

A refurbished regional jet by Flying Colours givesowners a modern luxury interior without the wait.

The demand for refurb is so strong that completion centers suchas DeCrane barely roll one airplane out before rolling another oneinto the hangar.

West Star Aviation completed this refurbishment of a Falcon 50 for a customer this year.

it highly advantageous for the international purchaser tobuy American,” said an OEM representative.

Pointing to the total $58 billion backlog currentlyenjoyed by business aircraft manufacturers, GAMA saidthe international activity is the primary driver for thecurrent pace of business.

Much of this, say analysts, is due to a global shiftingof individual and corporate wealth, and to the decliningvalue of the U.S. dollar against other world currencies.The fact that aircraft are typically priced in dollarsmakes a business jet an attractive purchase these days,one that buyers are quick to recognize. One brokertold AIN that the owner of an early Falcon 7X posi-tion recently sold it to a European buyer for $67 mil-lion. (He originally paid a little less than $40 million.)

“Looking at the market for narrow- and widebodyexecutive aircraft sales, the main driver in the past hasbeen the U.S.,” said Walter Heerdt, senior v-p for salesand marketing at Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg, Ger-many. “But there has been a major shift in the globaleconomy, and in personal and corporate wealth. Thishas created a shift in market dynamics, and a U.S. eco-nomic downturn will not have the global impact it hashad in the past.”

Based on the increasing percentage of sales to cus-tomers outside the U.S., this would appear to be true.At the same time, the weaker dollar is actually a negoti-ating advantage where U.S. completion and refurbish-ment bids are concerned.

Approximately 60 percent of completion and refur-bishment customers at Midcoast Aviation are from outsidethe U.S., said president Kurt Sutterer.

“Most of my clients are from outside the U.S.,” said Sa-vannah Air Center CEO Jeff Zacharias. “Seventy percent


Ask a completion and refurbishment center whatbuyers consider most important these days and the an-swer, almost without hesitation, is “connectivity.”Whether the customer wants to stay connected throughvoice or data transmission to keep on top of things atthe office or simply to be entertained, cabin electronicsis a high priority.

“In terms of technology, the back end of the airplaneis still a wild card, with individual customers demandingindividualized solutions to suit individual desires,” saidCessna v-p of interior design, engineering and develop-ment Cindy Halsey.

They don’t ask for any LCD monitor and DVD player;they want a wide-screen, 42-inch, high-definition 1080pmonitor, and the DVD player has to be the latest high-definition Blu-ray box.

Unless it’s a narrow- or widebody bizliner, a sur-round-sound theater experience is a bit unrealistic.However, something approaching the surround-sound home-theater experience is well within therealm of possibility.

In fact, Savannah Air Center is currently installing aSkyTheater package with high-definition and sur-round-sound in a Bombardier Global scheduled fordelivery later this summer. “It’s way past good,” saidCEO Jeff Zacharias.

Must-have Cabin CommunicationsIt’s difficult to tell where necessity ends and conven-

ience begins, but certainly there is some overlap andbroadband communication falls into both categories.

Late last year, analysts at Freesky Research in Ar-lington, Va., released a report saying that business jetpassengers will be the biggest users of in-flight broad-band data services over the next four years. “Privatejets with maximum takeoff weights of more than 50,000pounds will be one of the leading segments of the mar-ket,” said the report’s author, David Gross. “They havethe width to carry most fuselage-mounted antennasand sell at prices that make broadband systems a smallshare of the overall cost of the airplane.”

The debut of Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband satellitedata service lends credence to the Freesky Researchreport. SwiftBroadband is an always-on service capableof transmitting data to aircraft at speeds of up to 432kilobits per second.

While that’s good news, Inmarsat’s plans to launchits third and final I4 satellite to complete the broadbandglobal area network (BGAN) suffered a setback whenthe Russian Proton Breeze M rocket set to carry theequipment was scrubbed earlier this year. A revisedlaunch schedule is pending.

Nevertheless, there’s little doubt that the latest andgreatest in communication and entertainment technologyhas gone from the customer’s “wish” list to the “musthave” list. Manufacturers are doing their best to give themwhat they want, and for the most part the news is good.

3Aircell announced in April it is taking orders forbroadband in the business aviation market and offeringsolutions over two networks–the Aircell Mobile Broad-band Network in North America and Inmarsat Swift-Broadband globally through a deal with Danish satcommaker Thrane & Thrane.

For heavy aircraft, Aircell’s package will be availablethis fall and is touted as “the industry’s first flat-fee un-limited service plan.” It will allow an unlimited number ofpassengers access to all provided broadband services,with no restrictions on session time, number of log-insor amount of data transferred.

Purchasers will get six months of unlimited servicefor the introductory price of $1,495 a month.

Aircell has also announced the availability of a newcabin telecommunications router for the company’sAxxess cabin communications system.

The first installation and certification was on a Das-sault Falcon 20. The new CTR provides 802.11b/g Wi-Fi coverage in the cabin and meets the FAA’s mostrecent guidelines.

3EMS Satcom, meanwhile, in a move aimed atwinning back market share from Iridium, introduced twonew SwiftBroadband satcom systems–known as Sys-tem 6 and System 7–for midsize and large jets. Theyoffer free per-minute voice calling.

SwiftBroadband data using the service costs about$10 per megabyte, or about 11 cents per e-mail mes-sage sent from any Wi-Fi-capable laptop, BlackBerry orApple iPhone. System 6 supplies data at rates between200 and 300 kilobits per second through an eNfusionHSD-467, highspeed-data terminal and AMT-3800high-gain antenna. System 7 is capable of data down-loads between 100 and 200 kbps, using the SHD 467terminal and a smaller AMT-3500 intermediate-gain an-tenna and CCU-200 communications convergence unit.

The AMT-3500 antenna can fit on a range of busi-ness jets down to the size of a Falcon 50, Learjet 45and midsize Citations.

Built-in Wi-Fi capability of the EMS hardware willallow passengers to use their Wi-Fi BlackBerrys with noadditional setup.

Both systems will be available later this summer.

3Satcom 1 is off and running in the race for marketshare in a communication system that will allow the in-flight use of personal cellphones and personal digitalassistants (PDAs), such as the BlackBerry. In fact, theDanish company considers itself among the front-run-ners and in May announced details of its system, basedon Inmarsat’s Swift64 andSwiftBroadband satcom anddeveloped as part of Satcom1’s AvioIP portfolio of com-munication services.

The AvioIP has alreadybeen installed in a BoeingBusiness Jet and on execu-tive versions of the AirbusA330 and A340. Satcom 1 isin discussions with DassaultFalcon Jet to make the sys-tem available on the Frenchmanufacturer’s line of busi-ness jets and an agreementis expected by year-end. Thecompany is also talking witha number of independent completion and refurbishmentcenters, including Swiss giant Jet Aviation.

3Operators of business aircraft can more easily ac-count for their satellite communications usage in flight

Continues on page 30 u

WHEN IT COMES TO CABIN ELECTRONICS, HIGH TECH RULES

uContinued from preceding page

Continues on page 30 uGore Design constructed this buffet for the dining/conferenceroom of a Boeing 767.

Suites are not just for widebodies anymore. Midcoast Aviationdesigned this “mini suite” for a G550.

Staying connected in the air through the use of a BlackBerry orother PDA has become a necessity–not a luxury–for customers.

The Satcom1 system willlet passengers use theircellphones in flight.

by Kirby J. Harrison

or more of our completion and refurbishment work is foroverseas customers, particularly green completion work.”The center contracts with Bombardier to do the more per-sonalized interiors for the Canadian OEM’s green GlobalExpress XRS and Global 5000 models.

Ken McAlpin, director of VIP and head-of-state air-craft completion for L-3 Integrated Systems in Waco,Texas, said most of the company’s interior work now isfrom Europe, “and from some pretty wealthy individu-als.” He concedes that the weaker dollar is an attraction.“People are attracted by the favorable exchange rate [asof June 12, ?1 = $1.543], but I think everybody [in thenarrow- and widebody business] at this point would beworking pretty much at capacity anyhow.”

Larry Price, v-p of sales and marketing at CapitalAviation, said his Oklahoma-based center has had in-quiries from brokers who are in the process of arrangingaircraft acquisitions on behalf of European clients whowant to have the airplane outfitting done in the U.S.where it’s less expensive. “And we’ve had some who wereinterested in flying a used airplane being purchased inEurope to the U.S. for completion work.”

One completion and refurbishment center executivesaid he is handling inquiries and doing some airplanes forcustomers from outside the U.S. who are snapping upnew aircraft slots as bargains. “It’s causing a ripplethroughout the industry as slot holders discover thatthere are buyers willing to pay $5 million to $10 millionmore for a new airplane than they paid for it originally,just to get an earlier slot.” He added that in the 60 dayssince March 1, “I’ve seen no fewer than 10 transactions asowners gave up a slot; sometimes even selling a partiallycompleted airplane.”

At EBACE a used BBJ on the static display line wasfor sale for an asking price of $73 million. Based on theSerial Number (S/N 29233) the sale price new in 1998was just over $50 million.

The increase in customers from outside the U.S. isalso giving U.S. completion and refurbishment centers afew headaches, not the least of which is ensuring thatthe interior meets EASA requirements. The days of sim-ply getting an FAA STC in expectation of a rubberstamp approval from other countries are gone.

Jon Slieter, vice president of sales at Duncan Avia-tion, said international requirements are affecting U.S.


by taking advantage of a new feature added to theArinc Direct in-flight portfolio. It permits online accessto current calling data, allowing aircraft operators totrack their actual satellite communications charges inclose to real-time.

The new capability is available immediately to allArinc Direct customers and is accessible through thecompany’s Web-based customer interface from any In-ternet connection.

3Earlier this year, Avionics Innovations showed offits helicopter-specific integrated cabin entertainment(ICE) package. According to sales manager Dave Cahill,the first installation went into a Bell 427 and included apassenger control unit with a commercial television-style remote and Sirius satellite radio receiver.

A major aspect of the package is a multi-modeDVD/CD/MP3 player that can be mounted vertically forinstallation flexibility in the limited space of a helicoptercabin. ICE video is displayed on a seven-inch, wide-screen, flat-panel display with foldaway capability and360-degree swivel mounting. Avionics Innovations isdeveloping a high-definition version of the DVD playerand screen.

3At EBACE in May, Thales announced it is aimingto become a major supplier of avionics systems, chal-lenging the likes of Honeywell and Rockwell Collins.“With the bizjet market doubling every ten years, wesee it strategically as a good market, with increasingsynergies with the regional and air transport markets,”said Emmanuel Grave executive v-p and general man-ager of Thales Airborne Systems.

The French firm’s market focus is medium and largerbusiness aircraft, but Grave said, “That doesn’t meanwe won’t target the smaller end of the market.” Gravesaid Thales has already won “a position” with a particu-lar business jet manufacturer for Wi-Fi and SwiftBroad-band for a single aircraft type, with an option on itsother models. He declined to name the manufacturer.

3The long-anticipated FAA supplemental type cer-tificate for Flight Display Systems’ Ellipse TV wasgranted in March and promises satellite-direct televisionat considerable savings.

The antenna and receiver system alone sells for$99,650, a considerable saving over competing prod-ucts in the $400,000 range. An additional $50,000 cov-ers the cost of installation of antenna, receivers andcabin display monitors.

Ellipse TV also opens in-flight television access tomidsize and smaller aircraft for which other antennaequipment was too large.

3Honeywell has announced that an in-flight mes-saging service for Wi-Fi-compatible BlackBerrys isnow available as part of its OneLink cabin service. Theservice can configure Swift64 and SwiftBroadband sat-com and router equipment to enable in-flight e-mailmessaging. It can also be configured to allow generalaccess for all passengers or secure access for desig-nated passengers.

Although service is always active after takeoff, userspay only for the data they send and receive. Honeywellsaid it plans to announce hardware and service pricingin the third quarter.

3Duncan Aviation has installed the EMS SatcomeNfusion HSD-500 data terminal in a Challenger 601-3R. The Lincoln, Neb.-based aircraft maintenance,avionics and completion and refurbishment specialistclaims it is “one of the first Challenger 601s to be up-graded with true Inmarsat SwiftBroadband capability.”

It allows passengers to use Wi-Fi-capable PDAs,

including notebook computers, BlackBerrys, iPhonesand other communication tools, in flight. According toDuncan, users will experience data transfer rates “upto five times faster than most other systems, givingthem DSL-like speeds.”

3In May, Rockwell Collins and Arinc Direct an-nounced the successful installation of their high-speedInternet communications solution for business jets–eXchange with service by SkyLink–on a Citation X.

The aftermarket installation was completed atArinc’s Colorado Springs, Colo. facility, using an in-house STC developed under Arinc’s recent organiza-tional designation authorization.

The broadband terminal hardware and satellitenetwork ground infrastructure is provided by ViaSatand uses ViaSat ArcLight advanced mobile broad-band technology.

3Flight Display Systems recently unveiled its pro-prietary “Fly HD” package, which it claims is the world’sfirst true in-flight high-definition (HD) video system.

The Alpharetta, Ga.-based firm said it has produceda system that will allow an off-the-shelf Blu-ray productto communicate with on-board high-definition monitors.

To display a true HD video signal, you need an HDsource, such as a Blu-ray DVD player, and an HD moni-tor, said Flight Display president David Gray. “Althoughthe industry has a few HD monitors approved for in-flight use, there has been no HD source equipment pro-duced for private aviation applications.”

3Piaggio Aero, the Italian manufacturer of the AvantiII high-speed turboprop twin, is offering two Aircell broad-band options as optional equipment aboard the Avanti II.

The installation will give passengers the choice ofU.S. or global in-flight connectivity for e-mail, Web surf-ing and corporate VPN (virtual private network) access.

It is the first broadband system selection by a majorbusiness aircraft manufacturer since Aircell began tak-ing orders in April.

3Cessna has expanded its entertainment option onthe new Citation CJ4 by adding Rockwell Collins’s iPoddocking solution to Rockwell Collins’s Venue cabinmanagement system.

Rockwell Collins is a member of Apple’s Made foriPod program, designed to offer new iPod solutionswith flexible designs so passengers can charge theiriPods and distribute music, podcasts and videothroughout the cabin over the audiovisual system.Venue’s programmable switch panels permit passen-gers to access and control their iPods remotely fromthe seat.

The decision “opens up a whole new world of enter-tainment options for CJ4 passengers,” said MikeTiffany, director of business jet product lines for Rock-well Collins. n


uContinued from page 28

WHEN IT COMES TO CABIN ELECTRONICS,HIGH TECH RULES


It wasn’t long ago that one iPod dock was enough; nowcustomers want a multiple-system docking solution, such as this one from Rockwell Collins.

Standard Aero designed this lavatory for an Airbus ACJ.

customers who believe that EASA approval will add tothe resale value later, or at least increase the pool of potential buyers. “They want a clear documentationtrail, so we’re developing a lot more certification docu-mentation in support of everything we do.

“We had a customer last month who was goingthrough the pre-buy process for a Challenger and alack of documentation on a side-facing divan killedthe deal.”

Despite suggestions that there seems to be a “soften-ing” of the U.S. appetite for new business jets, it doesn’tseem to be apparent to OEMs or to lenders.

According to Roger Whyte, senior v-p of sales andmarketing at Cessna, the Wichita OEM has not encoun-tered any sales in which customers had difficulty withfinancing, and for two good reasons. “The business air-plane is an extremely valuable asset and holds its valuewell, even in times of economic uncertainty, and thepeople buying them are typically good credit risks.”

The increased presence of lending institutions at therecent major aviation trade shows seems to confirmWhyte’s analysis. At NBAA last fall, 10 firms werepresent, including Bank of America, Wachovia, MerrillLynch Capital and Wells Fargo. More recently, at theEBACE show in May, Barclays, Credit Suisse and KeyBusiness Aviation Financing were among the exhibitors.

On the other hand, faced with the ongoing globalcredit squeeze, representatives of those finance housesappear to be wearing a cautiously optimistic public face.At EBACE, Bank of America Leasing international salesdirector Toennies von Limberg, said, “The current eco-nomic situation has certainly improved the financingconditions for buyers.”

Mary Schwartz, global head of aircraft financing andmanaging director at Citi Private Bank wealth manage-ment service, expressed a similar sentiment. “Based onwhat we know today, continued volatility in credit mar-kets has significantly impacted the cost of capital acrossour industry.” On the other hand, she added that she ex-pects the business aviation industry will remain prof-itable and on that basis, “the market will adjust pricingto reflect wider market conditions.”

While both may be right, there is another considera-tion, said a source at one OEM, alluding to the rise incorporate profits and individual wealth in recent years,particularly outside the U.S., “There are more than afew individuals and companies out there for whom fi-nancing isn’t an issue.”

Discussing the international market, Whyte andothers refer to the economic resurgence in recent yearsof Brazil, Russia, India and China. The last two are still

emerging, said a Bombardier spokeswoman. But Russia,she added, “is no longer emerging; it’s there.” Bom-bardier expects 70 percent of its sales this year will be tocustomers outside the U.S., and the bulk of those willbe to Russian customers. Illustrating that point, a re-cent ramp occupant at an independent completion andrefurbishment center in Florida was a Falcon 7X,dressed in a flashy metallic gold paint scheme (see photoabove). It was destined for a customer in Moscow.

Whyte also notes a changing socio-political climatein the Middle East. A little over a decade ago, airplaneownership was restricted, usually to members of a royalfamily. Today, Middle East entrepreneurs can and doown airplanes. “Also, residents of the Middle East arefinding more reasons to travel within the region [and]we’re seeing more interest in midsize aircraft and a lotof start-up charter operators.” Other Middle East com-

panies are doing more business abroad,which is propelling market demand forlarge-cabin aircraft.

INTERIORS SHOPS WORKING AT CAPACITY

Those who do not subscribe to thetrickle-down theory of economics areprobably not engaged in the business ofaircraft interior completion and refurbish-ment. It’s difficult to find an independentcompletion and refurbishment center thatisn’t benefiting from the continuedgrowth in new and used aircraft sales.

Capital Aviation in Bethany, Okla., hasadded a 10,000-sq-ft hangar, is planningnew back shops for upholstery, cabinetryand finish work, has added a second workshift, and is taking interior project inquiriessix months out. “People are still snappingup premium airplanes for premium dollars,”said Price, “and they’re bringing them here.”

L-3’s McAlpin said the company is near capacity andbooking into 2010 on narrow- and widebody refurbish-ments and completions. “We’ve even been approachedby a few people with aircraft booked elsewhere, askingif we can get it into our schedule any earlier. It’s justcrazy and it seems to be getting crazier,” he added.

Price agrees. Earlier this year, a Gulfstream III in fora major refurbishment at Capital Aviation was sold withtwo months remaining on the project. “The buyer andseller did the deal right there on the floor.”

“There are a lot of big, ambitious [refurbishment]projects looking for slots,” said Brian Husa, completionsales representative at Duncan Aviation. The companyhas facilities at its headquarters in Lincoln, Neb. and inBattle Creek, Mich., where a major expansion was com-pleted just last year. Duncan is “seriously” considering aWest Coast location, “probably in the 2010/2011 time-frame,” that will include a full range of services–avion-

ics, maintenance and completion and refurbishment.Husa acknowledged that some customers have come

in saying they want to keep costs down. “But for everyone of those,” he added, “we get someone else whowants the works.”

At Midcoast Aviation, a relatively recent acquisitionof Swiss aviation services giant Jet Aviation, the inde-pendent completion and refurbishment center is on“two heavy shifts and a medium third shift, working sixfull days a week and the occasional non-mandatory Sun-day.” And the work week at this point is averaging 50to 55 hours, with overtime averaging 20 to 25 percent,said president Sutterer.

“We’re not running three shifts,” said Mike Menard,v-p and general manager of Standard Aero’s refurbish-ment center in Springfield, Ill. “But we’re close.” Stan-dard’s Springfield facility has 225,000 sq ft spreadthrough four hangars, and the workforce now totalsmore than 250.

WHO’S TAKING UP THE SLACK?Every OEM is at the very least struggling to meet

delivery dates for new aircraft. There is no single factorresponsible, but certainly there are some that can beidentified, among them vendors’ inability to keep upwith demand, unanticipated work-order changes and afailure to predict the complexity of owner expectationsfor the interior.

Dassault Falcon Jet has admitted that the extent towhich buyers of its new Falcon 7X want to individual-ize the cabin of the new airplane was a major factor indelaying delivery dates by as much as six months forsome aircraft. This despite considerable advance prepa-ration, including building a new addition to the company’s Little Rock completion center devoted exclu-sively to 7X outfitting.

To solve the problem and reach its goal of 40 Falcon7X deliveries a year by 2010, the company signed an



Designers are no longer constrained by hard lines with regard totheir interiors, as demonstrated by the living room quality of thisBoeing 747 by Edése Doret.

Large airplanes give designers more leeway. This ACJ cabin was designed by Standard Aero.

The Russian customer for this Falcon 7X certainly doesn’t minddrawing attention to his new airplane.


agreement in May with Duncan Aviation to take on Fal-con 7X outfitting and other airplanes that are beingcompleted at Dassault’s Bordeaux, France facilities. JetAviation in Basel, which has traditionally done a lim-ited number of Falcon 2000s and 900s, is preparing toadd the 7X to its cabin completions repertoire.

BUSINESS IS BOOMING FOR BIGGER AIRPLANES

If the completion and refurbishment market for air-craft up through large-cabin business jets such as Gulf-stream’s G550 is booming, the narrow- and widebodybizliner segment of the industry is through the roof. Atleast three centers are full and have aircraft either on anearby ramp or in a hangar, ready to roll in when thenext finished airplane rolls out.

Swiss independent completion and refurbishmentcenter Jet Aviation officially opened its new 100,000-sq-ft hangar in Basel on May 16, with an Airbus A340-600 already in residence. With that much hangar spaceit will be able to accommodate an Airbus A380 and aBoeing 747 simultaneously.

According to Eugen Hartl, v-p of completion andmodification, Jet Aviation in Basel is looking at a wide-body aircraft backlog into 2015. “I’ve been with thecompany 12 years and I’ve never seen this kind of activ-ity,” he said. “Last year was a record year in terms ofman-hours and net sales, and 2008 will be bigger.”

In 2006, Jet Aviation acquired U.S.-based Mid-coast Aviation and anticipates an increase in capacitythere. Midcoast recently added a 145,000-sq-ft, twin-bay hangar capable of holding as many as six AirbusACJs. Hartl said Jet Aviation plans to bring the Mid-coast ACJ completion capabilities on line by the mid-dle of next year to relieve some of the pressure on theBasel facilities.

Associated Air Center, now part of Standard Aero,which is in turn part of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, isdoubling its cabinetry capacity and is expanding its soft-goods shop for upholstery and panel covering. Mean-while, the big Dallas Love Field-based center has beenoutsourcing for the last year, “more than we’d really like.”That will change as the back-shop expansion projectcomes on line, said Associated senior v-p Michael Moore.

Lufthansa Technik, in Hamburg, Germany, has beenexpanding for the past several years and now has hangarspace capable of accommodating an A380.

By mid-2010, “some restructuring and hangar mod-ifications will allow the facility to accommodate thenew Boeing 747-8. “We’ll be ready when the airplanearrives,” said Heerdt.

Like other narrow- and widebody bizliner facilities,Lufthansa is “pretty well at capacity.” Currently in theworks is a Boeing 747, to be accompanied soon by anAirbus A330 on a parallel line, “and later, nose-to-tail, asecond A330.” Also in the future are two A340s andtwo ACJs for the German government. And there arerecent letters of commitment for a 787 and a 747-8.Putting it all together with projects still in negotiation,Heerdt said Lufthansa is looking at completion slots“into 2018 and beyond.”

In the narrowbody segment, Lufthansa delivered itsfirst A318 Elite a little over a year ago to Europeancharter operator Comlux. It has since completed twomore, has another two in the completion cycle, and isbrandishing orders for a total of 11.

The narrowbody completion lines at Lufthansa, saidHeerdt, “are already operating at a very high load until2012 [and] we are optimistic that this situation willalso continue beyond that date.”

In fact, the pressure on narrowbody capacity hasLufthansa making plans to add a narrowbody comple-tion and refurbishment line at its BizJet Internationalfacility in Tulsa, Okla.


It’s haute couture indeed, but this runway is pavedand smells more like jet-A than Chanel.

At EBACE in May, haute couture aircraft cabins werefeatured prominently, illustrating a growing partnershipbetween private aviation and major fashion houses.

TAG Aircraft Interiors (TAG-AI) announced an agree-ment with seating specialist B/E Aerospace to offer aline of designer seats as part of a partnership betweenTAG-AI and Gianni Versace of Milan. The partnershipassigns responsibility for content, design and style toVersace, while TAG-AI manages the logistics and tech-nical aspects of the interior design contracts.

“Ultimate comfort technology” from B/E will be a keyelement in the cabin design, with seats combining intu-itive ergonomic controls–including a 360-degree swivelcapability–with the luxury and craftsmanship of Ver-sace’s artists and craftsmen.

Helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland also has aVersace connection, announced at the Heli-Expo showin 2007, where a Versace interior was shown in anAW109 Grand. This year, the Anglo-Italian company

expanded the line to include the AW139. Renzo Lu-nardi, senior vice president of AgustaWestland com-mercial business, said “five or six” Versace helicoptershave been sold to date.

At EBACE this year, AgustaWestland announced ithad received its first order–from a private Russian cus-tomer–for an AW119Ke with a Versace interior. Config-ured for six passengers, it will be flown in executive andcorporate operations.

Eurocopter has announced its first order for an EC135 l’hélicoptère par Hermès. The light twin is expectedto be delivered to Abu Dhabi-based operator FalconAviation Services by year-end.

The cabin layout will reflect the artistic canvas of theFrench fashion house on surfaces throughout the inte-rior. A sliding glass partition will separate the passengercompartment from the cockpit. Four paint schemes areoffered for the helicopter exterior, and the cabin willcome in five colors.

Eurocopter expects to sell at least six Hermes vari-ants this year at about $9 million each. –K.J.H.

HAUTE COUTURE CABINS AIRBORNE

The AW119Ke is available with a Versace-styled cabin.

Customers for Eurocopter’s l’Hélicoptére par Hérmes can choosefrom four different exterior color schemes.



Ronkonkoma, N.Y.-based International Jet Interiors delivered this refurbished GIV-SP to HJ Heinz this year.

Capital Aviation provided this blue granite countertop for thelavatory of a Falcon 50. Granite and manmade granite Zodiaq isin high demand among customers.

Aero Toy Store Making Waves, Literally

Aero Toy Store, well known forbuying, upgrading and refurbish-ing private jets for resale, is goingto sea with plans to buy, refurbishand resell luxury yachts. Accordingto company founder and CEOMorris Shirazi, the Fort Lauderdale,Fla.-based aviation servicesprovider “plans to do for watertravel what it has done for luxuryaviation.” To back up the pro-nouncement, Aero Toy Store haspurchased and begun refurbishinga new luxury yacht inventory–a147-foot Sterling yacht is undergo-ing a complete refitting, and a90-foot Pershing vessel has alreadyhad a complete upgrade. Bothcraft will be berthed in MonteCarlo from early this monththrough September as the com-pany’s European sales center forprivate aircraft and yachts.

Greenpoint Keeps BBJ Line MovingGreenpoint Technologies deliv-

ered its 14th Boeing Business Jet inMay and is staying busy. The inde-pendent completion andrefurbishment center recentlysigned a contract to deliveranother executive-outfitted air-plane next year and has a letter ofintent for another to be deliveredin 2011. According to executive v-p Sloan Benson, “We have a sig-nificant BBJ backlog [and] demandfor completions has never beengreater.”

Gore Design Completions Lands a Biggie

Gore Design Completions, agrowing force in the narrow- andwidebody completion and refur-bishment industry, has taken onwhat might be its biggest challengeto date–the outfitting of a head-of-state Boeing 777-200. The SanAntonio-based firm had previouslydone a 767 interior for the samecentral Asian customer and isworking on the client’s Boeing737-300 cabin completion. The777 is scheduled to arrive at Gorein late 2010 and the companyexpects the project to requireabout 12 months. Since January,the center has delivered threegreen BBJs and its first AirbusA320 Prestige. Currently in thehangar is an A340 in for redesignand partial refurbishment.

Texas Aviation Expands Latin American Presence

Texas Aviation Services, whichrecently teamed with Brazilian avi-ation consultant SierraAeronautical of São Paulo, contin-ues to extend its market presence

in Latin America. In April, the FortWorth-based completion, modifi-cation and maintenance specialistdelivered a second green Bell206B-3 to the governor of theMexican state of Sinaloa, complet-ing a two-ship contract originallyawarded in May last year. Both areoutfitted for multi-role use, includ-ing personnel transport and

medical emergency service. Alsoin April, Texas Aviation deliveredits third helicopter cabin comple-tion project, a Bell 407, to aDominican Republic customer.According to company presidentTim Woodard, the helicopter isoutfitted for personal use “in truelimousine style.” Since January, thecenter has delivered three green

BBJs and its first Airbus A320 Pres-tige. Currently in the hangar is anA340 in for redesign and partialrefurbishment.

Delta Design Adds the Italian TouchDelta Interior Design made its

presence known at the EuropeanBusiness Aviation Convention &Exhibition (EBACE) in May, pro-

moting highly customized and per-sonalized cabin refurbishmentdesigns. The company’s artisansare particularly skilled in cus-tomizing leathers, fabrics,carpeting and veneers, and thestaff includes three faux-finishartists who work with shadow andlight to create intricate 3-D


CABINS IN BRIEF


As for doing an A380, Lufthansa Technik can accom-modate the airplane in terms of size. The question is oneof timing, and whether there will be an available slot.Asked if Lufthansa would consider bidding on an A380contract, Heerdt made it clear that the company wouldnot do so at the expense of delivering existing cus-tomers’ airplanes on time.

Looking farther into the future, Lufthansa Technikhas begun construction of a $15.6 million research anddevelopment center for its Cabin Innovation division.The 70,000-sq-ft, five-story building is expected to beready for occupancy by December.

If there are any doubts as to the long-term demandfor widebody completions, one need only look at the$1.5 billion order for six A350s that Airbus announcedin May. Saudi-based MAZ Aviation will take delivery ofone A350-800 and five A350-900s between 2015 and2019. All six airplanes will have executive interiors andare already spoken for by individual owners. “They willbe personalized, just like a yacht,” said MAZ Aviationfounder and chairman Mohammed Al-Zeer. The A350orders from MAZ are in addition to two A350 XWBorders placed last year by other customers.

If that doesn’t make the future look bright enoughfor the completion centers, Boeing’s order book forwidebody executive aircraft is no less fat. At EBACE inMay, Boeing Business Jets reported orders in the lastyear for 33 airplanes valued at $4.2 billion, bringing thetotal number of BBJ orders taken to date to nearly 170.The value of the current backlog stands at more than$7.6 billion. “How long this can continue is anybody’sguess,” said Boeing Business Jets president Steven Hill.

Hill might be right. But with firm orders already onthe books for sixteen 787s and seven 747-8s, and moreto come, completion centers are likely to be busy withexecutive widebody work well into the next decade.

Meanwhile, Boeing is looking to clear slots on the737 production line for 80 BBJs in 2010 and still morein 2011 and 2012. The Seattle-based company also hasorders for seven BBJ3s.

Competitor Airbus is seeing similar demand for itsnarrowbody Airbus Corporate Jetliner series–the A318Elite, the A319 ACJ and the A320 Prestige. The

re-opened Airbus Corporate Jet Center delivered its firstairplane, an A320 Elite, in April and is already at workon a second Elite and an ACJ.

Currently the sole choice of Embraer to do its Lin-eage 1000 outfitting, PATS Aircraft Completions is ap-plauding orders for the executive version of theBrazilian manufacturer’s E190 airliner. PATS expects todeliver the first Lineage later this summer to PrestigeJet of Abu Dhabi, which will operate it for ownerAamer Abdul Jalil Al Fahim. Meanwhile, Al Jaber Avi-ation, also of Abu Dhabi, has an order for five Lineage1000s, with options for another two.

BUYERS LOOKING FOR THE BESTCompletion and refurbishment centers are reporting

that customers–from the U.S. and abroad–are more en-lightened, and therefore more demanding.

In some ways, the general retail market drives cus-tomer expectations. If they see it on display at popularretail stores, they have every expectation that it shouldbe available in the airplane for which they’ve just paid$20 million or $40 million.

“In the past, customers, and the industry as well,pretty much accepted certain limitations as part of anaircraft cabin environment,” said Cindy Halsey, v-p ofinteriors, design engineering and development atCessna. “Today, customers feel free to express higher ex-pectations, and the industry has raised the bar higherthan I’ve ever seen it in my career. [They] are moreaware of what’s possible, and they want it,” she added.

Halsey also described a greater desire than ever for a



uContinued from page 34Piaggio has consolidated its interior completions at

a sole source for North America and is introducing arefreshed cabin. Jet Works of Denton, Texas, will nowhandle all Avanti II completions. Jet Works is in theprocess of installing the first new-styleAvanti cabin. The new interior has asmoother appearance and more room forstorage. All the pieces go together faster,so completion time was halved and nowtakes one month. Once the airplane hasbeen properly prepared, an entire new inte-rior can be installed in just three to fourdays, instead of 10 with the old-style inte-rior, according to Jet Works.

The refreshed interior also includes up-dated cabin lighting. All upwash, downwashand aisle lighting has been modernized withLED. The PSUs are integrated for a cleanerlook. A new acoustic insulation packagewas added to reduce cabin noise. The lava-tory cabinets and lavatory pocket door wereredesigned to provide more storage andbetter clearances. In-flight entertainment options havebeen updated, and now include the Rosen combinationCD, DVD, moving map, and mp3 unit.

Custom cabins will still remain available. The Avanti’s standard cabin has remained largely

static for more than two decades. Incremental changesthat were made, such as the addition of mid-cabin cab-inets, were fashioned together in a manner that addedweight, increased installation times, and diminished the

relatively clean lines of the original design. To rectify the problem, Piaggio turned to two key

members of its original interior design team, BennIsaacman and Kip Harkness, now with Infusion Design,

to conceive a new cabin look that did not affect aircraftcertification. It also recruited a single supplier, Nordam,to manufacture sleeker and more monolithic cabinstructures such as headliners, sidewalls and dados. Therefreshed cabin is designed to accommodate evolution-ary change over the next 20 years, according to SeanElsner, Infusion Design’s president. –M.H.

PIAGGIO UPDATES AVANTI II CABIN

The goal of redesigning the Avanti interior was to give the cabina smoother and sleeker look.

Edése Doret developed this suite for the Boeing 747.

The 787 affords designers plenty of room for creativity interms of design. In an L-3 design, a hallway separates thelounge area from the bedroom.

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highly individualized cabin. She said Cessna’s newlarge-body Columbus in particular is an example ofan airplane with a well defined portfolio of interiorpossibilities. “But that’s just a starting point,” sheexplained, “and we’re expecting customers with ahealthy appetite for the unique.”

“One of our recent customers,” said Menard ofStandard Aero in Springfield, “wanted black leatherseats modeled after those in his BMW.”

Demand for the unique is especially evident inthe larger business jets, in particular Globals andGulfstreams. Completion and refurbishment centersare reporting orders for ultraviolet circulating water

purification systems and humidification packages.LED lighting, considered cutting edge a few yearsago, is common now; it comes standard in new air-craft and is expected by refurbishment customers.

As more and more owners expect a dining experi-ence equivalent to that in a fine restaurant, they areemploying flight attendants who are also chefs, orwho at least have the skills to cook on board the air-plane. As a result, galleys are becoming betterequipped, with multiple electrical outlets for suchitems as an electric skillet and convection oven inaddition to the usual microwave, wine chiller,espresso maker and refrigerator.

It stands to reason that such customers for a busi-ness jet would also want the latest cabin technology.

They want a cabin management system thatdoesn’t require a Ph.D. in engineering to operate.They don’t merely want a 42-inch LCD monitor; ithas to be high-definition-capable, and the DVD hasto be Blu-ray so that the latest DVD offerings willbe in high-definition.

One completion center reported a customerwho wanted an OLED (organic light-emittingdiode) monitor. “It isn’t even commercially avail-able yet, but he was adamant that OLED is thefuture and it’s what he wants.”

On the other hand, said Duncan Aviation com-pletion designer Nate Klenke, “We’ve had some


CABINS IN BRIEF


Midcoast Aviation designed this interior for a BombardierChallenger 850.

images. Using a 3-D “theater,”Delta Interior Design offers cus-tomers a virtual preview of thefinished cabin.

Comlux Rebranding Creates Partnership with Airbus

Comlux Aviation has restruc-tured its aviation activities undera new title–Comlux, The AviationGroup. Among four new divisionsis Comlux Completion, a jointventure with MAZ Consultancy ofBahrain. Comlux Completion isalso an Airbus partner throughthe Airbus-owned Corporate JetCenter in Toulouse, France. Com-lux Completion is tailored toadvise Corporate Jet Center cus-tomers regarding executivedesign and completion work onan Airbus platform.

For Piaggio’s Avanti II,‘.it’ Is a Winner

Piaggio Aero has redefined itsAvanti II interior with a cabinupgrade the Italian manufacturercalls the “Avanti II.it lounge in thesky.” The “.it” tag on the Avanti IImodel name may have its originsin the Internet world, but at Piag-gio Aero it stands for ItalianTechnology. Featured in the AvantiII.it are a number of options,including broadband connection,a new cabin entertainment system,LED lighting throughout and elec-trochromic windows. Thebroadband connection will pro-vide passengers access to e-mail as well as the ability to surfthe “net” and tap into an officenetwork, all at DSL speed. Passen-gers and crew alike will be able touse their own 802.11b/g-equippedW-Fi data devices such as laptopsand BlackBerrys. The heart of thecabin entertainment system isRosen Aviation’s new single-unit,RosenView VX combo with aworldwide moving map; multi-region DVD player; XM radioreceiver (North American cover-age); and audio/video switching.Upwash and downwash LEDincludes adjustable mood lighting.Electrochromic windows let pas-sengers control the amount of lightadmitted by use of a dimmerswitch.

Arinc Direct Goes Into the Interiors Business

Arinc Direct is now offeringcustom interior refurbishment workat its Scottsdale, Ariz. aircrafthangar facility. The center openedunofficially last fall and has so fardelivered a major cabin refurbish-ment project for an Avanti owner.According to Arinc Direct managerJorge Gonzalez at the Scottsdale


Customerswant the bestfor their newairplanes,includingOLED lightingpanels not evencommerciallyavailable yet.

Air Center, the facility has on-sitedesigners and engineers, andshops provide cabinetry repairs aswell as new cabinetry fabricationand seat upholstery.

Sherwin-Williams DevelopsChrome- and Lead-free Paint

The new CM0481968primer/surfacer from Sherwin-Williams Aerospace Coatings fillstwo paint niches–providing fasterpriming and surfacing on all typesof aircraft, at the same time elimi-nating chrome and lead hazardousproducts. The new, low-VOC(volatile organic compounds), two-component, corrosion-inhibitiveepoxy primer/surface reduces per-missible exposure limits forhexavalent chromium, therebymeeting the Occupational Safety& Health Administration’s lateststandard for exposure to thischemical. Because it is a corro-sion-resistant primer and surfacer,the product allows aircraftpainters to eliminate costly stepsin the paint process, as well asreduce the time needed to com-plete a project, said director ofsales Marc Taylor. And, he noted,it often eliminates the need tosand and apply a surface coatbetween primer and topcoat.

BAe and Avro Business Jet Launch the ABJ

Some might call it a baby BBJ,but BAe Systems Regional Aircraftand its new partners call it simplythe ABJ, or Avro Business Jet. BAehas joined with Stansted Airport-based Inflite Engineering Servicesand Design Q of London to pro-vide a one-stop shop for customerslooking for a low-cost executiveaircraft in the niche marketbetween the Gulfstream V andBoeing Business Jet. Their solutionis a reconfigured and refurbishedversion of the BAe 146 and AvroRJ airliners, which were originallydesigned to carry approximately128 passengers.

Design Q will provide interiorreconfiguration designs. InfliteEngineering will do the cus-tomized interior completion workand any necessary aircraft main-tenance and modification. Themost recent project by Design Qand Inflite Engineering is theexecutive conversion of an RJ70for use by Bulgaria’s Hemus Air.The aircraft, scheduled for deliv-ery late this year, will feature athree-element cabin with double-club seating, side-facing divanand 12-seat business-class sec-tion. The cost of a relativelylow-time Avro RJ is roughly $3million to $4 million, and thecost of a maintenance upgrade

and interior reconfiguration andrefurbishment ranges from $5million to $6 million. Accordingto BAe, the range of the reconfig-ured aircraft, with auxiliary fueltanks, would be approximately1,500 nm. According to BAesales executive Andy Whelan,“Sales of the aircraft have takenoff in the past twelve months.” To

date, 23 BAe 146s and Avro RJshave been, or are in the course ofbeing, converted for use in a vari-ety of private aviation roles.

AgustaWestland Unveils AW101 Luxury Cabin

AgustaWestland unveiled anexecutive cabin mockup of its new



Agusta-Westland ispromotingan executivecabin for its newAW101.

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customers come in and say, ‘We bring all our own entertain-ment; all we want are some outlets.’”

That’s probably taking it to the extreme, but the fact isthat despite wanting the latest in cabin entertainment tech-nology, passengers are indeed carrying aboard their own en-tertainment devices–from the ubiquitous iPod to the latestcomputer games.

Completion and refurbishment centers that were in-stalling a single iPod dock in airplanes two years ago are nowgetting orders for iPod docks at every seat. “And not justiPod docks,” said one designer. “They want to be able towatch videos stored on their iPods on the cabin entertain-ment system.”

It almost goes without saying that high-speed Internetconnectivity is now a necessity, rather than a luxury. AtEBACE in May, broadband options were abundant as com-munications providers offered the latest, promoting every-thing from an expansion of global connections to Wi-Fi tonear-DSL data speeds. Ironically, the long-awaited rolloutof end-user broadband service has indeed begun, but itwould appear that the rollout will continue for some timeto come as companies such as Rockwell Collins, EMS Sat-com, Thales and Thrane & Thrane continue to refine anddo battle for market share.

While technology is in the driver’s seat, so to speak, com-pletion and refurbishment centers–and their customers–aremore aware than ever of the cabin as a whole package. “It’s atotal environment; a total experience,” said Halsey.

For many years, the impression of the business jet cabinhas been one of a “white-bread” look that differed little fromone airplane to another. Leather seats came in two basic color

variants–tan and gray. Or as one designer put it, “multipletones of boring.”

Customers today are still careful to consider what effecta major departure from “boring” will have on the airplane’sresale value, or the desirability of the airplane as a charteraircraft. But Duncan’s Klenke said he is seeing more indi-viduals with “a more bold vision” that is evident in seatswith contrasting trim and panels or more striking colors.Sometimes it takes the form of patterned panel coveringsor sculpted leather accessories.

In the narrow- and widebody bizliners, with which de-signers have much more room to work–more than 6,000 sq ftin the case of the Airbus A380–there is a move away fromcredenzas and divans and other furniture and cabinetrymounted against sidewalls and bulkheads toward furniturethat is more appropriate for a living area, said Klenke.

“Brokers and dealers still opt for the ‘vanilla’ interior,”said Capital Aviation’s Price. “But the new designs have morecurved edges, and if there are splashes of individuality, they’rein places where they’re easily and inexpensively changed.”

Price also noted that as more and more owners and oper-ators travel abroad to places where “cash is king,” they’reasking to have safes installed in the aircraft cabin. An on-board safe is also not a bad place to store sensitive docu-ments and other data.

It would appear from interviews with those in the busi-ness aviation industry, particularly those engaged in aircraftcompletion and refurbishment, that business is good and get-ting better. And while there is some “softening” of the mar-ket in the U.S., expanding markets and newfound wealthelsewhere are more than making up for it.

There are those buying small and midsize business jetswho are being careful how they spend their money, whetherit’s for a used or new airplane. As for the narrow- and wide-body executive transports, the sky is the limit.

Last year, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding,bought an Airbus A380 that will be configured for execu-tive use. While it isn’t likely to be delivered before 2010,the airplane is a striking look at what the completion andrefurbishment industry can expect in the coming decade.Furnishing an A380, by one completion center executives’most conservative estimates, is likely to require 24 monthsand cost about $150 million.

Times are good, and getting better. The only cautionarynote might be found in a speech by President John F.Kennedy, who is credited with saying, “A rising tide lifts allboats.” Assuming this is true, it might be wise to take a care-ful look at the economic environment with which businessaviation is currently dealing and remember that the same tidemight well swamp a few of the unwary. After all, it’s a cyclicalindustry, and what goes up eventually comes back down. o



The desire for a luxurious interior extends to helicopter operators, who expect the same comfortable cabin they have in their bizjets. AirConcepts International outfitted this AgustaWestland AW139.

AW101 at EBACE in May. The 10-passenger interior was “just one ofthe possible layouts in such aroomy cabin,” said an AgustaWest-land spokesman. The mockup alsofeatured an entry foyer, as well asfour executive swivel seats and acentral table to form a conferencearea. Other possibilities include alavatory and cabin attendant sta-tion. AgustaWestland claims thatwith more than six feet of stand-upheadroom, the AW101 will offer30-percent more cabin volumethan its closest competitor.

Cirrus Orders 328JET Executive Conversion

328 Support Services hasobtained a conversion contractfrom Cirrus Group of Germany foran executive 328JET. The contractis valued at about $4.73 millionand work will be done at the 328Support facilities in Oberpfaffen-hofen, Germany. The new interioraccommodates 12 passengers andwill feature executive seats fromDeCrane Aerospace, individualseat video monitors and a galley.328 Support is at work on another328JET conversion, a 12-seat exec-utive job for a European customer.Included in the conversion areauxiliary fuel tanks giving the twin-jet a range of 2,000 nm. It willbring to seven the total number of328JET executive conversions by328 Support.

Polymer Technologies In Search of the Quiet Airplane

Newark, Del.-based PolymerTechnologies has introduced Poly-form molded products, acollection of four formulas.According to the company, theproduct can be customized to pro-vide noise absorption andvibration damping and isolation inone economical, 3-D package tai-lored to meet specific geometryand design requirements. OnePolyform product, said a companyrepresentative, can replace multi-ple components, resulting in lowerinstallation costs.

L-3 Installs Self-Protection System in Head-of-State BBJ2

L-3 Integrated Systems ofWaco, Texas, recently delivered amodified BBJ2 equipped with L-3’s Widebody Integrated Plat-form Protection System (Wipps).The system is designed to protectthe airplane from the threat ofshoulder-launched, heat-seekingmissiles. L-3 also has a contractto modify and install Wipps ontwo Boeing 747-400s belongingto the same customer, with deliv-eries scheduled for the second

half of this year. The Wippsinstallation was performed duringdowntime as part of an interiorrefurbishment.

Innotech Paint Facility Plans July Opening

The walls are now going upand Innotech Aviation’s new41,000-sq-ft paint preparation

and application facility is sched-uled to open for business thismonth. The new shop adds to thecompany’s maintenance, avion-ics, engineering and completionand refurbishment capabilities atMontreal’s Pierre Elliott TrudeauInternational Airport. The shopcan accommodate aircraft aslarge as the Global Express XRS.

Among the features is variable-speed airflow, eliminating theneed to pressurize the paint bayand allowing for electrostaticpaint application.

BaySys Picks CTT Cabin Humidification Package

BaySys Technologies hasordered the Cair cabin humidifica-

tion system from CTT Systems forinstallation on an executive AirbusA340 being outfitted by the Acco-mac, Va.-based independentcompletion and refurbishmentcenter. The Cair system is designedto provide a relative cabin humid-ity level of 20 to 25 percent. Cabinhumidity without a humidifier istypically 3 to 5 percent. n


CABINS IN BRIEF uContinued from page 39

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With orders at an all-time high, there’s for completion centers · net, the number of business aircraft operators grew from 17,178 in 2006 to 17,993 in 2007, and the worldwide corporate