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High N et Wo John H rth Profile: founde endrick s r and form cha irman, er Comm Discovery unicatio ns www.exvipaviationint.com Louis David Spagnuolo Chairman, Illuminati Trust, LLC & CEO, Don’t Look Media LLC Special Reports - Completions: Comlux, Fokker, Flying Colours, Aeria Luxury Interiors Company Profiles: Larry Flynn, President, Gulfstream; Alan Klapmeier, CEO ONE Aviation (Kestrel and Eclipse); Mauro Grossi, CFO AMAC Aerospace; Sean McGeough, President, CEO, Nextant Aerospace; Chris Moore Chief Operating Officer, Satcom Direct PROVEN TO THE CORE. Meticulously designed and sharing the same rigorously tested core technology that powers Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower® family of geared turbofan commercial engines, the PW800 engine is opening a new frontier in performance. Inherently dependable, it exceeds all expectations, including future environmental standards on emissions and noise. OPINION first thought Just a speed bump? We are now seven years on from the 2008 global financial crash and the global economic motor is going through yet another bout of splutters and stutters. Both the US and the UK economies recorded pretty dismal data for the first quarter of 2015, causing many companies to put any expansion plans they might have had on the back burner for now. Of course, by now the business aviation sector is pretty well accustomed to this perpetual stop/start, risk-on/ risk-off cycle and we are hearing a lot of cautious optimism, despite the disappointing headline figures. See our Macro Economic Window piece for a more detailed pondering of the economic tea leaves. This issue’s cover features one of the most charismatic entrepreneurs you are ever likely to meet. Louis Spagnuolo has a knack for generating highly profitable ventures with excellent prospects for concluding in what he terms “a high liquidity” event. Plus we feature John Hendricks, the legendary founder of The Discovery Channel, who has a passion for lifelong learning and now plans to spend time jetting, with his wife, to a host of rich learning experiences, using his own Dassault Falcon. The EVA team was saddened to hear of the passing of Textron Executive Peter Hall. I can only refer you to the excellent eulogy on page 4, written by Patrick Jephson and sent to us by Sean McGeough, President of Nextant, who worked closely with Peter for a number of years. Our special report this issue focuses on completions and completions houses. Any slowdown there may be is not proving much of an impediment to business in this sector, which continues to thrive and where the major players stand to benefit hugely with the first VVIP and head of state completions for Boeing 787 Dreamliners already being delivered as green aircraft to some of the major completions centres (see the feature on page 48). In closing, as we all prepare for EBACE, we’d like to point out that EVA is sending its largest ever team to Europe’s premier business aviation event. We’ll be taking our place among the ranks of exhibitors so please stop by the EVA stand (H062), we’re always keen to chat! Above all, we hope you can make time as EBACE draws to a close to attend EVA’s EBACE After Party, at Halle 22, Chemin des Batailles, 1214 Vernier. This is the biggest venue and the most outstanding bash in Geneva, with the best open-till-dawn bar, great music, great DJ, and great food. Come party the night away in the company of your peers!! Those who remember EVA’s MEBA Party in Dubai will not want to miss this one. Our sponsors, Satcom Direct, World Fuel Services, Colt International, Global Jet Capital and Nextant Aerospace have done us proud. This is a by invitation and tickets only event so do call round and get your invitation from the EVA booth! PARVEEN RAJA Publisher & Business Development Director [email protected] MAX RAJA Founder & CEO of EVAA [email protected] MO BANKS Accounts Executive [email protected] BHAVI ATUL Events Coordinator [email protected] SHOBHANA PATEL Head of Finance fi[email protected] CHARLOTTE WILLIS Events Administrator [email protected] SHELDON PINK Creative Director [email protected] EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS Margie Goldsmith and Megan Ramsay Address changes and subscription orders to: [email protected] ISSN 1754-1166 PUBLISHED FOUR TIMES A YEAR BY EVA International Media Ltd Boswell Cottage, 19 South End Croydon, CR0 1BE , UK Tel: + 44 (0)208 253 4000 Fax: + 44 (0)208 603 7369 Website: www.evaint.com ANTHONY HARRINGTON Editor | [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)1292 591385 PRINTED BY Headley Brothers The Invicta Press, Lower Queens Road Ashford, Kent, TN24 8HH, UK High Net Worth John Hen Profile: dricks founder chairm and forme r an, Comm Discovery unications www.exvipaviationint.com DISTRIBUTED BY Asendia EVA INTERNATIONAL MEDIA LTD PUBLISHERS & EVENTS SPECIALISTS COVER IMAGE: Louis David Spagnuolo Chairman, Illuminati Trust, LLC & CEO, Don’t Look Media LLC See cover story, page 6 Louis David Spagnuolo Chairman, Illuminati Trust, LLC & CEO, Don’t Look Media LLC Special Reports - Completions: Comlux, Fokker, Flying Colours, Aeria Luxury Interiors Company Profiles: Larry Flynn, President, Gulfstream; Alan Klapmeier, CEO ONE Aviation (Kestrel and Eclipse); Mauro Grossi, CFO AMAC Aerospace; Sean McGeough, President, Nextant Aerospace; Chris Moore Chief Operating Officer, Satcom Direct I s s u e 3 0 © 2 0 15 | w w w. e va i n t . c o m Content may not be reproduced in any format without written permission from EVA International Media Ltd Summer 2015 | International 1 contents 6 Stay focused, stay strong EVA’s cover story features the charismatic businessman Louis David Spagnuolo and his uplifting story of how the American Dream is still alive and well in Florida! 16 Clear blue water Gulfstream President Larry Flynn on how Gulfstream manages to keep its brand in the top spot in business aviation. Interiors special report 20 Loading for bear Comlux’s latest hangar expansion puts it in great shape to win more wide-body completions 24 Panoramic views Fokker’s amazing three bay window continues to charm designers and aircraft OEMs alike. 26 Singapore bound Flying Colours opened a new completions centre, its third, at Singapore’s Seletar Aerospace Park in partnership with Bombardier. EVA talked to VP Sean Gillespie about the new centre and the state of the completions market 28 Keep those orders coming San Antonio based AERIA Luxury Interiors, has signed two more completions contracts 30 Curious about life Discovery channel founder John Hendricks plans on using private jet travel to continue his life-long learning mission 40 Remanufacturing gathers fans Nextant President and CEO Sean McGeough celebrates orders on multiple continents 42 Nurturing growth through quality G-OPS and HighProfile expand internationally 44 Family Values EVA talks to AMAC CFO Mauro Grossi about the challenges of organic growth 48 Dreaming in the clouds Boeing’s Dreamliner is now turning up in the big completions houses, nice work if you can get it. 54 Shooting for service excellence EVA profile’s MRO specialist Vector Aerospace 56 Filling Chinese skies Rick Adams talks to Jerry Chen about his vision for the iconic Mooney aircraft 62 The soul of a fighter jet plus luxury Dassault Aviation takes on the task of developing two new Falcons 66 Bigger pipes in the sky Satcom Direct Chief Commercial Officer Chris Moore on the next wave of high speed broadband at altitude 70 Jets Down Under Jetcraft partner and five times former World 500cc motorcycle champion Mick Doohan on the Australian pre-owned market 74 African Expansion Max O. Cisse, founder and CEO of African Open Sky opens three new offices 77 Good times ahead? EVA’s macro economic analysis looks for growth through the fog 2 International | Summer 2015 GLOBAL VOICE AND TEXT GlobalVT TM uses your number, your contacts HUKJHSSLY0+VU`V\YZTHY[WOVULK\YPUNÅPNO[ ([HU`HS[P[\KL(U`^OLYLPU[OL^VYSK Exclusively from Satcom Direct® Don’t Miss a Moment Stop by our booth D051 to learn more about GlobalVT and demo it on our aircraft at static display 16. IN MEMORIAM Peter Hall (1962 - 2015) Pete Hall, who died unexpectedly on 5 March at the tragically early age of 52, will be remembered as one of a kind. In a distinguished career in aviation support, he epitomised that rare blend of qualities that sets apart the truly talented from the merely capable. Colleagues admired him as a consummate professional who was never too busy (or too important) to offer guidance, encouragement and a kind word. In the toughest meetings or on the most arduous field trip, his patience, determination and optimism combined for just one purpose: to reach a successful result. As in so much else, however, Pete had his own definition of success: it was only complete when everybody felt they had a share in it… and in the celebration that invariably followed. Customers respected and valued him as the best in the business, a service provider with an instinctive understanding of their particular needs and expectations. What’s more, he had the attitude and attributes to deliver without fail. Friends – a group in which both colleagues and customers were habitually embraced – gave thanks for his boundless hospitality, unfailing good humor and faultless loyalty. And as for family, we need only say that a happy home life with French-born Natacha was the rock on which all Pete’s success was built. Only when England played France at rugby was his legendary equanimity known to desert him… and then only for as long as it took to uncork a bottle; after all, in such a partisan rugby household, for every defeat there was also a victory. The key to Pete’s many achievements – and to the affection and esteem in which he was held all over the world – was this generous breadth of vision. Not for him the narrow sectional interests that bedevil so many operations: Pete was a man who saw the big picture, who found solutions where others only found problems and who carried doubters and faint-hearts along on a wave of enthusiastic determination. And when the job was done, his modest willingness to let others take the credit proved yet again that he was a big man in every sense of the word. Much of his work went unseen and that was fine by him so long as the overall aim was achieved. But you always knew that when Pete was on your team he would spare no effort to make you look good, especially when everything else was turning bad. Nowhere was this more true – or more appreciated – than in his support for the sales force. Over and over again, their success was built on his willingness to sacrifice his time, effort and convenience. Like so many others, they grew to realise that, in an age where ’professional courtesy’ has lost much of its meaning, Pete Hall was the exception. Service wasn’t just what he did – it was what he lived. That is the height and depth of our loss, not just to family, friends and colleagues but to the aviation community worldwide. While we will miss his laughter, his enthusiasm and his irrepressible appetite for life, we will also remember what it meant to know such a great spirit and – even in our sadness – find so many reasons to be glad. Q Patrick Jephson is a freelance writer and broadcaster and a New York Times bestselling author. He is a partner in the JephsonBeaman communications, branding and leadership consultancy based in Washington, DC. [email protected] 4 International | Summer 2015 “The best in the business” INTERVIEW : LOUIS DAVID SPAGNUOLO The art of 6 International | Summer 2015 INTERVIEW : LOUIS DAVID SPAGNUOLO staying focused Anthony Harrington talks to Louis David Spagnuolo W hen Louis David Spagnuolo reflects on what made him successful, and on how he is able to keep that success rolling, what occurs to him is the degree to which he commits to what he is doing, versus how most of the rest of us go about things. For him, luck is about grabbing the breaks when they come along and adding to the momentum fate and fortune may have provided, through hard work and an intense focus on what you are engaged in. It’s about constantly reflecting and analysing, turning whatever you are involved in round and round like a Rubik’s cube in your head so that you see as many of the angles as you can. It is also about enriching your experience by developing your own network of contacts – working with your peers to keep those insights coming, both for you and for them. But this doesn’t mean sitting around waiting for others to help you. “Life is hard. Just bite the bullet and do it yourself,” is one of his key guiding principles. The son of a first-generation Italian American couple, Spagnuolo’s start in life was the very opposite of privileged. It is often said that the old story of the American dream, that anyone can make it in America if they apply themselves, is dead and buried in today’s world. Wage growth in the US has been flat for a decade and is still the biggest missing factor in the slow recovery from the 2008 global financial crash. Spagnuolo’s achievements, however, spectacularly prove that entrepreneurship is alive and well in the US and that the dream is still there for those who can see and seize those transformative moments when they come along. Summer 2015 | International 7 INTERVIEW : LOUIS DAVID SPAGNUOLO What first gave me a shove in a life-changing direction was being the first man to have Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, lay his trademark ‘Smack Down’ on me Q: There wasn’t much money around during your childhood and when you went to the University of Miami you found yourself among students from very wealthy families. How did that affect you? A: It was hard to miss the fact that most of the students around me had wealthy parents. They had brand new cars and many of them had more money than they knew what to do with. By way of contrast I was really strapped for cash and was doing two jobs as well as studying, just to survive and to try and get through the whole university experience. I was very young and my first reaction was anger that they could have three, four or five meals a day and I was battling to get one meal. I used to go round the back of the cafeteria and ask if there was something they could give me. The staff was really gracious when I needed food, and I still remember that with gratitude. But it was a difficult time for me to see such disparity of wealth. It made me angry and jealous, to start with. But it ended up really motivating me so much that I told myself I was going to see to it that I was never going to have this hard a time again. Q: So what was your first break? A: Ironically, what first gave me a shove in a life-changing direction was being the first man to have Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, lay his trademark ‘Smack Down’ on me. Dwayne and some of his buddies from the University of Miami football team had come down to this bar where 8 International | Summer 2015 I was working security. They were kind of loud and we got into an altercation which ended with me getting beat up so bad it made me call time on my career as a security man. I’m six foot four and weighed about 265 lbs, so that was kind of an easy career for me to fall into when I needed cash, but that encounter with The Rock made me see that it wasn’t exactly a sustainable way forward. I decided that using your brain is ultimately vastly more powerful than anything else you have. So everything since, in a way, grew out of that experience. The next day I was going to class, pretty bruised and sore, when Dwayne and three of his friends approached me. I thought, oh oh, here we go again, and put down the books I was carrying. But Dwayne said, “Hold on, we just want to talk.” It was the week before the Bowl Game and it turned out they were worried that I was going to report them to coach Erickson, which would have gotten them thrown off the team. II said, “Hey, what happened happened and that’s the end of it.” They respected that. After that The Rock and I became friends and I got close to all the guys on the football team. Dwayne lives about 15 minutes from me now and we laugh and joke when we see each other. What happened next also flowed out of this whole experience. I was approached by three very wealthy students, all from South America. They were real geek-types, introverted, shy. They said they had a project they wanted to talk to me about. I still had a black eye and sundry aches and thought, why are these kids coming to me about a project I know nothing about? It turned out they wanted me to be a front man for an import/export business, shipping mobile phone accessories to Latin America. They’d seen me laughing and joking about the campus and wanted me to front up the sales side. I thought they were nuts but I took a hard look at my situation. There were not a lot of job opportunities in front of me so I went with it. Then the import/export business really started to take off. The biggest payday I had ever had before this was getting US$167.00 a week. With the business, the four of us were generating some $60,000 to $70,000 a month in take-home pay. INTERVIEW : LOUIS DAVID SPAGNUOLO This changed the whole dynamic. I’d never seen so much money and I turned into the proverbial drunken sailor. Money just poured through my fingers and I spent it as fast as it came in. Then I had my first failure – a real, ground-opening-upbeneath-you type event. I was having dinner at a restaurant in South Beach, Miami when I got a call from my colleagues. “You need to come to Venezuela. We have a bad situation here. There’s been a coup d’etat,” they said. That wasn’t a term I knew at the time. I heard “coo-de-ta” and it made no sense. I said it was a bad line and I’d call them back in the morning. It turned out that the military had taken over the government. Hugo Chavez seized power and overnight issued a proclamation that no one could take money out of the country. We were all wrapped up in our personal lives, going on speedboats and driving fast cars and living the Miami Vice lifestyle, and then this came as a real bolt from the blue. We contacted our banker in Venezuela who said he had $1.8 million in our company bank account there and told us we could withdraw the money, no problem, at $10,000 a month. We did the math and realised it would take us like 27 years to get the money out. The resolution turned out to be journeying to Venezuela with the proverbial suitcase full of cash as a bribe to the banker and we each ended up with $400,000 in cash and no business. That really shook me up mentally and emotionally. We’d had a very successful business, and overnight it vanished through no fault of our own. That’s when I realised that you can be perfect in the implementation of your strategy but something out of left field can still derail you. Everything is temporary. Everything in life changes and you need to have a plan B and probably a plan C and D as well. Plus you need to be well diversified to ride the twists of fortune. For me that was an incredible business lesson. The second lesson I drew from that failure was never again to be stupid about money. I still spend, but I spend proportionately, with an eye to the future. I’m always thinking, What if..? And if the worst happened, what kind of recalibration could I make? Q: How did you recover from the Venezuelan disaster? A: I got into real estate by renovating and flipping houses. It was hard work but generated a good amount of cash. Then I went across to Las Vegas from Miami for a real estate convention. An older guy came up to me and asked who was doing my financing for me on the house sales. I said I wasn’t particularly fussed about which finance outfit people used. He said that was a big mistake. “If you do the financing for your buyers you can make an additional $5,000 to $6,000 per transaction,” he told me. Then I woke up to the fact that when you sell a house, maybe 30 people look at it but only one buys it. That leaves 29 others who are going to buy somewhere and who will need financing. So that gives me the opportunity both to find each of them a different house and to make money on the financing. I got my mortgage broker’s licence and very soon the financing side began to surpass my real estate business. I was making $25,000 to $30,000 a month and enjoying my business. Then I got a call from a friend who said I should talk to a guy from the Royal Bank of Canada in Boca Raton, Florida. They made me see that they had a much stronger brand than I had, with appeal across the US, and their pitch was s ! t u CE 04 i s Vi EBA #O1 at oth Bo Wherever your business meetings take you, your air charter experience with Meridian will be more than convenient and time-saving. It will be a trip that exceeds your expectations. Charter your next trip with us. And discover how business travel can be all about you. +1.201.288.5459 www.meridian.aero Teterboro, NJ (TEB) | Hayward, CA (HWD) | San Jose, CA (SJC) | Santa Rosa, CA (STS) Summer 2015 | International 9 INTERVIEW : LOUIS DAVID SPAGNUOLO that they could take my business to a whole new level. I joined them and was doing all right when I got a call from a Californian company. The guy wanted to talk about this new thing called the Internet, which he said was going to be huge, and which could generate sales leads. I was very enthralled. I’ve always liked technology. We set up a meeting with this guy. They said they would generate 1,000 Internet leads a month for us for $2 a lead. Everyone in the room laughed at the idea, saying no one would trust someone in California that they didn’t know with all their personal details. I had a different point of view. For $2 a pop it was worth taking a chance, I argued. We got the leads and gave them to our sales people. It turned out 960 of those 1000 leads were hopeless. People said it was a disaster. Everyone was ready to blame me for giving the time of day to this crazy scheme. So at the end of the month we were doing our reconciliation and I asked: “What happened to the other 40 leads?” “Oh, they were processed as loans and we got 20 deals out of that,” I was told. “How much does the bank make per closing?” About $3,000 for each. So I pointed out that we’d spent $2,000 and we’d made a profit on that of $58,000 in a month. How was that a disaster? That flipped the situation around and gave everyone a new perspective. The Internet company we were dealing with was Lending Tree, which now has a $640 million market cap, and we were their second customer. What they inadvertently taught me was the power of the web and how to aggregate clients. We reached the point at RBC where we were spending $180,000 a month on Lending Tree so it made sense for us to build our own website. In fact we ended up going for a series of horizontal, geographically specific sites. The idea was plant, 300 seeds and some will blossom. We got one or two leads a day from each website and the conversion ratio went through the roof. Our dependency on Lending Tree got cut in half and I got the idea that enabled me to get in early on the dot-com boom. What was clear was that if half a million people in California were willing to do business with us in Florida, there had to be other industries that this could be applied to. So I launched a series of Internet businesses and became a serial entrepreneur. 10 International | Summer 2015 Q: When was the first time you flew in a private jet? A: The first time I ever flew charter was with a business friend of mine back in 2005. I was scared to death. I hadn’t been on too many planes in my lifetime and when the jet was getting ready to take off I couldn’t believe how loud the engines were. I was trying to be really cool since the other guys had all flown many times. The aircraft was a Lockheed JetStar 2, one of the very few private jets with four engines. Once we My affinity for the Rolex watch brand came from a gentleman I met when I was 12 years old. This man was known to have great wealth, but on all occasions never dressed as if he had dime to his name. I guess in today’s world you would call him eccentric but back then he was just considered weird. So one day I start chatting with the man and he explained to me, that in life you can leave your home in your pyjamas, but if you were wearing a Rolex, people would know that they had to take you seriously! got to cruise altitude things settled down and I started to feel more comfortable. What that trip in the Jetstar did for me though was to spoil me for a lot of the subsequent charter trips I took in modern jets, right up until the recent wave of wide-body, high-ceiling jets. I could stand upright in the JetStar cabin which is more than I was able to on all those other, quieter business jets! It was also one of the most luxurious aircraft of the time, so for me it was my first experience of seeing how rich folk travelled! The luxury of that jet was just amazing. Looking back, this gentleman was wearing a Rolex Presidential, which at the time was the gold standard of timepieces. Since that day I became obsessed with Rolex, to the point where after 18 years collecting I amassed a collection of over 130 pieces. Through this time, I learned that Rolex had a brilliant marketing strategy, where each year they would always raise the prices 6%-8%, while never changing the style of the individual watches. This taught me that Rolex was more than just a watch and in theory was an alternative investment, so for each accomplishment I achieved in business, I would always memorialise it with a new Rolex watch. Once I collected virtually every Rolex, the excitement began to wear off and for a lot of years I was no longer interested in timepieces. It wasn’t until 2008 that I re-embraced horology, when I was introduced to the Hublot brand. Hublot was so unique and so different from any other Swiss watch at the time, that it captured Q: You have a fabulous watch collection. What got you started? What is the fascination with timepieces all about and what is your favourite? A: Swiss timepieces have always been very symbolic for me. Growing up, no one in my family had ever owned a watch, never mind a Swiss timepiece, so I never had any exposure to the purpose as to why one would acquire such an item. CABIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM PASSENGERS: UP TO 10 LARGE OVAL WINDOWS: 19 U NEQUALED ELEGANCE With the most spacious cabin in the super-midsize class, the Gulfstream G280™ is unequaled for its comforts, conveniences and capabilities. Complementing its beautifully appointed cabin is a long list of technological innovations and amenities—many originally created for the Gulfstream G650™. The G280: super-midsize flexibility with a large-cabin feel. To contact a Gulfstream sales representative in your area, visit gulfstream.com/contacts. Height shown is for a fully outfitted cabin GULFSTREAMG280.COM 1.85 m INTERVIEW : LOUIS DAVID SPAGNUOLO my imagination. The brand continued to evolve over the years and from their partnership with Ferrari and getting to know the Hublot chairman, Jean-Claude Biver, I grew to have a passion for the brand, which culminated with my purchase of the Hublot GMT Tourbillon, of which there are only 28 in the world! After my last liquidity event, I began to explore Audemars Piguet and Patek Phillipe and then finally I acquired a few significant pieces from Officine Panerai. Ultimately these are the only four brands I have an interest in and tend to purchase 3-4 of each per year and currently own probably another 100 or so of these. ing up in the middle of the night and walking to the garage to go touch the rear fender to make sure this was all actually real! Once I experienced the first one, as usual my obsessive personality kicked in and continued until I had acquired the entire model lineup. At this point it became pretty well known in the Ferrari world that I was crazy for the brand, so I had the fortunate privilege of being invited by Ferrari North America to the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance, where I got to meet many of the top executives from Ferrari. In an ironic twist, while at the Ferrari Suite I happened to sit down at a table with a placard that said ‘reserved’, only to ents as well as their executive team. While I was there, I quickly noticed I was by far the youngest person in attendance and was asked if I would like to join the CEO, Torsten Muller-Otvos, as his dinner guest that evening. Naturally I accepted and after a few bottles of Opus One, we began to discuss the brand and how we could introduce it to a new younger demographic. What we came up with was basically a pseudo-VIP programme that would cater to professional athletes, entertainers and entrepreneurial high net worth individuals, which just so happened to be the character traits of most of the people I associate with and do business with. Through Growing up watching the TV dramas Magnum PI and Miami Vice introduced me to a marque that defined style, beauty and uniqueness Q: How did you come to be a brand ambassador for Rolls-Royce, and can you tell us about your relationship with Ferrari? A: Since I was a young boy, owning a Ferrari was always a lifelong dream that I had. Growing up watching the TV dramas Magnum PI and Miami Vice introduced me to a marque that defined style, beauty and uniqueness – and the fact that it was Italian only added to my passion for the brand. So after 37 years of working 25 hours a day and eight days a week, I finally had my dream come to fruition. To this day I can still remember every second of the experience of seeing the delivery truck dropping off my brand new Ferrari 458 Italia and the emotions that came with it. Throughout the whole experience I think I was numb and really couldn’t believe any of it was happening, to the point where I remember wak- 12 International | Summer 2015 later realise it was set aside for a gentleman by the name of Lapo Elkann. Lapo was the grandson of Giani Agnelli, the famed Italian industrialist who owned half of Europe. Within seconds, Lapo noticed my passion for Ferrari and as the owner of the brand, he went on to help me personalise many of my vehicles through a programme he developed called Tailor Made. Through Lapo and the many other executives from Ferrari, I went on to meet Piero Ferrari (the son of Enzo Ferrari) and now Fiat Chairman Sergio Machionne this past October in Beverly Hills California. A similar situation took place with regards to Rolls-Royce. After purchasing my 3rd RollsRoyce vehicle, I was invited to the Rolls-Royce Mansion at Pebble Beach and enjoyed a day of lunch and champagne with other recognised cli- this relationship, we have been able to put on a half dozen world-class events and have sold over two dozen new vehicles to first time RollsRoyce buyers. Q: Which two business leaders in today’s world do you admire most and why? A: First, I would have to put forward JeanClaude Biver of Hublot watches. Far and away, Jean-Claude is the Steve Jobs of the Swiss timepiece industry and has done more to inspire, innovate and raise the bar for the entire industry than anyone else who has ever walked the planet. In 2004, he basically inherited what was viewed as a dead brand and in less than four years completely turned the company around to become a pioneer in innovation, while exponentially increasing sales. Through meeting him over the years and INTERVIEW : LOUIS DAVID SPAGNUOLO I showed her the figures and said, “Would you rather fly private to Dubai or buy a condo in South Beach?”The decision made itself getting to know him, I learned that it’s critical to constantly keep the customer both hungry and frustrated, while providing an exclusive product or service. He taught me to never give too much or allow a customer’s demand to be quenched and to always leave him wanting more. Similar to the Ferrari philosophy of always building one less car than demand, I learned that if everyone can have something, then no one will want it. When dealing with the ultra high net worth segment, the perception of scarcity is always crucial in driving your product forward. Second I would have to say Torsten MullerOtvos for his achievements with Rolls-Royce. As the youngest CEO to ever head up the company, in five short years Torsten has been able to reposition Rolls-Royce to have record years for sales each and every year under his tenure, which is truly phenomenal for a brand of its calibre. From Torsten, I learned how important it was to have a keen eye for what your customers wanted and to be unafraid to re-calibrate both your philosophy and the positioning of your product or service in order to surpass your client’s expectations. Through studying him, I watched how he killed off an all-electric version of the Phantom, which the company was about to launch but wasn’t well received by clients, and then conversely how he stretched the boundaries of the company and announced for the first time in its 101-Year History; that it would embark on building a SUV, of which the world has never seen. These decisions took tremendous character and fortitude and even went against the grain of the company’s history, but it’s my belief that the results will be truly profound. These lessons have taught me that it’s critical to evolve and transcend both personally and professionally if you hope to achieve your greatest successes. 14 International | Summer 2015 Q: You are looking to break new ground in the charter market by bringing buyers and sellers together via a web-based platform. What got you started down this road? A: Through my background with the Internet, I learned that it was essential to position any business or company with as many competitive advantages as possible and one obvious source of advantage begins with having the right domain name. Acquiring category-defining domain names was no different than purchasing prime real estate on Park Avenue in Manhattan or Campden Hill Square in London, so when I got the chance, in the early years of the Internet, to purchase PrivateJet. com, I simply could not pass it up. Knowing that long range private jets sell for as much as $75 million or more, quickly made me realise that this was an asset that would eventually have extreme value once the Internet became mainstream. Through the years of owning this asset I have both sold and reacquired it multiple times, each time making a substantial profit. Through these experiences, I got to learn all about the private jet charter business as well as the inefficiencies that plagued the industry. From this, I decided to help create an on-demand charter smart phone application as well as a transparent platform, where clients could search and book the aircraft of their choosing for flights all over the world. Right now we are about to launch Phase II of our industry disruptive application, so I can’t get into any of the specific details but I can promise you that once this hits the market, a follow-up interview will most likely be needed! Q: How much private flying do you do these days? A: Unlike many of my peers, who only fly private, I will still look to use scheduled airlines between major cities if the flight time is over three hours. Under three hours I fly via private jet. I look on this as a matter of being fiscally responsible. You can fly first class for $4,000 whereas it may cost you $60,000 to do a four-hour charter flight. My fiancée and I were due to fly to Dubai for holiday, and while she enjoys our charter flights and wanted to fly private, I showed her the figures and said, “Would you rather fly private to Dubai or buy a condo in South Beach?” The decision made itself. For me, $400,000 is still a lot of money. Q: Which business jet do you like the best? A: I am a passionate enthusiast of RollsRoyce and for me, Gulfstream is the Rolls-Royce of private aviation. Their attention to detail is fantastic. Bombardier and Dassault have great products but Gulfstream really stands out, for me. A client of mine took delivery here in Florida of the first Gulfstream 650 and I was hugely impressed. The cabin is so quiet and well appointed. It was above any flight experience I had taken on a private jet to that point. For me comfort and headroom is much more important than raw speed. A few years back a friend of mine said I should try the Citation X for short trips because of the speed and the shorter flight time. I thought it would be like a Ferrari, but my experience was that for the small increase in speed you lost so much in terms of cabin space. The whole experience of arriving 10 minutes earlier was not worth it over the Gulfstream’s comfort, in my view. Q: How do you feel about owning your own private jet? A: The irony is that I do own a Gulfstream IV but I never fly on it. I bought it in rather battered condition four years ago INTERVIEW : LOUIS DAVID SPAGNUOLO from a celebrity owner. It had been for sale for a long time and needed a total makeover, including the external paint job, which was in poor shape. I decided to purchase it and do something really unique with it, by analogy with the houses I used to buy and renovate. But instead of doing the traditional business jet interior I wanted to do a penthouse condotype interior, all gleaming whites and luxury carpeting and interior work. My idea was to attract a whole new range of people to charter it, on the basis that it would be something completely different. It took us about a year to complete the work and to have an ultra-modern, all-white interior. As soon as it was done I put it out to charter and drew a big, fat blank. It turns out that the musicians, rock stars and entertainers I had been expecting to show up as clients found it too pristine for them. They were wor- ried about messing it up. The corporates, who were my other favourite demographic, didn’t want it either as it was too over the top for them in the new age of austerity. So I’d kind of got myself a white elephant on my hands, or that’s what it looked like. Sometimes in business you have to retreat and regroup when something doesn’t work. You recalibrate and re-engage on a different basis and that can turn failure to success. What happened was, I was contacted by a gentleman based in Singapore. White is a favourite colour in much of Asia and he loved the photographs of the jet. It was going to cost me $200,000 dollars to send the jet to Singapore so he could see it, but I decided to take a chance. In an ironic twist, it worked out extremely well. He now has it on an exclusive six-month rolling charter basis and flies around 80 hours a month. So without a doubt, that re-calibration really saved me! Q Summer 2015 | International 15 GULFS TREAM: L ARRY FLYNN Gulfstream: a lesson in innovation and brand awareness A conversation with Gulfstream President Larry Flynn. By Anthony Harrington W ith the Gulfstream G650 selling faster than any new jet in Gulfstream’s history – and with two new jets, the G500 and G600, on the way (the G500 makes its first flight this year, with – first deliveries expected some time in 2018) Gulfstream President Larry Flynn has reason to feel that his company is secure in its position as the front runner among airframe OEMs. Not that Gulfstream’s having it all its own way. GAMA’s results for aircraft sales by OEM for the whole of 2014 show Bombardier just a smidge behind Gulfstream in total sales, with US$7.564 billion worth of sales as against Gulfstream’s $7.781 billion. And Bombardier also has two new ultra long-range jets coming along, in the shape of the Global 7000 and Global 8000, both of which have the ability to be a real game changer for the Canadian OEM. But right now, it seems, the G650 is the jet setting the standard for others to follow. Flynn himself is on an upward path inside Gulfstream’s parent company, General Dynamics. In February General Dynamics announced that in June Flynn will become the new Executive VP of General Dynamics’ Aerospace Group, in place of the retiring Joseph Lombardo. This position will see Flynn heading up both Gulfstream and Jet Aviation. He has been president of Gulfstream since August 2011 and thus can claim some share of the success that Gulfstream has enjoyed since then. Q: You have had a long career in Gulfstream, having first become a VP in the corporation in 1995. What drew you to business aviation? A: I was born into the aerospace game. My Dad was an airline pilot for 38 years, so my two brothers 16 International | Summer 2015 GULFS TREAM: L ARRY FLYNN and I learned to fly at a very young age and developed a lifelong interest in the business. I had a licence early on and put in several hundred hours’ flying time, but I made the decision to go the management route. When I went to college I took a couple of degrees in business management, liked it and thought that would be the way to go. I started my career in 1982 with CombsGates in Denver. They were an FBO chain and became part of Signature in the late 1990s. Combs-Gates was also memorable for having bought Lear Jet Industries in 1969. I was responsible for numerous Signature FBOs in the Northeast, which gave me a very good feel for what was entailed in delivering service excellence consistently across a number of locations. Combs-Gates also had a thriving MRO business, which gave me a hands-on feel for running complex aircraft support networks. I’ve always enjoyed MRO. I’ve done it for 20 years and had responsibility at Gulfstream for MRO for the first 13 years of my career with Gulfstream Product Support. After that I had three and a half years as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing followed by three years as President. Q: What do you think has enabled Gulfstream to set the pace in business aviation so consistently? A: We are very brand conscious and so are our customers, so maintaining our brand as the market leader is very big for us. The one 712$+ thing I think of every day is how to expand the brand and how to do this internationally, across developed and developing markets. Of course, it helps that our market penetration and market share across multiple geographies are really strong. A good example of this is that at ABACE, it was reported that we had the number one brand and market share in China, which shows that we have had real success in selling aircraft in China. Q: Have Gulfstream’s sales been impacted by the anti-corruption drive in China? A: I would say that things have been somewhat chilled by the anti-corruption campaign, but we have a real good backlog of orders and people are not cancelling, so that is going well. It is hard to characterise the state of play in China. It has been a really hot market, and now it remains a good market. We sell to end users that have strong businesses and a seri- Commsoft’s OASES MRO system offers comprehensive professional functionality together with a flexible, affordable approach that understands your business’ scaleable growth needs in today’s turbulent market. Each OASES module can be offered individually or can be integrated at the engineering centre of your business systems. 862$,1(4$31$%-0"-0.-0 2$ 4( 2(-, 8-++$0"( */3-2 2(-,1+ , &$+$,2%-01 8(,)$#2--.11712$+11 ,#1 8*1--%%$0$#4( -++1-%2.0(4 2$"*-3# Supporting 90 current aviation customers, including airlines, MROs, spares suppliers, CAMO, corporate aviation and bureau operators. +44 (0)1621 817425 - [email protected] www.commsoft.aero Summer 2015 | International 17 GULFS TREAM: L ARRY FLYNN ous business requirement for these airplanes. They continue to run very viable multinational companies in China and that part of the equation has not changed. Q: How much of a game changer do you think the G500 and the G600 are going to be for Gulfstream? A: We are very excited about these two clean sheet aircraft. It is a tremendous investment to bring a clean sheet aircraft to market, but we have a long history of doing just that. And of course we are just coming off a very successful clean sheet aircraft in the G650. This has already proved itself to be the fastestselling and most popular business jet in the history of business aviation. We are learning from that and further developing the technology in the G500 and G600. Q: You are moving from ‘fly-by-wire’ to ‘intelligence-by-wire’ for these new aircraft. How much of an advance is that? A: Intelligence-by-wire goes to a whole new level with our Symmetry cockpits in the G500 and G600. A particular feature is the active sidestick controllers. These are so simple and intuitive to use that even I got the hang of them in a few minutes in the simulator. One of the key features is that if the pilot makes an input using the controller, the co-pilot’s stick 18 International | Summer 2015 moves exactly the same. So you get dramatic improvements in coordination and a significant improvement in safety. There are also 10 touchscreen panels forming the displays – the most extensive use of touch screens in any business aircraft. The reaction from pilots has been really extraordinary. We had a couple of prospective customers who are also pilots, and when we introduced this technology last year, they came and sat in the cockpit and tried it out and immediately ordered the aircraft. They were that impressed! They were astounded at how easy it was to understand and at the way we have integrated so much high tech into a single flight deck that is very intuitive for pilots. What is really important about every new, clean sheet aircraft that we undertake is the extensive customer feedback that we incorporate into the design. We work very hard with customers, with our customer advisory board, to get the details right – and we have a very disciplined process to transform that feedback into solid design and engineering. Q We are very brand conscious and so are our customers, so maintaining our brand as the market leader is very big for us FEATURE: PAINT Swiss Excellence in Business Aviation Corporate and private aircraft maintenance, refurbishment and completion services, aircraft management and charter operations. AMAC Aerospace Switzerland AG Telephone + 4 1 58 310 31 31 Henric Petri -Strasse 35 Spring 2015 | info @ amacaerospace.com International 19 4051 Basel, Switzerland www.amacaerospace.com INTERIORS: COMLUX Gearing up for the C International | Summer 2015 VP, Engineering, Comlux big jets ompletions specialist Comlux is positioning itself to win a chunk of the lucrative widebody interiors business. As Daron Dryer, VP, Engineering, at Comlux explains, the group’s US completions centre, Comlux America, began work in mid-April this year on a major expansion of one of its hangars, to enable it to take wide-body jets. The expansion will see the existing hangar extended by 40 feet. “This is a new, modern hangar built from the ground up exclusively for VVIP completions and it came into service in 2012. The extension simply enables us to accommodate wide-body aircraft,” he says. 20 EVA talks to Daron Dryer, “We have already secured an order to complete our very first wide-body Airbus ACJ330, which will be delivered to us in Q4 2015, by which time we will have the hangar extension completed and ready for business,” Dryer adds. Once completed the total size of the hangar will increase from 128,000 square feet to 157,000 square feet. It will then be able to house one wide-body and up to four narrowbody jets simultaneously. When the deal was announced, Richard Gaona, Chairman and CEO of Comlux The Aviation Group, said that transforming the hangar into one suited for wide-body completions reiterates how serious Comlux is about its future. “It maintains the Comlux reputation as one of INTERIORS: COMLUX the best completion and service centres in the world,” he noted. Dryer points out that while Comlux has traditionally focused on Boeing and Airbus business jets for the most part, on the MRO side it provides services to a number of Bombardier business aircraft owners (mainly Globals and Challengers), some of which could also become customers of its completion arm. “Our focus for completions is on the larger aircraft, but we are interested in doing refurbishments and cabin upgrades for the smaller business jets as well. We have experience across a wide range of aircraft types,” Dryer notes. “Our main aim is to ensure that the customer’s experience in the air exceeds his or her lifestyle expectations on the ground. We are always interested in breaking new ground and in seeing how far we can push innovation along with producing a stunning design and achieving the highest levels of comfort,” he comments. The user interface, which includes the cabin management and in-flight entertainment systems as well as productivity tools such as broadband and video conferencing, is very Our main aim is to ensure that the customer’s experience in the air exceeds his or her lifestyle expectations on the ground Daron Dryer high on the list of priorities when it comes to what customers specify for their interior work. This extends to giving a great deal of thought to design details such as ‘soft-close’ and ‘soft-open’ where drawers or lids, for example, close slowly and noiselessly and where all the monuments and furniture have a more sculpted appearance. “What you are always trying for is to ensure that the in-flight experience is even better than anything the customer would experience on the ground,” he points out. Despite the general slowdown in aircraft sales through the first quarter of 2015, Dryer says that Comlux has been exceptionally busy, having delivered two completed aircraft, an Airbus A321 and a BBJ, both on time and on budget – and also, under the weight limit specified in the contract. With completions the danger always is that while the interior might look like a dream, the aircraft turns out to be too heavy to do the missions the owner had in mind when they purchased their aircraft. Power up! JetGo 550Mti-RJ 28V DC Diesel Hybrid GPU Clean, cool starts Quiet, compact and powerful Lowest operating costs in the industry 550 amp continuous/2300 amp starting capacity Ground support equipment +1 208-378-9888 | www.aerospecialties.com Summer 2015 | International 21 INTERIORS: COMLUX “From day one at Comlux we have always looked to use our ability to innovate and to come up with a great combination of design and technical skills to fulfil the client’s requirements. Our first-ever completions job was for a client who wanted an extra large ceiling effect on an Airbus ACJ320. We completely redesigned the Boeing air conditioning system so that the client could get the ceiling height and look he required. Our goal is for outside designers to want to come to Comlux because they know that we will help them achieve their vision,” Dryer comments. “If we are working with the client’s designer and what they want to do is not technically feasible, we will listen and do the trade studies and show them either what the practical constraints are that require a rethink, or provide them with the costings to show them what the price would be to achieve what they want. We make it a point at Comlux to always 22 International | Summer 2015 show what it would take to achieve what the designer and the client want. At Comlux we strive to never say no, and to make ideas that seem impossible, possible by being innovative and open minded”. In April Comlux’s completion and service centre announced the successful installation and certification of the first FANS (Future Air Navigation System) progamme on a Bombardier Challenger 601 aircraft, having received the STC for installing FANS-capable equipment on all Challenger 600 series jets, just a month earlier. The centre’s MRO station provides services to a number of 600 series aircraft and Comlux can now offer customers a solution that will enable them to operate wherever FANS and Link 2000+ capabilities are required. FANS work has already been accomplished on a second 601 at Comlux as well. The FANS programme sees Comlux partnering with Universal Avionics and L-3 Aviation Recorders. In December Comlux ordered two BBJ MAX 8s from Boeing Business Jets. These were the first BBJs Comlux had ordered and the deal also represents the first BBJ MAX order in Europe. Both jets are to be outfitted at Comlux’s completions centre and will be added to the charter fleet upon completion. Commenting on the order, which was placed in December 2014, Gaona said: “The two BBJ MAX 8s are a great addition to the Comlux fleet because they give our customers the flexibility to fly farther and also more comfortably thanks to the lower cabin altitude. The long-range capability of the MAX 8 is critical to all of our customers, but especially our Middle East customers who often use Comlux aircraft for long-haul flights.” Q V IS BO T U O S at TH E #E BAC 04 E 0 INTERIORS: F OKKER SERVICES Points of view F okker Services’ Skyview panoramic window, which takes the place of three ordinary window bays, has to be one of the most exciting breakthroughs in the passenger experience of business jets since the introduction of in-flight broadband. From the initial, preliminary studies the project has taken a little over a year and a half to come to fruition, which is pretty quick for such a breakthrough. After all, every engineer working on an airframe has taken it for granted since the first jets that windows had to be, well, on the small side, to prevent them from compromising the airframe. As Eric Cuppen, Director, Aircraft Conversions and Completions at Fokker Services explains, the company had to really think outside the box to bring about such a radical change. “Initially we had all kinds of ideas about where to put the window and how large we could make it. Clearly there are structural zones that you need to be sensitive to regarding the airframe. But we do a lot of work on Boeing and Airbus models generally, so we had a good bit of data to work with to tell us how to cut into the structure and how to strengthen it to keep structural integrity,” he comments. Fokker Services had the preliminary design review (PDR) on the project in March – which, Cuppen points out, was a great milestone in 24 International | Summer 2015 the programme as it passed this concept definition phase. “The Critical Design Review (CDR or better known as ‘the point of no return’) is planned in May after which the design of the Skyview panoramic window is frozen and only a few details remain. Our goal is to have the first window installed by the end of this year in a BBJ for our launch customer,” he notes. Moving on from the launch, the next target of opportunity, at some point in the near future, could be 777s and 747s, plus Cuppen points out that Fokker Services is in the process of discussing the feasibility of installing the Skyview panoramic window in models from other airframe OEMS. “There is a good deal of interest beyond Boeing in the Skyview panoramic concept, which is very gratifying,” he comments. “We have not gone beyond the three bay approach. Going from two to three was a relatively straightforward decision since moving from one window to a two window-wide approach was not really that significant an enhancement. With the panoramic window being three bays wide, the effect is really striking. If you compare it to the size of a private desk, for example, it works extremely well and gives designers a fantastic additional component to work into their interior design,” he comments. A completely different approach to providing passengers with panoramic views would be to explore using futuristic flexible LCD screens to replace windows. However, Cuppen argues that passengers will probably always prefer a live view out of the window to a screen based display, no matter how high res the latter might be. “Of course, complementing a panoramic window by adding a combination of screens driven by external cameras might work very well indeed. I am sure that camera systems and screens, in combination with the aircraft’s in-flight entertainment systems, will come much more into prominence in the near future,” he comments. Today, judging by the exhibitions from completions houses at the various trade shows, a good deal of focus is on highdefinition TV screens. “Weight is, of course, a factor. Any additional hi-tech equipment adds weight, so if we get flexible screens that shed a good deal of weight, that will be very important,” he adds. For Fokker Services, VIP completions and business jet refurbishment work comprise around an eighth of its business, but they are a key part of the overall mix. “We won an important contract for an ACJ completion in 2013 and for a green BBJ. The ACJ was delivered on time and within budget on 3 April this year and the BBJ is on the way, with the aircraft scheduled to leave the INTERIORS: F OKKER SERVICES Initially we had all kinds of ideas about where to put the window and how large we could make it. Clearly there are structural zones that you need to be sensitive to regarding the airframe Eric Cuppen, Director, Aircraft Conversions and Completions, Fokker Services Boeing factory this October. We should have the completion ready for delivery to the client by August 2016,” Cuppen says. In his view, the green aircraft completions market continues to be impeded by the slow nature of the recovery from the global crash of 2008. However, as he notes, there are approximately 230 ageing and elderly ACJs and BBJs in service, the oldest being more than 15 years old. “It follows that refurbishments, systems upgrades and pre-sale inspections are a growing market with these aircraft and we are very interested in securing a good share of that. Green completions are our first aim, but this additional work is very welcome,” he comments. Owners and those buying the aircraft as pre-owned are very keen on getting the IFE systems upgraded to the latest releases and having their upholstery, carpet, lining and seats refurbished. So there is a strong aftermarket to come. “We are in constant contact with VIP operators who want to enlarge their fleets, making sure that they know our capabilities and what we can do for them. We have a very active sales process and it generates results,” Cuppen says. Q Summer 2015 | International 25 INTERIORS: FLYING COLOURS Flying Colours spreads its wings We have a number of projects in progress and others that are in the process of being finalised so it is very encouraging Sean Gillespie F lying Colours Corporation, the Canada-headquartered completions and maintenance group, opened its third completions centre in early 2015 at Singapore’s Seletar Aerospace Park. The new site, a partnership with Bombardier, has already brought its first project, the woodwork refinishing on a Challenger 605, to a successful conclusion. Paul Dunford, previously with Bombardier in Montreal, has been appointed General Manager of Flying Colours Corp Asia PTE Ltd. At ABACE this year, announcing Dunford’s appointment Eric Gillespie, VP at Flying Colours, pointed out that the new facility is already working on refurbishing woodwork and cabinetry on two Globals. “This is a very important geographical area for our company. There are limited facilities in the region capable of refurbishing Challenger, Global or Learjet aircraft to the required standard so this is a great opportunity,” he noted. “Operational costs to fly aircraft back to North America or Europe are high, and downtime becomes lengthy, so by having a local base for completions and refurbishment, we are filling a strong market demand and anticipate that we will continue to grow in the region as a result.” Flying Colours started off back in Paul Dunford, General Manager, Flying Colours Corp Asia PTE Ltd 26 International | Summer 2015 1989 as a small painting facility in Peterborough, Ontario. The company gradually added additional services and capabilities over the years, branching out into specialist green aircraft completions and adding MRO capabilities as well. In 2009 the company acquired JetCorp Technical Services, based in St Louis, which rebranded as Flying Colours in 2013. Talking to EVA, Sean Gillespie, Executive VP at Flying Colours, said that business across North America has seen an encouraging pick-up in activity through the first quarter of 2015. “We have a number of projects in progress and others that are in the process of being finalised so it is very encouraging. A lot of owners and operators have been holding off on refurbishing older jets through the downturn and the slow recovery. Many of these are now sufficiently confident in the recovery to want to bring these older models back to an “as-new” state,” he comments. Business is not yet back to the levels seen before the crash, but the signs are that it is getting there, despite a marked slowdown in completions work from China and Russia. “We have some very stable clients in China that have kept things ticking over and South East Asia overall has been pretty active. North America is now looking a lot stronger, but we still have some ground to make up to get back to pre-2007 levels,” he considers. For some while now some of the major OEMs, including Gulfstream and Embraer, have been doing completions of new models in-house (see the interview with Larry INTERIORS: FLYING COLOURS Flynn, President of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp, in this issue). So how does the launch of an exciting new jet like the Gulfstream G650 impact completions houses like Flying Colours? The answer comes in two parts, Gillespie reckons. There is always the after-market. While that won’t kick in for several years, eventually today’s brand new G650s will be looking tired and in need of a refresh, and not all of that work will go back to Gulfstream. Much more immediately, however, owners of older jets see the latest models, be it the G650 or, in the mid-size, Embraer Legacy 500, and they say: “Make my old jet look like that new one!” Gillespie notes. That then leads more or less directly to a discussion about budgets and pricing. Even without a major avionics upgrade, the cabin refurbishment will generally come in somewhere between US$2 million and $4 million. “What we are seeing is that on newer aircraft, say those that are four to five years old, that are coming in for a refit, the avionics will be near state of the art. However, there are usually compliance issues coming up, such as for FANS (the Future Air Navigation System). These may not be things that the owner has to do immediately, or even for a few years, but it is always worth considering getting them done during the refurbishment, thus avoiding having the aircraft needing to come back at a later date,” he points out. Gillespie explains that unlike some completions houses, which contract out specialist work such as wet galleys, cabinetry and engineering, Flying Colours makes a point of having all these skills in-house. “We really like to have control over quality and cost issues. Engineering was kind of the last component that we brought in-house and for a long while now we have done everything ourselves. Much of the completions business is about repeat work and the relationships that form between our people and some of the people on the operator’s side or the client’s side are a key part of that. So if you said you had now decided to outsource your upholstery work or your galleys, that would introduce some doubt into things,” he says. The Singapore expansion will keep Flying Colours busy for a while but Gillespie points out that the company is always on the lookout for opportunities for growth. “I can see us having a base in China at some point in the future, but that is years away. We looked at mainland China pretty extensively, then this opportunity with Bombardier came up and that was a real nobrainer for us. Singapore is a key hub and is very convenient for China, Australia and even India, plus English is widely spoken and it is a very business-focused and business-friendly country, so it is ideal,” he concludes. Q The Ninety-Second Experience London City Airport offers Business Aircraft customers a unique experience from arrival to boarding in just ninety-seconds. London City Airport 4 miles from Canary Wharf, 7 miles from The City and 9 miles from Mayfair. Summer 2015 | International 27 INTERIORS: AERIA LUXURY INTERIORS AERIA Luxury Interiors – orders keep coming by Anthony Harrington 28 International | Summer 2015 A ERIA Luxury Interiors, based in San Antonio, Texas, set out its stall as a new VIP completions centre for Airbus and Boeing executive jets at its official launch at the Singapore Air Show in February 2012. It opened its brand new completions centre at San Antonio and almost immediately started work on its first contract. This was for a comprehensive cabin refurbishment of a Boeing 767-200. Now Aeria is already working on and preparing for two completions contracts, and there are more deals in the pipeline. Ron Soret, Aeria’s Vice-President/ General Manager, points out that part at least of the reason why, as a new kid on the block in the completions game, Aeria has been able to instil confidence in prospective clients, is that it has a well-established parent, in ST Aerospace, which has a long history in providing commercial airline MRO services. ST Aerospace is the aviation arm of ST Engineering, one of the largest companies on the Singapore Stock Exchange. That said, Soret’s team still had to win the contract by convincing the client of the depth and versatility of their own design and technical skills. The two new deals will see Aeria safely through what many in the completions sector now regard as a significant slowdown in new orders. In fact Soret says that despite the slowdown, which is reflected in poor first quarter 2015 GDP growth figures for the US economy, Aeria has seen a pick-up in new requests for completion quotations, which is very pleasing. Soret’s team is currently working on its first green BBJ completion, a VIP 737, which it won in February 2014. The aircraft was delivered to Aeria in December 2014 and will be ready for delivery to the client in the fourth quarter of 2015. Cabin interior highlights include an exclusive entry-way into the private suite, a comfortable master suite and a luxurious bathroom. A stateof-the-art cabin management system has been installed to allow complete control over the custom RGB mood lights and high-definition large-format TV screens, via an integrated iPad. A humidification system and sound dampening package are part of the design, ensuring that passenger comfort will be enhanced throughout the flight. In an innovative move, AERIA’s design team will be using its recently acquired 3D printer to create cabin features. Among these is a custom ceiling which will enhance the aircraft’s interior design and provide a heightened spatial impression. In addition to the decorative features, INTERIORS: AERIA LUXURY INTERIORS AERIA will deploy the 3D printing capabilities in the development of mock-ups, concept modelling proofs as well as production parts. By using a technologically advanced 3D printer, operational efficiency will be increased while production time and overall costs are more effectively managed. In August 2014 Aeria won a second Boeing nose-to-tail wide-body refurbishment completions contract. This aircraft is due to be delivered to the client in the first quarter of 2017. On top of this, Aeria has won contracts to carry out extra heavy maintenance and avionics upgrades, plus various refurbishments, to two Boeing 757s. The interior for the first of the two green completions will include a dedicated forward crew lounge, an efficiently equipped galley, dining suite, conference room, large resting lounge and master suite. A state-of-the-art digital entertainment system with multiple high-definition screens will be installed for an “indulgent” theatre experience on board, along with Inmarsat and Iridium satellite communications systems and high-speed Wi-Fi system. Soret points out that Areia has gone in for an extensive expansion of its facilities over the last two years. It is adding a further 14,000 square feet to its 100,000 square foot hangar and shop areas, which will create space for a cabinetry and upholstery shop and a standalone sales and interior design building. The company recently passed the 140 employee mark and Soret says that the additional hangar space will enable it to expand its in-house craft skills. Aeria has also set its sights on winning MRO and refurbishment work from Middle East clients. Soret points out that the company was pleased with its attendance at December’s MEBA Exhibition and is actively looking to encourage Middle Eastern clients to consider the company’s Texas facility when they are thinking about refreshing and refurbishing their existing narrow-body or wide-body aircraft. Q Facilities at the Oslo & Stavanger Airports CALL US NOW FOR PROFESSIONAL HANDLING & SERVICES +47 64 82 02 00 www.executivehandling.com NATA Safety First Certified Line Service Secure facility with 24/7 handling services Concierge services for passengers and crewmembers Elegant conference room Crew transportation and rental arrangements Crew lounge with entertainment & work space Aircraft maintenance support On-demand aircraft charter support Complimentary coffee, tea, water, soft drinks & snacks Disabled facilities and wheelchair available Pet friendly Relax and get ready for departure! Summer 2015 | International 29 PROFILE: JOHN S HENDRICK S John S Hendricks By Margie Goldsmith F rom a very young age, John S Hendricks, founder and former Chairman of Discovery Communications, was curious about life and especially space, dinosaurs and automobiles. Born in Matewan, West Virginia in 1952, by the time he was just five years old he knew the names and model year of every car on the highway. At six, his family moved to Huntsville, Alabama, home to America’s nascent space programme, and a few years later, young Hendricks built a telescope. He loved watching Walter Cronkite’s You Were There and Wild Kingdom, but wished there were more informative and engaging TV shows – he would soon remedy that. In 1974, Hendricks graduated magna cum laude with a BA in history from the University of Alabama and eight years later founded Discovery Communications. It was one of cable TV’s pioneering programming companies, designed to provide highquality documentary programming exploring the world. Since 1982, the company has expanded to global operations, now in over 220 countries with nearly 3 billion subscribers. Dozens of networks of distinctive programming represent 53 entertainment brands across the globe, including Discovery, The Learning Channel, and Animal Planet. Hendricks’s father had regaled his son with stories about the American Southwest, especially the beautiful red rock canyon country in Utah and west of Grand Junction, Colorado. In the late ‘90s, Hendricks and his wife purchased 8,000 30 International | Summer 2015 pristine acres and eventually built Gateway Canyons Resort, originally as an executive retreat, but now a luxurious resort. On the property he has created the Gateway Auto Museum to house another of his passions: his classic car collection (55 pristine autos dating from 1906 through 2006). Last year, Hendricks created the Curiosity Project, including Curiosity Retreats at Gateway Canyons, a lifelong learning programme featuring luminary experts in a 5-star setting. With his daughter Elizabeth, Hendricks has just launched their newest independent venture, CuriosityStream, the world’s first ad-free subscription-video-on-demand service for consumers to watch premium factual programmes anytime, anywhere. Hendricks has received a Primetime Emmy Award and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences highest honour, the Governors Award. He was the first corporate leader to receive the National Education Association’s Friend of Education award (for expanding educational opportunity for America’s schoolchildren), was on the Board of Directors of the United States Olympic Committee and currently serves on Carnegie Corporation of New York, Institute for Advanced Study and the National Forest Foundation. In 2013, HarperCollins published his business memoir, A Curious Discovery: An Entrepreneur’s Story. In May 2014, after 32 years at the helm of one of TV’s top brands, Hendricks retired from Discovery Communications. We caught up with him at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. PROFILE: JOHN S HENDRICK S They encouraged me to dream big, to do things in an excellent way, and they displayed a love of learning and that was an inspiration to me Summer 2015 | International 31 PROFILE: JOHN S HENDRICK S Q: Besides Florida, where do you have other homes? A: At Gateway Canyons and Deer Valley, Utah. I own part of a yacht so we take yachting trips to the Bahamas. I visit CuriosityStream’s Maryland office three days a month. My wife and I plan to travel the planet and explore. I love nature and wildlife, but in South Africa, there’s just a wonderful game reserve; the Singita Boulders and Singita Ebony lodge in South Africa are our favourite destinations. Q: What did you want to do as a child? A: I always had this passion of trying to understand the universe and the moon. As a child, I read a little book about the moon and was fascinated about the potential of going to the moon and trying to understand the planets. I thought I’d grow up and work in the space industry or as an astronomer. Q: What advice did your parents give you? A: They encouraged me to dream big, to do things in an excellent way, and they displayed a love of learning and that was an inspiration to me. Q: Who was your mentor? A: My dad, because he read and knew so much. To this day he is one of the most educated 32 International | Summer 2015 persons I’ve ever known. He didn’t go to college but he was educated because he read. My love of travel and cars and business all comes from him. Q: Tell me about the first time you were a boss and what that was like. A: As a college senior, I’d published a little piece that got the attention of the president of the University. He then offered me a job to go to Washington DC and work on federal contracts for the University, but I always wanted to be in business for myself, so I started a small consulting business with about five or six employees. created Discovery Communications. How did that happen? A: It was my good fortune to meet Herbert Allen of Allen and Company, who capitalised the investment banking company that has the big Sun Valley media conference every year, and which I’ve gone to for about 30 years now. He believed in the concept and was responsible for that first step, a $5 million fundraising round. That led to a second round of $20 million, and then we found four very supportive cable operators who became my longterm partners in Discovery. Q: How did you happen to found the AAUC, a private consulting organisation involved in television distribution and marketing educational programmes and services? A: One of my clients associated with American University had produced a television series and wanted to get distribution. There really wasn’t a place for this documentary except for PBS. Cable had started to launch and very simple ideas [for channels delivering a single category of content] were coming on air. HBO was first in 1975 and then in 1979, ESPN. Then, in 1980, Ted Turner did a news channel. Q: In 1982, you invested US$20,000 of your own money as part of the initial financing provided by an investment bank and a NY insurance company, and called it the Cable Educational Network, Inc. Why? A: At the time, there was no cable educational network -- no one had thought to do documentary entertainment and I became obsessed. Everything I researched convinced me that this would work. I knew a little bit about satellites, and became an expert. I was just fortunate to be the first to organise a [documentary] channel and raise the funds. Q: In 1985 you raised $25 million and Q: Didn’t satellite time cost a fortune back then? A: It did. When I launched Discovery, the lease payment on my satellite and uplink bill per month was $336,000. I knew I needed a substantial sum of money because you had these big fixed expenses of not only your staff but also the infrastructure cost; and then you had to buy the content. I forged alliances with the BBC and TV Ontario in markets where they valued documentary entertainment more: the UK, Canada and Australia. I was able to import all of that content that no one had ever seen in this country. For two or three years, we were a very British-sounding network, though later, we re-narrated it with an American voice. Three years later, we started doing our own original productions. WHERE AVIATION AND FINANCING COME TOGETHER. At Global Jet Capital, we provide flexible, streamlined financing for the private aircraft market. Our team is comprised of senior-level executives who possess both financial acumen and aviation industry experience. If you’re thinking about mid- to large-sized corporate jet financing, give us a call. We’ll get you in the air. Contact us at 844.436.8200 or visit us at globaljetcapital.com to learn more. globaljetcapital.com Operating Leases LEASING AND LENDING SOLUTIONS Interim Leases Finance Leases and Mortgage Loans Progress Payment Financing Mezzanine Financing PROFILE: JOHN S HENDRICK S Q: What else do you look for? A: For me, it starts with the appearance of the car; it has to evoke some sense of the aesthetic. The color and the styling have to really appeal to me. We wanted to tell the story of 100 years of the American car at our Automotive Museum. We started out with a 1906 Cadillac and when we opened the museum in 2006, we ended with a Ford Mustang, so we had that full hundred years. Q: What is the company worth today? A: The stock varies. Today, it’s at $17 billion. Q: When did you become interested in automobiles? A: I was five. My sister was 13 years older, and one day her boyfriend picked her up in a brand new 1958 Corvette, and the juxtaposition of a Corvette in the West Virginia hills was just stunning, like something that had arrived from outer space. I’ve often told people it was my first art experience because of the curves and the lines. I wanted to know everything about how this car came to be. Q: What was your first car? A: A Camaro, which I got for $2,700 when I was 16. My dad helped with the down payment and I worked in a men’s clothing store after school to pay for it. Q: How did your automobile collection begin? A: That 1958 Corvette made such an impression on me. Then I started reading articles about cars of the 30s and fell in love with the 34 International | Summer 2015 Packards and the Duesenbergs, especially the ones with the art deco design, so representative of the 1937 Terraplane. There are certain classic cars like the ‘57 Chevrolet. I brought my first two classic cars together: the ‘57 Chevrolet and an Oldsmobile 442. Then I started learning more about which cars have more collectability, which are more valued, lower serial numbers. Q: What is it that sings to you when you go to look for cars at an auction? A: I respond to colour and motion. I think of cars as sculptural art. It’s the motion of colour in a style that really speaks to me. Q: What are your favourite cars in your collection? A: The top of my list is the F-88 Concept Car which I’ll keep forever. I really like the ’37 Hudson Terraplane, a car introduced and endorsed by Amelia Earhart. And the 1930 model Duesenberg is up PROFILE: JOHN S HENDRICK S there. For modern cars, I love Bentleys, I think they’re a great grand touring car. And there’s the car that sparked my interest early on, the 1958 Corvette. And a car I was given as a surprise birthday present, a beautifully restored 1968 Camaro Apollo. Q: At Gateway Canyons Resort, besides a premium spa and equestrian centre, you have a supercar driving programme, the Driven Club in which guests can drive supercars. How many supercars do you have? A: We have twenty-two, from Corvettes to Bentleys plus some really nice driving cars: Camaros, a Porsche, a Ford GT, a Viper, a Tesla, several Jeeps. Plus a glorious setting to drive them. Q: Last year you launched Curiosity Retreats to inspire curious minds. Over one-third of the guests are repeat. What draws them back? A: About 75% of TV viewers want amusement or entertainment programming. The other 25% of viewers see television to learn about the world; they watch news programmes and documentaries. That’s the audience and the demographic I’ve always been drawn to. Curiosity Retreats brings terrific featured speakers to this ideal location to address topics in history, medicine, science, and things that weren’t even subjects when I was in college because science and technology change so much. Q: And you offer helicopter tours on the property. What helicopter do you own? A: An AS350 Eurocopter, the highest performing helicopter in the world, the only helicopter model that has landed on top of Mount Everest. Our helicopter hangar is at the resort so guests leave their rooms and walk over to the helicopter hangar for a ride. Q: Do you collect anything else besides cars? A: I love maps. I inherited all my father’s wonderful road map collection and have added on to that. I collect large substantial fossils. To me, fossils represent the history of the planet. One of my favorites is a fossilized pine over 250 million years old that was in a pine forest in Patagonia. It’s almost like a jewel. Q: If guests are coming in by private jet, what’s the nearest FBO? Will you pick them up in your chopper from the jetport? A: We encourage people to fly their jets to Grand Junction. West Star Aviation is the FBO and we can have our helicopter waiting for them. Other guests might prefer a Bentley or a Cadillac Escalade. For large groups we arrange multiple cars. If they want to test-drive a brand new Corvette Z06, we can have that available. Q: What is the mission of the Curiosity Project? A: The mission is, how do we keep on learning? One component is the retreats at Gateway Canyons. They are high-end experiences for about 80 lucky people who can come and afford the tuition and be present with the speakers in a very intimate setting. The other component is CuriosityStream. We put the recorded lectures online and combine them with other content we’ve gathered from the entire world. People who aren’t lucky enough to get into the retreats can subscribe at a very modest cost, $2.99 a month, for standard resolution streaming online to $5.99 a month for high-definition streaming. You can check it out: www.curiositystream.com Q: I have, and I notice you also offer 4K resolution. What is that? A: It’s the next step up in high-definition resolution. I believe strongly that consumers will continue to migrate towards viewing platforms that give them a closer to reality experience. That’s why they migrated from black and white TV to colour, then from colour to cable and digital. Cable and digital technology cleaned up the television signal. 4K means 4,000 pixels, a much higher, denser image than you have now with Summer 2015 | International 35 PROFILE: JOHN S HENDRICK S high-definition resolution, almost four times as sharp of a picture. I expect by the end of 2016 there will be about 10,000,000 US households that will have 4K TV sets. We want to provide content for those 4K television households. We’re undertaking new 4K technology productions such as Big Picture Earth now in production and which we expect to begin airing this fall. Q: Who is your aviation consultant? A: Dennis Blackburn at Corporate Concepts International. He found me my current plane, a Falcon 900EX. He also found the helicopter we have at Gateway Canyons. Dennis has set up a special programme between Gateway Canyons and West Star Aviation on fuel pricing. We also arrange for housing or for hotel arrangements for the pilots. We want to be a great destination for the private aviation flyer. Q: You now own your Falcon, but didn’t you start flying privately with a NetJets share? A: Yes, I was one of the earliest Net Jets owners back in late 1986 when they started that private fractional ownership programme, a very efficient programme. Discovery was one of the early participants; we didn’t need the entire jet at that time but it was great to start out with fractional shares. Through the years, Discovery increased its use of Net Jets. Then, for our own convenience, my wife and I took an interest in a Gulfstream 200. Three years ago, we decided we were flying enough to justify having our own plane and started looking for our private aircraft. I love aviation; I’ve flown in almost every model of airplane and settled on the Falcon, which has really great range; we can reach South Africa or Tokyo with only one stop. It’s a great plane for us. have a trip planned, it’ll be my son and his wife and my daughter and her husband. Sometimes we use the plane for Curiosity Project business, to get staff to Colorado. Q: How does flying privately make your life easier? A: It saves so much time. The plane is ready and waiting so we just drive to the FBO and get on board. You don’t have to arrive in advance. So many times there are last-minute commercial delays, but flying privately that’s never an issue. You’re never going to miss your flight. We set up a target time for our departure. We keep our pilots informed as the date progresses, if we’re going to hit that particular departure time or not. It’s just a great time-saver. It gives you so much freedom to be able to fly into smaller airports. It’s a great luxury, but it’s a great time-saver, something you really appreciate. Q: How often do you fly? A: About 450 hours a year. Q: Who flies with you? A: Generally, just my wife and I. When we Q: Does an aircraft management company manage your plane? International | Summer 2015 Q: How close an eye do you keep on expenses? Do you scrutinise bills or do you feel that if they fall within an expected range, that’s fine? A: We set up an annual budget for the Falcon operations. We fly about 450 hours a year, so that comes out to a certain amount of money you’re going to spend through your maintenance cycle. There haven’t been any surprises; the only surprise has been a pleasant one in the drop of the fuel price. You negotiate the leases for your hangar space, so there are no surprises there. Generally, it’s just a function of the fuel price. Q: Which completion centre did you use when you bought the Falcon? A: West Star Aviation in Grand Junction. Q: Which FBOs do you frequently fly from? A: In Florida, we use Banyan at the Fort Lauderdale Executive. The designator for that airport is FXE. We lease our hangar space where the aircraft is primarily hangared. We also use Dulles Jet Center to hangar our aircraft in the Washington, DC area. And we use West Star Aviation in Grand Junction. These are the three primary ones that we use. 36 A: We have our own private flight department and our own pilots. Our flight department is headed by our head pilot. We have a two-person crew and a director of maintenance. We fly under Part 91. For maintenance and for all of our operational needs, we use West Star Aviation. It’s our go-to organisation for all of our routine maintenance. When we have some equipment installations – for instance, I decided to put winglets on the aircraft -- that was handled directly by the Dassault factory in Wilmington, Delaware. Q: Tell me about the interior. Who chose it? Did you use a designer? A: My wife and I have flown so much on NetJets and other aircraft that we had a good sense of what styles we like: a little more traditional, not dark wood, a little medium wood. We like an earth tone interior, more tans. My wife picked out the leathers, wood grains, and all the fabrics. She’s a quilt artist, has decorated a lot of houses, and has a good eye for design. We agreed on the choices. West Star helped us every step of the way, putting forth all the different kind of samples that were readily available, everything from carpets to leathers and seating choices. ! "#! $$# %! PROFILE: JOHN S HENDRICK S Q: Who did you use for your cockpit components? A: West Star Aviation was responsible for the upgrade of all the components. We used Honeywell products. West Star did the avionics upgrade as well. The plane that we bought was located in Finland. Dennis Blackburn found it for us. We got it over for the pre-purchase inspection. It was in terrific shape; it had been hangared and well maintained all its life. When we bought it, we did the 30-day pre-purchase inspection at West Star and it passed with flying colours. As I recall, it was a four-month process of completing the aircraft with the standards we wanted. We like everything about it. Q: Whose fuel do you use? A: Banyan Aviation is our primary fuel source, as well as Dulles Jet Center. I think they have a deal with Signature. Q: What about catering? Does the pilot take care of that or do you have preferred suppliers? A: Before trips, my assistant asks what we want. We have good menus. We’ll typically choose chicken salad sandwiches for a short trip and for longer trips, something a little more. My assistant works with the FBOs and with our chief pilot. Q: You’re a licensed pilot yourself. Have you ever tried to fly your Falcon? A: No. I just have a single engine land licence. I’m not an active flyer these days; in the late 90s and early 2000s I was, but more recently I’ve been enjoying being a passenger. Q: What plane will you buy next? A: We fell in love with the Dassault product, the Falcon product and there’s so much life left on 38 International | Summer 2015 in our own retreats and to look at other kinds of activities in which we’re travelling to learn -- not just go somewhere and sit on the beach for five days. We prefer a trip in which we can understand the history of a place better. Q: What is your passion? A: Trying to understand not only this world, but also the universe beyond. My wife and I are lifelong learners. this one it’s not something we anticipate. I think the biggest choice we made was to put on winglets, so we have an airplane that will match any new aircraft because we have the range supported by the winglets. We have avionics that are 2014 fresh. If we were to look at new airplanes, I think I’d probably still stay within the Dassault family. Q: Have you considered letting your Curiosity Retreats guests arrive in your private jet? A: We’ve had some special guests and some of our speakers who we’ve shuttled to Grand Junction. We’re glad to do that, especially if there’s a group coming from New York, or from San Francisco, or Los Angeles. To make things easier for our speakers, we use the Falcon. When there are six or more guests coming from a particular location, we give them complementary service. Q: Now that you’re no longer running Discovery and your daughter is running Curiosity Retreats, what are you and your wife going to do with all your free time besides travel? A: We want to travel more. I love learning experiences so we will continue to be participants Q: What else are you and your wife going to do with all your free time? A: I’ve really wanted to explore this new world of online delivery of great television products. In order to do CuriosityStream, I needed to focus my full attention on that. I’m just now enjoying being a shareholder of Discovery. Q: Didn’t you sell about $12 million shares of stock? A: Through the years I’ve sold shares of stocks, generally on a quarterly basis just to diversify, but I’m still a shareholder. I sold maybe $34 million worth of shares last year and about that same amount the years before. But all I’m doing is just diversifying a bit. Q: What do you want your legacy to be? A: Sharing knowledge. At Gateways Canyons, the planet opens up to tell its story. I’ve been all over the world, but there’s just something about this Red Rock Canyon country of Western Colorado with its geological history and natural history that really speaks to me. It’s my favourite spot in the world. The dream here is to have a great place for a wonderful and enriching vacation, but also have the means to satisfy your personal curiosities. That is our goal. Q THE UNBELIEVABLE LIGHTNESS OF GRAVITY A MASTERPIECE OF FORM & FUNCTION It’s not a seat, it’s not a chair. It’s a WAVE. Setting a new standard of what could be called an anti-gravitational human support structure, the AÏANA WAVE™ opens up a new class to meet the needs and requirements for long endurance flights. 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GENE VA-SWITZERL AND AT EBACE 2015, 19 – 21 MAY 2015, B O OTH L105 For more info contact YASAVA at [email protected] | www.yasava.com NEXTANT: SEAN MCGEOUGH Sales keep rolling Interview with Sean McGeough, President and CEO, Nextant Aerospace 40 International | Summer 2015 W hile some in the business aviation sector are still finding it hard to make headway, Nextant Aerospace has been doing exceptionally well with its remanufactured business jet, the 400XTi. On 15 March the company signed a deal with the fractional light jet provider, PlaneSense Inc, for five 400XTi aircraft. PlaneSense President and CEO George Antoniadis noted at the time that the reason the company had decided to move away from its stated policy of only buying new Pilatus 12s for its fleet, was that he and his team were very impressed by the 400XTi remanufacturing process and the resulting enhancements to the jet. PlaneSense has placed two firm orders for aircraft that will be delivered in June and early in the fourth quarter and has signed an option for three more. Sean McGeough, President and CEO of Nextant Aerospace reckons that a good part of the reason for the company’s success through 2014 and the first quarter of 2015 is that it has a great product at half the price of the competition, thanks to the remanufacturing process. McGeough would love to see Nextant’s success replicated across the light jets sector – but sitting on the board of both GAMA (the General Aviation Manufacturers Association) and the Remanufacturing Association, he gets a reasonably good view of just how challenging things are for the world’s major economies. “The recovery from the Great Recession of 2008 is still very slow. The light jet segment of the market continues to be the most difficult and when it comes to selling aircraft, you can never predict exactly how things are going to go. I’ve found this throughout my career. So we work hard and take each sales opportunity very seriously. We’re finding sales despite economic headwinds. For example we continue to enjoy sales in Europe despite the fact that the euro has depreciated heavily against the dollar, which makes us look more expensive to European buyers,” he comments. When EVA spoke to McGeough he had just returned from a demonstration tour of Latin America, where he did an eight-city NEXTANT: SEAN MCGEOUGH effort into the project, because they can’t see sufficient demand, and the sales of their C-Series regional jet have been hit by low oil prices removing much of the competitive edge they’d counted on by bringing a more fuel-efficient aircraft to market. The new CEO of Bombardier is very well respected in the industry and I’m sure he will steer Bombardier successfully through what is quite a rough patch for the company. But there is no doubt that OEMs are going to have to make some tough decisions if we don’t see a real boost to the global economy soon. Bombardier is now focusing on its core strengths and this is what everyone is going to have to do,” he comments. On the plus side, McGeough says that there is a definite feeling of increased optimism among US businesses. “80% of our deliveries in 2014 were to our domestic US market, though our tour, demonstrating the 400XTi to prospective customers. “I could probably do a number of demonstrations in North America in the time it took us to do the one tour in Latin America. But it is absolutely essential to put the product in front of the customer. It is a very vibrant market and we definitely need to be there and to help prospective customers in South American countries see what remanufacturing is all about and how good the end product is,” he comments. Given that the sales cycle in aeroplanes is not exactly fast moving, McGeough does not expect to see the fruits of that Latin American tour immediately, but the level of interest shown was very encouraging. “We’ve been going a little over two years now and it is very encouraging to see the level of acceptance of remanufacturing that we have been able to create across the sector. We won the award for the best OEM in business aviation in March, and we were up against the likes of Pilatus with the P24 and Aerion with their supersonic jet concept,” he notes. The key to that win was the entrepreneurial flair that Nextant has demonstrated, along with the innovation it has brought by applying remanufacturing techniques to the aircraft industry. “Remanufacturing is far from new. The big commercial airlines have been doing it for years, remanufacturing components to a higher standard than the originals, and many industrial companies, including Caterpillar, have been doing it for years. It has been a great boost for us to see Hawker jet products were great but there was a period when they were not a favoured product in a more competitive market the likes of GE Aviation and Garmin coming in and endorsing our approach to remanufacturing, with their partnership in the G90XT,” McGeough says. The G90XT is the result of Nextant’s remanufacturing of the Beechcraft C90 turboprop, in which Nextant is replacing Pratt & Whitney PT6 engines with GE’s H75 series engine, itself a modernised version of the old Walter M601. Certification of the G90XT was imminent at the time EVA went to press. Looking at the OEM industry as a whole, McGeough reckons that the sector could well see further consolidation. “We already lost one major player in Hawker. I was with Hawker Beechcraft for many years. Our jet products were great but there was a period when they were not a favoured product in a more competitive market. We’ve seen Bombardier shelving the Lear 85 after putting a great deal of bookings split 60-40 between the US and the rest of the world. Our US bookings have been boosted by the fact that a major operator in the North East of the USA recently placed an order for five 400XTi jets. They had placed a very large order for the PC24 but then they did their due diligence and chose Nexant instead, which was very gratifying,” he notes. The United States EXIM Bank is now supporting Nextant with the financing of Nextant jet sales. “That is a real plus for us and is very exciting,” McGeough commented. In a way, the tighter conditions and the fact that the economy is not picking up as fast as people expected is playing to Nextant’s strengths, he argues. “I like the position we are in. Corporates can buy a light jet like the 400XTi much more easily than they can a mid-size jet. I think we will be seeing a real resurgence in the light jet market in the US over the next year or two,” he concludes. Q Summer 2015 | International 41 FEATURE: G-OPS G-OPS expands internationally W ith a decade of experience in maintaining a stellar record of excellence in the provision of ground services in France, G-OPS has now matured to the point where it is expanding its operations beyond France’s borders. As Karim Berrandou, CEO and founder of G-Ops notes, the company’s customer base, which includes many of the largest private companies and embassies, has repeatedly asked G-OPS to consider supervising its flights beyond France and into Europe and Africa. The first step in this expansion was undertaken last year, with the establishment of G-OPS Europe. Fortuitously, the launch of G-OPS Europe coincided with the company’s 10th anniversary – a 42 International | Summer 2015 particularly proud moment for Karim and all his staff. Now, in 2015, G-OPS has judged that the moment is right for the launch of G-OPS Africa. The company provides a full suite of services to clients internationally. It is able to monitor all operational aspects including: traffic rights, permits and slots, global handling, reservation of hotels, catering and limo service from Berlin to Casablanca. G-OPS also arranges re-fuelling, taking care of both a potential source of flight delay and a major expense concern for operators and owners. Rates are checked daily by the company’s fuel department to ensure that clients get the best deal possible at that point in time. For over a year now, Berrandou and G-OPS have benefited from the experience and skills of Franck Canu, G-OPS Commercial Director. Canu joined the company in early 2014 and brings with him a wealth of experience in customer relations and ground services. Another key staff member is Leïla Medjahed, quality and operation manager. All companies in the business aviation sector are under pressure to help the sector ‘green up’ its image and practices. G-OPS has implemented its own Green-OPS challenge, proving that ecofriendly operations can indeed co-exist with a business growth of in excess of 24% in 2014. During that year some 3,150 flights were successfully supervised. In line with its green approach, the company has invested in hybrid vehicles and will shortly be moving into a new, more energyefficient building as part of the ongoing development of its services. G-OPS is in the process of launching a new Internet site with a new image but as always, the goal remains the same: to excel in the provision of quality services that guarantee customer satisfaction. Q FEATURE: HIGHPROFILE Jets & Helicopters Worldwide New office in Africa Casablanca w w w. h i g h p rof i l e . f r Paris headquarter 24/7 +33(0)1 34 19 24 24 [email protected] HighProfile opens new Casablanca office H ighProfile is a dedicated business and VIP aviation broker, specializing in providing travel services to high net worth individuals and senior management. The last four years have seen the company grow dramatically, achieving an average annual growth in turnover of over 50%. To accompany this development, in March HighProfile opened a new office in Casablanca . Commenting on the new Casablanca office, CEO Karim Berrandou said: “The African charter market is seeing ever-increasing demand as African executives from mid-sized companies look to exploit opportunities, create deals and open new markets. At the same time the combined economies of Africa are growing at an average of over 5% per annum according to the OECD and the In- ternational Monetary Fund. This is so much faster that the growth being experienced in advanced markets like Europe and the UK. Our new office in Morocco puts us in a great position to be a part of Africa’s exciting economic development.s Sales Manager Emma Berkovits considers: “HighProfile has a well-deserved reputation for excellence in meeting client requirements and exceeding client expectations. Our team of experts provides the optimal blend of safety, comfort and confidentiality for executives and high net worth individuals at the very best quality/price ratio from among rigorously selected operators. Our mission is to find the finest aircraft and the best match to the client’s requirements from among the over 20,000 jets and 5,000 helicopters that are available worldwide. We then provide detailed supervision of the flight to ensure the best possible travel experience.” “Our sister company, G-OPS, is the French leader in ground support services and has a real depth of knowledge concerning the technical requirements of airports and the quality of various operators and service providers. As such, the close working relationship between HighProfile and G-OPS helps to strengthen the quality of service we are able to provide to clients.” Berrandou adds: “We are glad to offer our clients a bespoke travel service, matched to their precise requirements, worldwide. We will be extending our presence in strategic areas around the world to be more efficient and reactive. HighProfile will continue to expand, opening new offices wherever there is greatest client demand. Our priority is to guarantee our clients high quality service and safe travel, ensuring that the HighProfile brand continues to be synonymous with quality and reliability.” Q Summer 2015 | International 43 Q&A: MAURO GROSSI Building for the future A conversation with AMAC CFO Mauro Grossi Q: AMAC is one of the largest privately owned completions centre in the world, and you are now in the process of building a fourth hangar at your base at EuroAirport, Basel-Mulhouse. What has it taken to get to this point? A: To reach the point where we are now, to put together the skills required to do green aircraft completions and to provide comprehensive wide-body MRO services, has taken a very steady hand. It looks like rapid growth from our launch in 2007, but the growth has been carefully calculated and has proceeded step by step. Everything has been done organically. We have not been in the business of acquiring other companies to accelerate our growth. Our first hangar was opened around October 2008. The initial idea was to focus on MRO, but we were lucky enough to get a completions project straight away. The response from the market to that first job was very encouraging and that pushed us to continue down the path of becoming a world-class completions centre, as well as offering bestin-class MRO services. Q: I imagine that on that first completions project you had to outsource some of the specialist work. What is your view of outsourcing now? A: Initially we had all the basic engineering competences we required in-house but until we built the second hangar in 2010 and recruited upholstery and cabinet-making skills 44 International | Summer 2015 Q&A: MAURO GROSSI in-house, we had to give out the big cabinetry work to outside suppliers. However, even then we did the more complicated and intricate work in-house. As our base of skills and knowledge has grown, we have cut back on outsourcing in order to have pricing and quality control firmly in our own hands. Q: What has the investment to date been in hangars? A: Not counting the fourth hangar we are currently building, the total investment has been between 80 million and 90 million euros. That is a major investment for any company and it needs a lot of commitment from the shareholders and management to invest on this scale. We completed the third hangar in 2012. Our first hanger was 4,500 square metres. The second and third were about 8,700 square metres. This fourth hangar is slightly smaller, at around 7,000 square metres. Its purpose is to provide additional space so that it is easier to move aircraft around for MRO purposes. It will help us accommodate the peaks that we now experience. It will provide some more room for growth as well, but that is a secondary target. Q: How many completions a year do you aim for? A: The number of completions depends on the size of the aircraft. If you have a mix that includes, say, a 747 for refurbishment, plus a BBJ and an ACJ, we would say that three completion projects a year would be a good target. You do not want to risk compromising the quality of the finished product by taking on too many projects at any one time. This is why our fourth hangar is not primarily for growth, but rather to absorb the peaks in our workload on the MRO side. When we have several big aircraft in for As our base of skills and knowledge has grown, we have cut back on outsourcing in order to have pricing and quality control firmly in our own hands Summer 2015 | International 45 Q&A: MAURO GROSSI serious maintenance, along with some completions projects, positioning all the aircraft in our current layout can be challenging. Q: What is the split between MRO and completions? A: The average for the last few years has worked out at roughly a 40-60 split, with completions being 60% of the workload and maintenance amounting to 40%. On the maintenance side our primary customers are ACJs and BBJs, along with the bigger Gulfstreams and Bombardier Global Expresses. The focus is definitely on the bigger aircraft, which is why space is a real issue. The idea is to have one hangar dedicated for completions and the rest for maintenance. Q: What is your biggest challenge as CFO? A: As with every CFO, the big challenge is always to have the finances correctly balanced between investment and cash flows, so that you can maintain the appropriate level of organic growth without undue risk. Finding financing for big projects is always a challenge but if you plan properly it is achievable. The other focus is ensuring that maintenance revenues are regular and strong. shows such as EBACE. We work continuously at keeping our name up before the customers. Q: Do you insist on cash up front for MRO work with new customers? A: Our policies are very specific to the individual customer and obviously to our underlying judgement on the risks involved. We have a basic policy but it is fine tuned for each customer, and is dependent on the customer’s history with us. The basic idea for a new customer is to mandate payment before departure, but we take a view on that based on the financial standing of the customer and the trust level that has been built up. Q: AMAC has been a privately owned company from the start. Have you considered opening up to outside capital? A: As you say, we are privately owned and we pride ourselves on being a family company with strong family values. We want to keep the structure as it is and we do not go in for expansion unless we can see a strong case for it. We watch market demand very closely and all our growth has been organic – that is the way we like it. The philosophy of AMAC’s founder is that the company should stay family driven, and be run for the benefit of the families of all the people who work for AMAC. Being a family-run company goes to the core of our culture. Q: Completions is a highly competitive business. What is the key to success? A: The business aviation sector is not that big an industry and good feedback in the shape of word of mouth recommendations is absolutely vital. We need to look constantly for customers and you need to do great work. If you do, then that gets known in the industry and people come to you. Plus, of course, we keep our profile up through attendance at the major Q: What is your pipeline of work like? A: We have a full schedule of projects that will take us through to late 2016. By that stage other projects, some of which we are already discussing, will have matured. We have some exciting projects in the pipeline that we will announce in good time. Q AMAC’s upper management team We are privately owned and we pride ourselves on being a family company with strong family values 46 International | Summer 2015 FEATURE: PAINT MAKE YOUR CONNECTION. Our Locations Jeddah Riyadh Hong Kong Manama Mumbai Monaco Kigali Vienna Shanghai Yardley www.nexus.aero Spring 2015 | International 47 BOEING: DESIGNER’S DREAM 787 Dreamliner At EBACE 2008 Lufthansa debuted a 1:20 scale model of the Dreamliner, complete with design features from Andrew Winch Designs 48 International | Summer 2015 T the designer’s dream VIP jet? he first green VIP 787 Dreamliner aircraft were delivered to some of the premier Boeing completions houses last year, somewhat more than seven years after Boeing rolled the gleaming shell of the very first 787 out into the sunlight in July 2007, to the ecstatic cheers of 15,000 Boeing employees. In addition to 238 deliveries and 1,105 orders from commercial airlines for the 787-8, there are now 12 VIP confirmed sales, including those already delivered to completions centres run by Lufthansa, GDC Technics and Jet Aviation. Designers began drooling over the 787 from the moment of its announcement. At EBACE 2008 Lufthansa debuted a 1:20 scale model of the Dreamliner, complete with design features from Andrew Winch Designs. It also beat other completions houses to the punch by announcing at the time that it had secured letters of commitment from an unnamed client to carry out the first VIP Dreamliner green aircraft completion. In February 2014 Gore Design Completions, now GDC Technics, took delivery of the first of two Dreamliners for VVIP/Head of State clients, with the second one arriving towards the end of the year. At the time GDC said that it expected each of Turn your private luxury dreams into your trademark. You have made your mark in the world; now let it show in your aircraft. AERIA Luxury Interiors can capture your distinctive style, personal taste, and particular vision with exquisite craftsmanship and uncompromising quality. The AERIA team specializes in Boeing and Airbus airframes with VIP completions on more than 50 aircraft. Visit us at www.aeriainteriors.com or call +1 210 293 6925. AERIA Luxury Interiors, 9800 John Saunders Road, San Antonio, Texas 78216, U.S.A. $(5,$/X[XU\,QWHULRUVLVWKHFRPSOHWLRQVGLYLVLRQRI976DQ$QWRQLR$HURVSDFH,QFZKLFKLVDQḊOLDWHRI67$HURVSDFH The Luxury of Experience. BOEING: DESIGNER’S DREAM the completions to take around three years. Mohammed Alzeer, GDC General Partner, said that the company had made a very substantial investment, of the order of US$20 million in preparation. Much of this went on tooling, and on installing the Dassault Systèmes Catia engineering software it required to work on the details of the interior design. One of the biggest challenges for completions houses posed by the Dreamliner, apart from its scale, is the fact that the airframe itself is a composite structure rather than the metal airframes they have worked on until now. As Alzeer noted at the time, previous engineering solutions can’t just be lifted and applied to the 787. Everyone involved had to grapple with a steep new learning curve as they worked out what could and couldn’t be done in terms of attaching fittings to the composite shell. 50 International | Summer 2015 As if the 787-8 were not enough of a designer’s dream space, the stretched variant, the 787-9, adds a further 20 feet of fuselage space to the party. In June 2013, at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, Boeing upped the ante yet again with the official launch of the 78710, due to enter service in 2018. The fuselage length of the 787-10 is 68 metres, 11 metres longer than the 787-8’s 57 metres, creating another 33 feet of cabin length for designers to play with. Designers faced with the challenge posed by the problem of how to produce an elegant and distinctive solution to the many thousands of square feet contained in a new, large luxury hotel might scoff at the idea that kitting out a 787 is a big deal. However, as every completions house knows, solutions that work on the ground tend to fall on their face in the One of the biggest challenges for completions houses posed by the Dreamliner, apart from its scale, is the fact that the airframe itself is a composite structure rather than the metal airframes they have worked on until now water IMPRESS YOUR VIP GUESTS WITH IWG’S system components Aircraft Interior Design by Jean-Pierre Alfano, Airjet Designs UV WATER TREATMENT | TANKLESS WATER HEATERS | COMPACT WATER MODULES | WATER PUMPS because water issues matter Learn more at www.water.aero BOEING: DESIGNER’S DREAM Commercial airframe manufacturers like Boeing know that they are only going to achieve breakeven some years after the launch of a new aircraft 52 International | Summer 2015 air, where people are constrained to remain for hours in a space that, even in the largest airline, remains confined. Notoriously, while the VIP versions of the 787 are mouth-watering instances of designer glory, the Dreamliner continues to be a black hole for Boeing as far as cash burn is concerned. In the first quarter of 2015 JP Morgan Chase analysts estimated that Boeing lost $30 million per 787 delivered – that being the difference between the sale price and the unit production price. Giving a man $100 in exchange for him giving you $85 is a sure way to go broke if you repeat it often enough. However, commercial airframe manufacturers like Boeing know that they are only going to achieve breakeven some years after the launch of a new aircraft, once they have got their production lines working to the right capacity levels and honed their supplier and staff relationships to drive costs down. Boeing still argues that the 787 programme will achieve breakeven somewhere around the 1,100 deliveries mark. Right now it is producing 10 787s a month and plans to ramp that up to 12 by the end of next year, and 14 by the end of the decade. Do the math and that amounts to around 120 to 144 aircraft a year with a maximum production run of under 170 a year, putting breakeven, never mind profitability, at least a decade away. Which goes to show, in the most emphatic way possible, that building glorious new aircraft requires both deep pockets and a very solid revenue stream from older models. Q PROFILE: VECTOR AEROSPACE Shooting for constant service excellence V ector Aerospace Corporation was created in 1998 through an initial public offering (IPO), and quickly established itself as a significant player in the global aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services industry. The company’s pre-history goes back to the 1940s and 1950s in North America, where it can trace its roots back to the rotary specialist, Okanagan Helicopters, which was formed in British Columbia, Canada in 1947, and which would ultimately become CHC Helicopters 40 years later. Initially the company’s MRO skills were deployed in supporting its own fleet of helicopters, but over time the work expanded to include steady business from other international helicopter and fixed wing operators. In 1990 CHC, as the company was then known, refocused its MRO business to form ACRO Aerospace. Within eight years CHC had three different repair and overhaul businesses under its wing. In addition to ACRO Aerospace, there was Atlantic Turbines Inc, located on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and Sigma Aerospace, which had been created through the acquisition of Hunting Airmotive, based in Croydon, UK, in March 1998. The logical next move was to combine all three into a new wholly-owned subsidiary called Vector Aerospace Corporation. CHC management took this step in early 1998, then IPO’d the new business in June 1998, retaining just a 20% stake in Vector Aerospace, which was now master of its own fate. CHC divested its remaining holding the following year. The new company began to grow through acquisitions. In 1999, Vector Aerospace acquired the Washington-based helicopter and turboshaft Repair and Overhaul company Helipro, along with Californian APU and avionics repair and overhaul provider Tower Aviation Services, which was renamed Alameda Aerospace. Helipro was merged with ACRO Aerospace in 2004, leading to the creation of ACROHELIPRO Global Services. Pathix ASP, the information technology division of Vector Aerospace Corporation, was formed in 2000. While Pathix has deep technical networking skills that can be deployed across a range of business sectors, its core services to the business aviation sector are based around its unique software, Navixa, a total information 54 International | Summer 2015 and management software package designed to support aviation operating companies and aviation repair and overhaul companies. Pathix ASP’s Navixa software currently supports some 600 aircraft around the world. In 2008, Vector Aerospace acquired the UK MoD’s Defence Aviation Repair Agency (DARA) Rotary Wing and Components businesses, located in Fleetlands, England and Almondbank, Scotland. This acquisition significantly reinforced Vector Aerospace’s presence in the military MRO market, adding to the company’s existing support of the UK MoD through Sigma’s support of VC10 (Conway) and C-130 (T56) powerplants, the latter subsequently being transferred to Fleetlands. The Fleetlands site itself has a heritage going back to 1940, when it was first created as the Royal Naval Air Yard to provide repair and overhaul services for naval fixed wing aircraft. Fleetlands would later take on rotary wing repair and overhaul as helicopters entered the Navy’s inventory, and following the creation of DARA in 1999, the site became DARA Fleetlands. 2008 also saw Vector Aerospace unify its operational divisions under the family brand Vector Aerospace, helping ensure the consistent delivery of its industry-leading services to its helicopter and fixed wing customers around the globe. A third development in 2008 was the opening of a local engine service centre in Nairobi, Kenya. This investment reflected Vector Aerospace’s commitment to its international customers, and to small/medium-sized operators as well as large fleet customers. In 2009, Vector Aerospace acquired Pratt & Whitney Canada’s MRO unit in Lanseria, South Africa, a year after opening a local engine service centre there. As well as strengthening the company’s presence in Africa, this facility – originally established in 1996 and formally reopened in November 2010 – also added valuable capacity to Vector Aerospace’s engine business. In June 2011, Vector Aerospace was acquired by Eurocopter Holdings, the holding entity of the Eurocopter Group and a subsidiary of global aerospace and defence giant EADS. This tie-up with Eurocopter provides Vector Aerospace with unique opportunities for the development of new markets, new products and joint synergies. At the same time, Eurocopter has been careful to allow Vector Aerospace to retain a high level of autonomy – as indicated by the retention of the Vector Aerospace brand name – thus protecting the company’s reputation for responsiveness and avoiding any conflicts with its other OEM partners. Following Eurocopter’s acquisition of Vector Aerospace, EADS made the decision to transfer its SECA engine MRO holding to Vector Aerospace, in order to realise the obvious synergies between the two companies. SECA, located close to Le Bourget Airport on the outskirts of Paris, France, was founded in 1946, since which time the company has become well known for its support of Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney Canada engines. In 2012, Vector Aerospace acquired Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PT6A engine repair and overhaul facility in Brisbane, Australia, the facility – originally established in 1986 and formally reopened in March 2013 – being appointed as a Designated Overhaul Facility (DOF) for the PT6A. In May 2015 Vector Aeropsace officially opened its newest facility in Singapore. This 5200 sq metre facility will initially service the PW150A engine which powers the Bombardier Q400 aircraft. Today Vector has more than 2,700 employees and services more than 3,000 customers in 85 countries. The company has over 1.6 million square feet of hangar space globally. Vector Aerospace continues to build on its proud history of superior customer service and diverse, expert technical capability as it moves forward. The company is committed to delivering the highest standards of quality workmanship and customer service. Q SETTING THE STANDARD OF CUSTOMER SERVICE 3 7 $ 3 : - 7 ' 3 : $ A Fully Authorized Pratt & Whitney Canada Distributor & Designated Overhaul Facility 24/7 READY TO SERVE AROUND THE WORLD MAINTENANCE REPAIR OVERHAUL Our reputation for superior customer service continues to grow at Vector Aerospace Engine Services – Atlantic. We’re proud of our past – working hard for your future. WWW.VECTORAEROSPACE.COM M O O N E Y I N T E R N AT I O N A L : J E R RY C H E N Texas phoenix: Mooney reborn As a young boy, Jerry Chen glimpsed aircraft in the skies over Taiwan only rarely. Now his vision is to fill the China airspace with iconic Mooney planes. By Rick Adams “F rom about the time I was six years old, I dreamed of flying,” Jerry Chen recalls. Born Cheng Yuan, he saw very few airplanes growing up in the 1980s on the island of Taiwan. When he was 10, a father’s friend introduced him to radio-controlled model airplanes, which at the time was an expensive hobby. “And they were not easy to operate,” he remembers. When Chen acquired a build-it-yourself model kit, the exercise inspired him “to start to think about how to make better-designed airplanes”. This nascent interest eventually led him to seek a higher education in aerodynamics, earning two Master’s degrees and a PhD in aerospace and mechanical engineering and electrical engineering at the University of Southern California (USC). He stayed at USC to teach for nearly a decade. “The Southern California area was very active in aviation,” Dr Chen notes, and he was exposed to companies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and SpaceX through the academic relationship. He gained experience in control systems, wind tunnel testing, supersonics, unmanned aircraft and other aero subjects. “I first heard about Mooney 15 years ago. A lot of my friends in Southern California were Mooney owners, and they were in love with their airplanes. They could tell you all about it in detail, the special features compared with other types of airplanes. The unique tail. The moving control surfaces. Smoothing out the rivets.” To an aerodynamicist like Chen, the Mooney mystique was captivating. “I learned more about the good Mooney design, the basic design from 60 years ago. Basics don’t change,” Chen emphasises. 56 International | Summer 2015 M O O N E Y I N T E R N AT I O N A L : J E R RY C H E N The Mooney Aircraft Company was started by Albert and Arthur Mooney in 1929, the year of the first US stock market crash, and promptly went bankrupt within a few months. In 1946, they started a new Mooney company in central Texas, producing a single-seat, singleengine sport aircraft known as the Mite, which appealed to fighter pilots leaving military service after World War II. Some describe today’s Mooney M20 as a scaled-up Mite. Mooney designs have always been known for their speed, and today they claim the turbo-normalised Acclaim Type S is “the fastest single-engine piston airplane on the market”. Through its history, Mooney models have collected well over 100 speed records. More than 11,000 Mooneys have been sold. However, as a small-scale manufacturer, Mooney was subject to the vagaries of the economic swings of the general aviation market. There were bankruptcies in the ‘60s and ‘70s, some as the result of unfortunate mergers, and again in 2004. In 2006, after turnaround specialist Gretchen Jahn had become the first female CEO of an American aircraft manufacturer, Mooney announced the M20TN Acclaim design with Garmin G1000 cockpit at the annual Sun ‘N Fun fly-in event in Florida, followed a year later by the Type S. But in 2008 with the onset of the global recession, Mooney started layoffs, eventually tapering down to what constituted a skeleton crew for spare parts supply and customer support. “When I heard about the management trouble, I started to see if I could connect with enough funding to make a change,” Chen told EVA. By 2013, Chen had created a company 58 International | Summer 2015 When I heard about the management trouble, I started to see if I could connect with enough funding to make a change called Soaring America and arranged for financial backing from investors led by Chinese real estate developer Meijing Group. He also assembled a leadership team with strong operations, manufacturing, accounting, and engineering credentials. Once again, the revered Mooney brand was reborn. The China connection is not only financial. Chen is hoping the Chinese and Asian markets will reward the general and business aviation expectations that many manufacturers have predicted for decades. “The market potential is big. If China really opens up, we will set up manufacturing there,” Chen stated. “The government is promoting it, but they don’t have the infrastructure or the skilled workforce. To make it happen, we need to do everything from scratch.” Chen contrasted the US, in which the GA market has had several decades to develop, with China, which has exhibited interest for only about 10 years. For the time being, Mooney is manufacturing and flight testing production aircraft in Kerrville, Texas. Then it disassembles the plane, shipping it for re-assembly at a Meijingowned facility in Zhengzhou, Hainan province (China’s first ‘air economic zone’, established in 2013). “It takes some effort; it takes a while,” Chen admits. Mooney delivered the first Chinese B-registered aircraft in January. The new Mooney M10T trainer aircraft, announced in November 2014 at Airshow China in Zhuhai, is also targeted at the Chinese market. Because of the scarcity and expense of avgas in the country, the trainer features a 135-horsepower Continental CD-135 diesel-engine option (a derivative of a Mercedes-Benz car engine design). Continental is owned by holding company Aviation Industry Corporation of China – AVIC. The M10T design also incorporates composite materials for the Mooney fuselage and familiar forward-canted vertical stabiliser. The faster companion 155-hp M10J, featuring more interior comforts, will be pitched to private owners. The M10T and M10J designs, with a 2017 certification goal, are in development at Mooney’s Chino, California HQ/R&D centre, where about 70 people are employed. A majority of the more than 40 orders to date for new Mooney’s current production models – the 247-knot cruise speed, 1,650nm, US$699,000 M20TN Acclaim Type S and the normally aspirated, 197-knot cruise, 1,860- to 2,400-nm, $649,000 Ovation3 – are from Chinese buyers. But Chen is not pushing hard for sales. “We have tried to limit Who helps ensure Duncan Aviation’s on-target turntimes? We engineer each and every scheme that we produce, generating detailed drawings and technical specifications down to an eighth of an inch for the involved Duncan Aviation pairs its customerspaint withshops project managers to provide a single point of contact regardless of how many shops touch an aircraft during its stay. Project Manager Tiffany Griffin works with schedulers and maintenance, interior, engine and paint shop team members to ensure that her customers are always aware of what’s happening with their aircraft. Just as importantly, Tiffany keeps the various shops in the loop on the progress of the work in order to accommodate tight schedules, making small tweaks as needed to ensure promised aircraft out-dates are met. In July, Tiffany was part of a team that oversaw 13 aircraft scheduled for maintenance, interior and/or paint work at Duncan Aviation’s Battle Creek, Michigan, facility. Every single aircraft delivered on time. For the rest of the story visit www.DuncanAviation.aero/experience/ tiffany.php. Visit us at EBACE Stand #N090. +1 402.475.2611 | 800.228.4277 Experience. Unlike any other. M O O N E Y I N T E R N AT I O N A L : J E R RY C H E N orders. Our operations and services need to catch up.” Mooney has established a sales office in Beijing, and Chinese mechanics and instructor pilots have been training in Texas to provide customer support in the region. Worldwide, Chen said 260 potential customers have expressed strong interest. Chief Operating Officer Tom Bowen said by September Mooney expects to be producing three airplanes per month. Part of the challenge is that they are handmade. “Our goal is 4,000 hours per aircraft. Right now we’re averaging about 5,000,” Bowen said. New tooling and processes to modernise the factory floor, in development over the past year, are about to kick in. “A lot of these processes are just coming on line, so we expect a healthy reduction.” CEO Chen, by the way, knows his way around a shop; he learned to operate high-end equipment in his father’s machine factory in Taiwan. A hallmark of the Mooney brand has been the craftsmanship of a very skilled and experienced workforce. Of the 130 employees now in Kerrville, about 80% were with Mooney previously. “That’s the whole reason Mooney relocated here,” Bowen said. Jolie Lucas, one of the co-founders with her husband Mitch Latting of an organisation known as Mooney Ambassadors, told us “the pride in craftsmanship is so high.” She said, “I know the person who wired my airplane. I know the person who made my wing.” Actually, four wings – Lucas flies a 1965 E Model Super 21 and a 1994 Ovation. The Ambassadors are a relatively recent creation, formed in 2009 when Mooney was in hibernation. To keep the spirit of Mooney alive, owner-pilots would fly to events throughout the US and Canada, even in Europe, South America, and Australia. “We’re crazy about our brand. We believe so strongly in a properly manufactured airplane, we knew production would come back. It just needed an infusion of capital. It took someone like Dr Chen with forward thinking and vision to make it happen.” The first Type S off the resurrected Kerrville assembly line was auctioned to fund the Mooney We’re crazy about our brand. We believe so strongly in a properly manufactured airplane, we knew production would come back. It just needed an infusion of capital Jolie Lucas 60 International | Summer 2015 Aviation Education Foundation, which will establish a museum, as well as programmes to support STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education in Central Texas. COO Bowen, who was also the operations chief of a previous Mooney incarnation in the 1990s, is a founding director along with Chen and Chairwoman Veronica Wang. Partnered with the Lone Star Flight Museum at Houston’s Ellington Field, part of the Aviation Learning Centre (ALC) curriculum will put students in a Redbird flight simulator. “At the ALC, they’ll learn about airplane systems, aerodynamic theories, do their own pre-flight and meteorology, and then fly a Mooney-configured simulator from Point A to Point B. There’s not a better application of STEM,” Bowen said. In Dr Chen’s childhood, the inspiration for an aviation career came from simulating flight with a model airplane. For the next generation of Mooney devotees, perhaps this new ALC opportunity will provide the spark for a lasting passion. Q DASSAULT: X FACTOR Dassault’s new X-factors Falcon business aircraft combine the soul of a fighter jet with the interior comfort of your personal bedroom suite. This year, for the first time, Dassault Aviation is developing two new Falcons simultaneously, the 5X and the 8X. Rick Adams reports from France “I f you are talking with pilots anywhere, they will tell you the real difference. Handling qualities for Falcons are one of the benchmarks,” Frédéric Petit told EVA . Petit is in charge of the new Falcon 8X and all other Falcon programmes with the exception of the Falcon 5X, which is being developed in parallel. Like the Falcon 7X on which it is based, the 8X features fly-by-wire controls. “We pioneered this technology on fighters,” adds Vadim Feldzer, who leads communications for the Falcon line. “Our airplanes have always been very optimised because we have the same engineers who are developing fighters that fly at Mach 2 with very high-performance, highly efficient aerodynamics.” Just as the original Falcon 20 drew on Dassault’s experience with the Mystère fighter, the Falcon 5X and 8X are today benefiting from designs applied to the Rafale, which Dassault recently sold to both the Qatari and Indian defence forces. Falcon 5X roll-out in June The clean-sheet, twin-engine, super-midsize Fal- 62 International | Summer 2015 con 5X is scheduled for its maiden flight on 2 June at Dassault’s Bordeaux-Merignac facility in southwest France. The flight will represent the first time a Falcon has launched with an all-new powerplant: the 11,450 pound thrust Silvercrest engine which is also French manufacturer Safran Snecma’s first business jet model. Flight testing of the Silvercrest is ongoing in San Antonio, Texas, with certification expected next year. The engine has been in development for 10 years, and draws on Snecma’s extensive commercial aircraft experience with the bestselling CFM56, of which more than 25,000 units are flying. The Falcon 5X was announced in October 2013 at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) annual conference. It is expected to be certified in 2016 and enter into service in 2017. With a range of 5,200 nautical miles, the 5X competes with the 5,500-nm Bombardier Global 5000 and the new 5,000-nm Gulfstream 500. The Falcon 5X sells for around US$45 million, compared to $43.5million for the G500 and $49million for the Global 5000. Originally known as the SMS during its se- cretive pre-launch preparation, the 5X features the largest cross-section among Falcon cabins with a 6 foot 6 inch ceiling height and an aisle wide enough for two passengers to actually move past each other. The cabin will be brightened during the day by 28 windows, as well as a ‘skylight’ in the fuselage ceiling. The flight deck resembles the 7X, with sidestick controls and a flat panel array. Like the 8X, the Falcon 5X will also offer a third-generation EASy (Enhanced Avionics System) integrated cockpit based on Honeywell’s Primus Epic system with a new flight management system (FMS) and 3D weather display. Options include a head-up display from Elbit Systems with both advanced infrared and synthetic vision. Petit said the synthetic vision, derived from a terrain database, is applied to sectors which are distant from the aircraft, with the infrared kicking in at closer range. Falcon 8X service entry in 2016? Two of the three planned Falcon 8X flight test aircraft have been in action, the first in February, the second in April. The aircraft was rolled out in December, and the entry into service target is next year. DASSAULT: X FACTOR THE DASSAULT FALCON LINEUP AIRCRAFT RANGE PASSENGERS ENGINES SERVICE ENTRY Falcon 8X 6,450 nm 8 PW307D 2016 Falcon 7X 5.950 nm 8 PW307A 2007 Falcon 5X 5,200 nm 8 Silvercrest 2017 Falcon 900LX 4,750 nm 6 TFE731-60 2010 Falcon 2000LXS 4,000 nm 6 PW308C 2013 Falcon 2000S 3,350 nm 6 PW308C 2013 A derivative of the popular Falcon 7X, the 8X programme was a surprise announcement a year ago at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva, Switzerland. The new aircraft is one metre longer, and offers a variety of cabin configurations. But more important is the range extension, which makes possible flights between city pairs such as London-Hong Kong, Paris-Singapore, and Los Angeles-Beijing. “We needed some significant extra range compared to the 7X to access some important city pairs with Asia mainly,” Petit explained. Despite the extra metre, the Falcon 8X weighs the same, without fuel, as the 7X: 41,000 pounds. Dassault designers were able to reduce the thickness (by fractions of a millimetre) in some of the wing panels and ribs, saving about 600 pounds in total. In addition to range, the lower weight causes the wing shape to flex in flight, which Petit says also improves performance. Dassault limited the stretch to one metre so the new 8X would be able to keep the balanced field length (BFL) capability under 6,000 feet, enabling access to short fields such as London City. The 8X tri-jet will be powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada’s 6,722 pound thrust PW307D engines. To a pilot, the 8X should fly almost identical to the 7X. Petit said the difference in aircraft 64 International | Summer 2015 size has been adjusted for in the control load and digital flight algorithms. “It will be transparent for the crew.” Dassault hopes regulatory authorities will eventually approve a common type-rating for 7X and 8X pilots. Feldzer pointed out the Falcon 8X will offer “roughly the same performance” and “comparable cabin comfort” as other aircraft in the ultra-long-range category, but with less weight “which will require 35% less fuel”. Cabin comfort, of course, is a major selling feature for transoceanic bizjets, and Dassault is touting a choice of 30 different configurations, including three different galley sizes (two with crew-rest option for the three-member crew) and multiple lavatory layouts (including shower). List price for the Falcon 8X will be about $58 million, or 10% higher than the 7X. Deliveries slip, but orders up Dassault has sold about 250 Falcon 7X aircraft since its certification eight years ago, though sales slipped to 27 last year after a peak of 43 in 2013. Deliveries for all Falcon models totaled 66 in 2014 versus 77 the year before. It expects to deliver about 65 in 2015. However, the company reported in March that it now has more orders than deliveries for the Falcon line for the first time since the 2008 global economic downturn. Orders for new aircraft stood at 90 compared with 64 in 2013. The “book to bill” ratio, Dassault stated, “benefited in particular from orders for the Falcon 5X and Falcon 8x.” Dassault’s Little Rock, Arkansas, US completions centre is being expanded by a quarter-million square feet to accommodate the 5X and 8X when they begin to arrive. Targeted for 2016 completion, the new infrastructure will cost $60 million. As part of the flight test programmes, the third 5X and 8X aircraft prototypes will be shipped to Little Rock, where they will be fitted with interiors. Dassault has divided the training systems between the two dominant simulator manufacturers. CAE was awarded the approved training provider (ATP) designation for the Falcon 5X, and FlightSafety International was selected as ATP for the 8X. According to the Ascend consultancy, longrange, large-cabin aircraft such as the 5X and 8X represent 60% of the expected $258 million value in business jets to be delivered through 2023. Q Rick Adams is Chief Perspectives Officer of AeroPerspectives, a communications consultancy based in Geneva, Switzerland and Argèles-sur-mer, France. He is a regular contributor to EVA Your trip to Holland starts here. KLM Jet Center is the perfect interface between arrival and departure for your trip to Holland. Strategically based in Amsterdam & Rotterdam and together with our local partners we cover every aspect of professional business aviation services. j e t c e n t e r. n l / i n fo @ j e t c e n t e r. n l Independent refueling service Superior quick-turnaraound handling Competitive pricing Fuel and Techstops discounts Fuel Rewards Program INTERVIEW : CHRIS MOORE The Direct route Interview with Chris Moore, Chief Commercial Officer, Satcom Direct International Q: You were at ABACE this April; how did you find the level of interest, given the slowdown in the Chinese economy? A: It was a good show from our point of view. The anti-corruption campaign being waged by the government has definitely slowed the market a bit. Jets are seen as very high profile and many people prefer to keep their heads down while the investigators are busy. But I have to say that ABACE is now very much becoming an international show and not just a Chinese show. Interest from the rest of Asia was very clear and very pleasing. Also, despite the slowdown, the Chinese we spoke to were universally very positive in their outlook. There are also a lot more operators popping up in China, providing competition for the established names. Q:What was your take on the current state of the charter market in China, which is acknowledged to be difficult? A: VistaJet was at the show of course, with a Bombardier Global 5000 on display. They also announced at the show that they were on the verge of cementing a deal with a Chinese aviation company that would enable VistaJet to have a Chinese AOC. It may well be that the current atmosphere encourages the growth of the charter market in China as people avoid buying jets but still want the convenience of flying private. Either way it is still a very exciting market. Q: What have you done that is new in recent months as far as broadband and IFE (in-flight entertainment) in the cabin are concerned? A: The capabilities of the various satellite networks are increasing significantly, which, of course, plays very well to the services that we can provide. ViaSat is adding more capacity and has announced that Space X will be the launch company for its second satellite, ViaSat-2, with lift-off scheduled for the Summer of 2016. Mark Dankberg, ViaSat chairman and CEO, is on record as saying that this new class of satellite will enable ViaSat to build a network with loads more network capacity at a 66 International | Summer 2015 See Us at EBACE 2015 Booth C035 INTERVIEW : CHRIS MOORE very attractive price point. It is expected to cover seven times the geographic area of ViaSat-1. At the same time, Inmarsat is busy testing their second Global Xpress (GX) satellite after a successful launch, and the third and final satellite in their global network is due for launch in the second quarter of this year. So there is generally going to be a step change in bandwidth available in the aircraft. Satcom Direct’s exclusive GlobalVT service for voice and text is revolutionising connectivity in the cabin by allowing passengers to use their own smartphone, contacts list, phone number and caller ID to talk and text during flight anywhere in the world, just as they would on the ground. The SDR, our smart router, enables GlobalVT, as well as several other IFE advantages such as aggregation, which combines multiple Inmarsat SwiftBroadband streaming channels to achieve higher data transfer rates for real-time communication applications, such as video streaming and video conferencing. This further enhances business aircraft as a literal office location with seamless connectivity that facilitates productivity from taxi to taxi and everywhere in between. Q: What of the air to ground (ATG) networks such as the one run by Gogo in the US and the terrestrial service that AT&T Europe says it is going to develop? A: We announced in October at NBAA that we were partnering with SmartSky Networks for their ATG network when it becomes available. SmartSky’s 4G LTE ATG network has the ability to provide something of the order of 10 times the typical bandwidth capacity currently available from 3G ATG networks, when it launches formally for business aviation customers next year. The improvement in bandwidth is a natural follow-on from moving from the current 3G ATG networks to a new 4G ATG environment. Because SmartSky’s network is able to operate at different frequencies, expanding the service beyond the continental USA will be very doable, and we look forward to seeing what they can do. We are also very interested in the fact that Inmarsat has announced that it is going to build out an ATG network across Europe. They are very good at building networks, so I have a lot of optimism that we will in fact see an ATG option across continental Europe in the not too distant 68 International | Summer 2015 Launching a satellite is a very expensive business and it is a very impressive piece of technology, which takes a great deal of R&D future. It will not be easy. I would imagine Inmarsat will need a consortium to bring together all the affected European states. Interestingly, while other ATG providers simply use 4G ground-based technology and point it towards the sky to provide services to aircraft, Inmarsat is talking about adding a satellite link to the loop. Of course, helping the user in the aircraft to switch seamlessly from a US ATG system to a European one is something that our Satcom Direct Router (SDR) is designed to handle. We bring all the technology into a single box. Our approach is to take a very network-agnostic view, so that we are able to switch seamlessly between networks to maintain the best possible connection for the user experience. We can combine everything on offer into a total service that is designed to fit their objectives. Q: Satellite-based communications tend to be pricy. Do you see the cost coming down? A: Everyone has to be realistic on the cost of satellite communications. Launching a satellite is a very expensive business and it is a very impres- sive piece of technology, which takes a great deal of R&D. So a satellite network is always going to be more pricy than a terrestrial network. Interestingly, I see a solid future continuing for L-band technology after the introduction of Ka band networks. There is a big demand from smaller aircraft for L-band services, plus increasingly we are seeing a demand from rotary aircraft. The private rotary market is growing rapidly in Asia and when you are moving senior executives around and between neighbouring major cities, having reliable, secure communications is very important. Of course, if there is an ATG network available, that would be preferable. But I do not see Africa or Latin America getting an ATG network built out any time soon. At the same time, many passengers do not need fast broadband in the air. They simply want to read a few emails and maybe download a file or two. Others, of course, want ever more broadband no matter how much you can give them. So the requirements vary enormously in the aviation space, and that too will lead to more innovation. Q FEATURE: PAINT Trust. Relationships. Commitment. Fly Bright proudly offer a full range of Aircraft care services that cater for your requirements and fit into your busy schedule. From simple and basic post flight wipe downs to preparing your aircraft for sale, we are ready to serve your needs no matter where you happen to land in the United Kingdom. Trust. Relationships. Commitment. The heart of our business, with you at the centre of every mission we conduct. +44 (0) 7900 806 933 Spring 2015 | International 69 www.flybright.co.uk JETCRAFT: MICK DOOHAN down under EVA talks to Jetcraft partner Mick Doohan A The new jets market in Australia is particularly difficult. We are traditionally a pre-owned market and while there are some new jet sales, it is hard to get a new aircraft across the line here 70 International | Summer 2015 t the last MEBA Conference, in Dubai in December, Jetcraft announced a partnership with five time World 500cc motorcycle champion, Mick Doohan, to open a Jetcraft office in Gold Coast, Australia, where Doohan has an FBO. Commenting on the decision, Jetcraft President Chad Anderson pointed out at the time that Asia Pacific is expected to grow to approximately 10 percent of the worldwide business aviation market over the next few years. Over the next decade, Australia and New Zealand could represent $5.5 billion of that market, which would amount to 225 new aircraft over the period. EVA talked to Doohan in April, to find out how things are progressing. “Australia has long been a tough market as far as business aviation is concerned. With a population of just 20 million, demand for private jets is nothing like as large as it is in Europe or the UK. Some US states are home to vastly more private jets than you will find in the whole of Australia. In this region we have around 120 corporate aircraft and that defines the current size of the market,” Doohan noted. Nevertheless, the market is there for those who are prepared to work at it. There is always a steady trickle of owners looking to upgrade to a later model aircraft and their ranks are swelled by people who, having chartered for years, have seen their businesses reach the point where they are ready to buy their own jet. However, demand is overwhelmingly skewed towards pre-owned. “The new jets market in Australia is particularly difficult. We are traditionally a pre-owned market and while there are some new jet sales, it is hard to get a new aircraft across the line MARSHALL AVIATION SERVICES Supporting you, your aircraft and your passengers, to make the very most of your aircraft ownership experience. Capabilities • NEW AIRCRAFT SALES • TRAINING • INTERIORS AND COMPLETIONS • PRE-OWNED AIRCRAFT SALES • MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR • PAINT • MANAGEMENT • CAMO • MODIFICATIONS AND UPGRADES • CHARTER • RAPID RESPONSE AOG • SPECIAL PROJECTS • AIRPORT AND FBO • DESIGN ENGINEERING • STRUCTURAL REFURBISHMENT www.marshallas.com [email protected] JETCRAFT: MICK DOOHAN here. Jetcraft have tremendous experience and reach when it comes to the global pre-owned market, which makes this a great partnership for us. The majority of enquiries that we see here are for large body aircraft, which is natural enough when you consider both how large and how far away from global markets Australia is,” he comments. There is a particular demand for the Challenger 604, good pre-owned instances of which are trading for some $6 million to $9 million (Australian dollars). “That is a tremendous price when you compare it to the alternative, which would be a brand new Challenger 650, which has a list price in the vicinity of $33 million,” Doohan says. Demand for new jets tends to focus on the ultra long-range category represented by Bombardier Globals, Falcon 7Xs and Gulfstream 650s. To create and sustain a viable business aviation operation in Australia you have to be prepared to diversify. Doohan points out that his business model works off several steady revenue streams, which include the FBO fees, fuel sales, traditional charter work, aircraft management and medical evacuation, along with the occasional aircraft sale. “Sales are traditionally slow in Australia. We are working hard to get the Jetcraft name and message known here and we are already seeing some 72 International | Summer 2015 success with that. We expect to be able to grow the sales division over time,” he notes. The charter market in Australia is nothing like as predictable as it is in the US, for example, where some operators can confidently tell an owner that they can expect to offset their costs with, say, 400 hours of charter revenues. “What we tell aircraft owners is that we can generally find them around 15 hours of charter a month, sometimes 25 hours a month depending on aircraft type. Our brokerage for charter has been established for some nine years and has a good reputation. Australia is such a vast country. It takes five and a half hours to fly to Perth from Gold Coast and even the shortest links, airport to airport, are more than an hour’s flight. So it does not take that long to build up the hours, even with the smaller base of charter users that we have in Australia,” he comments. The light jet market in Australia was hammered by the Great Recession of 2008, but there is now a resurgence of interest. Doohan reckons that he is talking to several people who are interested in either a CJ2 or a CJ3. “We would get quite a bit of demand on the charter side for a light jet, just running up and down the east coast, so we could probably surpass 25 hours a month with a light jet under management,” he comments. Q What we tell aircraft owners is that we can generally find them around 15 hours of charter a month, sometimes 25 hours a month depending on aircraft type FEATURE: PAINT Spring 2015 | International 73 FEATURE: AFRIC AN OPEN SKY African Open Sky: The continued growth F or the seventh year running, the trip support group, African Open Sky (AOS) has been able to report above average growth. With the overall volume of business aviation flights up some 30% across Africa as a whole, AOS has seen business flight traffic increase by some 45%. This strong growth has inspired the Cote d’Ivoire-based private company to expand its network across Africa. In February and March 2015 AOS opened offices in Djibouti, Tanzania and Burundi. Formed in 2009, AOS now has some 18 offices in the following countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome, Togo and the United Arab Emirates. This last was especially opened in order to assist AOS’s growing Middle Eastern client base. Including representatives as well as wholly owned offices, AOS now has representatives in some 30 different locations across the Continent. Commenting on this, AOS founder Max O. Cisse pointed out that the trip support company now has more directly owned offices in Africa than its competitors based outside of Africa. 74 International | Summer 2015 Cisse was awarded the Aviation Business Personality of the year 2014 – Africa, by European-Chase Publishing. He points out that one of the keys to the success that AOS has enjoyed is that its offices are fully established as locally registered businesses, and are approved by national civil aviation and airport authorities to coordinate flight operations in the respective jurisdictions. “This certification is very important. It is insisted upon by local authorities, who consider flight support companies, effectively, to be the same as the aircraft operators themselves as far as legal accountability for flights is concerned,” Cisse comments. He adds: “Since the legal consequences of breaching these regulations can be quite severe, it is vital for operators to be able to draw on the expert assistance and support of a legally established local trip support company. Clients who need short-notice permits, for example, or who have other requirements and want an AOS supervisor, find us very easy to deal with. We are able to arrange and pay all requested charges on behalf of a crew even in countries known to be complicated.” The main activity of AOS is rendering flight support services to governmental, commercial, corporate and private operators. The company manages its own handling supervisors network in each individual African country and can assist customers with short notice permits as well as technical, passenger or cargo ground-handling services. It provides full transportation, hotel accommodation, catering, refuelling, maintenance, aircraft security, flight planning, computerizing ATC, weatherNOTAMs and all other services in connection to handling activities. “We provide all this at unbeatable prices and without a third party commission,” Cisse concludes. Q We are able to arrange and pay all requested charges on behalf of a crew even in countries known to be complicated Max O Cisse Join European business leaders, government officials, manufacturers, corporate aviation department personnel and all those involved in business aviation for the 15th annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE2015). Visit the EBACE website to learn more and register today. www.ebace.aero/eva MACRO ECONOMIC WINDOW L ow oil prices are both a blessing and something of an inhibitor for the business aviation sector. With fuel making up such a heavy percentage of the hourly cost of a charter flight, cheap fuel is a boon to operators, allowing them to price very attractively in an attempt to boost charter flight movements and ultimately to increase revenues. Owners are also likely to make more use of their own jets for both business and leisure. All of that is good for the industry as a whole. However, on the down side, low oil prices remove one of the major pressures on owners to upgrade to modern, fuel efficient aircraft. Anything that adversely impacts aircraft sales threatens the life blood of the sector. Strong Marko Papic, Chief Strategist and geopolitical expert, BCA sales are hugely important to everyone in the sector, not just to airframe and engine OEMs. Money cascades down through all the niche businesses in the sector when sales of new and pre-owned aircraft are booming. Of course, the very word, “booming”, has a distinctly odd and fairytale ring to it after the years of no-to-low growth since the 2008 crash. And for the last few years it has seemed as if every time things started to improve, some unlooked for geopolitical event would come along and knock the confidence out of markets and businesses alike. However, could it be that the slow improvement we’ve seen to date in developed markets is finally about to strengthen significantly? Marko Papic, Chief Strategist and geopolitical expert at BCA Re- Summer 2015 | International 77 MACRO ECONOMIC WINDOW search, believes one can be reasonably confident that despite the Ukraine struggle, Jihadist threats, ISIS in the Middle East and the slowdown in China, the answer is “Yes”. There won’t be any sudden, massive steepening of the growth curve, but he expects solid and continuous improvement in advanced markets that is strong enough to keep on trucking in the face of most of the likely headwinds. There are still some severe negatives about, but the chances are that, with one exception which we will come on to, none of the visible threats have sufficient strength to derail the positives, he argues. Papic accepts that a low oil price is not an unalloyed good for business aviation, but he argues that the fact that cheap fuel for motor vehicles puts money back in the pockets of the American consumer, will, in the medium term, far outweigh any negatives. Similarly, while many economists argue that the continuing strengthening of the US dollar will hurt US corporate earnings and cause a significant correction in the markets, Papic notes that some 60% of US corporate earnings are domestic and will ultimately benefit from increased consumer spending. He points out that there is no historical correlation between the strength of the US dollar and the fate of US equity prices. “In the 90s we had a decade where the dollar strengthened continuously and at the same time the US equity markets went on a decade-long bull run,” he notes. What then of Europe with the continuing furore over the Greek government’s battle with the “Troika” (the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the EU) to reduce its debt load? Papic points out that European stock markets have already discounted a disorderly Greek exit. “Basically, the market assumes that contagion risks from Greece exiting the euro area would be contained. If you look back to May 2012, that election in Greece sent a chill through the markets and resulted in an 11% correction in the S&P 500. Today, however, the market barely reacts to much more dramatic moves from Greece. SYRIZA actually won the May 2012 election but could not put together enough seats. This year we have a much more successful SYRIZA making direct threats in its negotiations with the Troika, providing multiple reasons for the markets to react, but they have barely moved. The market is pricing-in the fact that the euro would survive the exit of Greece,” he says. If Europe’s economies continue to strengthen visibly at the same time as the US economy continues its uptick, it will give a very significant boost to business aviation. In Papic’s Low oil prices remove one of the major pressures on owners to upgrade to modern, fuel efficient aircraft. 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COST EFFECTIVE • Low personnel costs by means of wireless transmission control – the operator is essentially a “wing walker” himself • Extremely low maintenance costs, no maintenance plan necessary • No driving licence required • Effective utilization of the available space in the hangar – save up to 40% hangar space EASY-TO-USE • Radio remote controlled operating under an industrial frequency code approved for airports FLEXIBLE • ONE MACHINE for all corporate aircraft with single or double nose wheel including helicopters • Automatic connection to the aircraft‘s nose wheel with one click • Connect the aircraft from the front or rear • Hydraulic nose wheel adjustment – for different nose wheel diameters • No straps, no winch, no tools required • Loads the aircraft in less than 15 seconds – ready to manoeuvre Mototok International GmbH Hohenzollernstr. 47 D-47799 Krefeld / Germany Phone: +49-2151-65083-82 Fax: +49-2151-624-673 Mototok America LLC 3028 Peacekeeper Way McClellan, CA 95652 / USA Phone: +1-916-580-4977 Fax: +1-916-641-8969 www.mototok.com · [email protected] MACRO ECONOMIC WINDOW The Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks, which should have played to Le Pen’s advantage, with the FN’s anti immigration stance, did not boost her popularity view, this looks like a very likely scenario for next few years. He also has few fears about Europe being destabilised politically by the rise of extremist political parties as a reaction to the seven years of austerity that followed the 2008 financial crash. Papic points to the recent elections in Andalusia as a real bellweather election demonstrating the stability of the current status quo in European states. Andalusia is perhaps the poorest region of Spain, with average earnings per head of only 16,666 euros, 25.4% below the Spanish average, and an unemployment rate of 36.4%. These sound like ripe conditions for extremist left or right parties to sweep to regional power, but it didn’t happen. Similarly, in France FN right wing leader Marine Le Pen can’t seem able to push beyond the 30% support she has enjoyed since 2011. Even the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks, which should have played to Le Pen’s advantage, with the FN’s anti immigration stance, did not boost her popularity. “Everyone who was going to support Marine Le Pen in France already supports her. This is bad news for the extreme right as Le Pen is no closer to winning the second round of a presidential election in France now than she was in 2012. All of this plays towards a stable European Union and puts a real lid on the 80 International | Summer 2015 Marine Le Pen Frederic Legrand - COMEO / Shutterstock.com potential for instability - which is good news for economic growth and business climate,” he comments. Another significant threat to global growth is the slowdown in China allied to the chilling effects of the anti corruption campaign being conducted by the Chinese government. The fear is that this will depress Chinese GDP below 6%, causing serious distress in commodity exporting nations like Brazil and Australia. However, Papic argues that any impact the anti corruption campaign is going to have on Chinese GDP is already priced in. “It is all about the 2nd derivative, namely not just whether GDP is going up or down, but the pace of change. Is the anti corruption campaign speeding up or slowing down? In my view the “hottest” phase is now in the past and the government has probably caught all the big fish it wanted to make an example of,” he notes. He adds that there are also clear signs that the Chinese government plans to introduce a sufficient stimulus package to keep growth at or near 7%. “The fact that the government committed recently to grow the economy at just under 7%, despite the fact that the anti corruption campaign has probably already knocked it back to 6% or under, means that it intends to fulfil its promise through a stimulus programme. So I am not particularly pessimistic about China,” he notes. There are other positive factors in the Chinese economy. “For 2015 the government expects to see 10 million new jobs. This is unchanged from last year’s target but is lower than the 13 million jobs that the Chinese actually created in 2014. The government has said that it expects registered urban unemployment to edge higher, to 4.5% from the 4.1% recorded in 2014,” he notes. A key point, however, Papic says, is that there are clear signs that the Chinese government is preparing for a much bigger fiscal YOU CHOOSE THE DESTINATION. WE TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING ELSE. » THE REAL FIRST CLASS OUR ACJ FLEET: 1 ACJ318ER + 2 ACJ319 » AIRBUS ACJ319 x2 » AIRBUS ACJ318 ER » GULFSTREAM G650 » BOMBARDIER GLOBAL EXPRESS » GULFSTREAM G550 » CESSNA CITATION VII x2 » Tyrolean Jet Services » A-6020 Innsbruck Airport / Austria » Phone +43 512 22577 0 » Fax +43 512 22577 21 » [email protected] » www.tjs.at » VISIT US AT EBACE 2015 | Booth #S103, Hall 6 MACRO ECONOMIC WINDOW Now that the US dollar has strengthened, and the Fed is expected to start hiking rates, many in the EM corporate space will struggle to cope with repayments 82 International | Summer 2015 push to support its slowing economy, than it is acknowledging publicly. The “fiscal thrust” to the economy budgeted for in 2015 amounts to 0.9% of GDP. Almost 1% of the GDP of the 2nd biggest economy in the world is a staggering sum of money, and is the most intense stimulus the Chinese government has administered to the economy since the global financial crisis. “In short, China’s top leadership is planning a bigger fiscal push on the economy and has given clear signs that it expects local authorities to strictly adhere to the spending plan,” Papic says. The main focus on fiscal measures is for funding for infrastructure investment, especially railway construction, hydro and rural irrigation projects and urban shantytown reconstruction. Social welfare programs in China are also getting a boost, with the basic pension for retirees being raised by 10%. “If executed as planned, the government sector may add almost a full percentage point to GDP growth in 2015, which will be a critical support helping to check downside risks to growth,” Papic says. On the downside as far as the global economy is concerned, a threat that could actually derail global growth to a significant extent is the gathering weakness in emerging economies. “Part of the problem with emerging economies is that they took on huge amounts of dollar debt in their private sectors when liquidity was plentiful. Now that the US dollar has strengthened, and the Fed is expected to start hiking rates, many in the EM corporate space will struggle to cope with repayments. Worse, what they did with those cheap loans was largely wasteful. Very little went towards generating real productivity improvements, so this has left them very exposed,” Papic says. On the plus side for business aviation, Papic points out that QE in the US inflated financial assets and that really played well for high net worth individuals. He expects QE in the euro zone to have a very similar impact. If it leads to the making of more millionaires and multimillionaires across Europe, that should filter through to more charter flights at the very least, and to more sales of new and pre-owned aircraft, which all of us would love to see! Returning to the theme of Europe’s seemingly never ending struggle with low-to-no growth Papic points out that there has been a very impressive appreciation in Euro area equities in recent months, led mainly by Germany. MACRO ECONOMIC WINDOW “While this means that European equities are no longer cheap, in my view there is still good value to be found in Mediterranean Europe, which has lagged other European markets. Spain, Portugal and even Italy has lagged the appreciation in euro area stocks generally. Even German stocks considerably underperformed the run up in US stocks through 2014, so there too there is room for further strengthening,” he says. All this could well help Europe’s struggling economies to move forward. “I think we are seeing a really interesting scenario for Europe. We have low prices, thanks to near zero inflation, low-to-negative interest rates, a low price of oil (which makes for lower energy costs for European companies) and credit being made available to businesses and consumers to a greater degree. All of this makes for a very positive scenario that has more room to run this year,” he concludes. Q Summer 2015 | International 83 Q&A: AL AN KL APMEIER Hatching the new Kestrel Bringing a new turbo-prop to market, by Anthony Harrington Alan Klapmeier, CEO, ONE Aviation 84 International | Summer 2015 A lan Klapmeier was the founder of Cirrus Design, a manufacturer of high performance, single engine piston aircraft, which opened its doors in 1984. Klapmeier left the company in 2009, in a board dispute. At the time of his departure, Cirrus, which had successfully brought two turbo-prop aircraft, the Cirrus SR20 and SR22 to market, was in the process of designing its first light jet, the Cirrus SF50 single engine jet. During his time at Cirrus, Klapmeier won considerable recognition throughout the industry for a number of innovations, including the use of composite materials, which before this had been almost solely the preserve of aircraft kit manufacturers. It is not too extreme to say that this use of composites revolutionised the general aviation sector and is now generally used by manufacturers from Honda to Bombardier. He was Chairman of the General Aviation Manufacturing Association (GAMA) Board of Directors in 2008 and was on the board of the AOPA Air Safety Foundation Board of Visitors, and the Board of Directors of the Small Aircraft Maufacturers Association. In 2009 Klapmeier began talks with Farnborough Aircraft Company, with a view to partnering in the design of a new single engine turbo prop aircraft, the Kestrel. On 15 April 2015, after Kestrel had struggled for funding through much of 2013 and 2014, Eclipse and Kestrel announced that they were merging to form a new, combined company, called ONE Aviation. The new company has two core products, the Eclipse 550 twinengine light Jet and the Kestrel K350 single-engine turboprop, which continues to move towards certification - with no date as yet being announced. Klapmeier becomes the CEO of the new company while the former Eclipse CEO, Mason Holland, takes up a new role as chairman of the merged entity. Q&A: AL AN KL APMEIER Q: It is an obvious question, but why, when you left Cirrus after working on the design of the Cirrus jet, did you opt to throw in your lot with Richard Noble’s Kestrel turbo-prop? A: The natural beginning to the whole Kestrel project goes back to my interest in aviation and my background in physics and economics. I have always been fascinated by trying to figure out where a passion for aviation lines up with a good business case. When you start with that background, i.e. combining a love of aviation with a real grasp of business, it gives you a certain way of looking at the aircraft industry, and a particular perspective. There is no shortage of people who will tell you that the aviation sector is not a good business to be in but I believe very firmly that aviation, particularly personal transportation aircraft, brings a range of benefits to owner pilots and small operators. When you combine the obvious ben- efit which flows from being able to fly to vastly more airfields than anything that a scheduled airline can provide, along with the sheer delight of flying, there is clearly going to be market demand for private aircraft. However, you have to be clear about your entry point in the market and about what constitutes the right value equation for the business model you have in mind. After Cirrus, we wanted a project that offered great value and that would address a generally small, more stable, mixed market that would also be a safer market than Cirrus had addressed. Post 2008 the market for light jets has not been good, while the market for turbo-props has held up very well. Another very good point in favour of the turbo prop was that it gave us some important advantages and differentiation points. Most important of these, probably, is the shorter runway requirements. If you are talking about STOL capabilities then there really is not a lot of great choices in light jets, whereas the Kestrel is very good at short take off and landing. Operating costs between light jets and turboprops are harder to draw direct comparisions, but if you look at the regional airlines running turbo prop versus jets, the turbo prop is noticeably less expensive to run, and that includes everything from fuel costs to engine maintenance. Two engines on a jet just do cost more to maintain than a single engine turbo-prop. Q: So the business logic pointed to turboprops. Why Kestrel? A: When we started talking to Kestrel it was a project that had already made significant progress, so we were not starting from scratch. A good deal of very good work had already been done on the airplane and that was attractive. So we took that and looked to ,Z[HISPZOLKPU(;:+PZHUVUZP[LWYVMLZZPVUHSWHY[ULYHUK-:7ÅPNO[ service provider). 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With both tools, clients are able to follow up the status of [OLPYWSHJLKÅPNO[VYKLYZYL[YPL]PUNVWLYH[PVUHSPUMVYTH[PVUHUKÅPNO[IYPLÄUNZ (;:+PZH]HPSHISLHUK^PSSNSHKS`[HRLJHYLVM`V\YÅPNO[WYLWHYH[PVUWYV]PKPUN `V\VY`V\YJYL^^P[OHSSYLSL]HU[KH[HZ\JOHZ-73Z6=-7ZYV\[LYLSH[LK>? HUK56;(4IYPLÄUNZHPYWVY[ZSV[ZHUKULJLZZHY`WLYTP[ZHUKT\JOTVYL ,)320=8,-2+=39,%:)83(3-7I=ēēē ATSD - Air Tasking Service Dortmund GmbH CCA-Commercial Center Airport Rhenus Platz 2 59439 Holzwickede Germany Ó{ÉÇÊ\ʳ{ÓÎ䣣nxÎäää]Ê>Ý\ʳ{ÓÎ䣣nxÎäÓäÊÊUÊÊ-/\Ê/-8Ê//8]Ê/ \Ê//8ÊÊUÊÊ>\Ê«ÃJ>ÌÃ`°>iÀÊ]Ê7iL\ÊÜÜÜ°>ÌÃ`°>iÀ Summer 2015 | International 85 Q&A: AL AN KL APMEIER see where we could improve it. We found a variety of improvements, including redesigning the cabin to provide a lot more visibility and improving the handling. Q: Have you started taking deposits yet? A: With Cirrus in its early stages we said there is no price, no delivery date and no specifications as yet, but you can put down a deposit if you want to. And people did. With the Kestrel we have taken the opposite view, partially because the economic landscape has changed fundamentally so the kind of stance we took with Cirrus would be unrealistic in today’s tough market. We’re now saying there is no agreed price yet, no delivery date either and no, you can’t put down a deposit yet. As of today we still do not have any fixed date for delivery of the first production Kestrel. However, three years is probably a plausible sort of number for that event. The prototype has been flying since 2006 and we are well advanced in our planning. The constraining factor, always, is capital. The more capital you can get, the bigger the team you can put to work on the design and construction issues. Q: At the end of July 2013, at EAA’s AirVenture 2013, Kestrel signed a partnering deal with Garmin to make the Garmin 3000 the launch avionics platform for the aircraft. Can you tell us a bit about that? A: As you know, the Garmin G3000 was the first touchscreen-controlled integrated flight deck for light turbine aircraft. We’re working with Garmin to offer the full G3000 feature set in the Kestrel as well as integrating additional systems on the Kestrel into the G3000’s control and display capabilities to create the most integrated cockpit in its class. I have a passion for avionics. It’s the critical aspect for the pilot-vehicle interface and goes directly to how it feels to fly the Kestrel. The G3000’s wide aspect ratio screen provides great real estate for a very user-friendly interface with the pilot. Q: Funding is always crucial in a venture like this. How has it been and are you confident that you will secure enough backing to see you through to production? A: We have been fortunate in being able to find investors who recognise that this is a multi year venture with production still probably three years or so down the line. The significant problem in the global economy is that for many sources of capital investors are thinking very short term and are looking to flip in 86 International | Summer 2015 Other companies may just lease you a jet... Only Comlux offers you the most comprehensive range of business aviation solutions for the most demanding VIP travel needs. Flying your own routes to your own timetable Buying and managing your aircraft personally and professionally Designing and building your own cabin following your own vision Maintaining your asset and its value This is exactly what our crew, dispatchers, designers, engineers and mechanics do for you everyday at Comlux. FLY | OWN | CUSTOMIZE | MAINTAIN www.comluxaviation.com Q&A: AL AN KL APMEIER and out of deals. We are not going to convince those kinds of investors with a proposition like this. Private equity always wants to know what the exit strategy is for them in any venture, so we have thought a lot about the mechanisms that are required to make it easier for people to invest and to look to an exit within what they and we regard as a reasonable time frame. Private investors always have the Holy Grail of capital appreciation and income in mind and we have an excellent case to put to them. This is very familiar territory for me since we went through an intensive fund raising for Cirrus. It is never easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it, but I am confident we can pull the financing together to see the project through to the point where it is being carried by its own revenue generating capabilities. There is a strong market demand for quality single engine turboprop aircraft and the Kestrel is being designed to be the best in class. Q: You chose the Honeywell TPE331-14GR as the power plant for the aircraft. Why? A: We went through a very vigorous process to find the right engine to power the aircraft 88 International | Summer 2015 through the development phase. Our mission is to combine high speed cruising capabilities with long range and the ability to carry heavy payloads in and out of short runways - and on top of that we wanted a very cost effective engine with very competitive, low maintenance costs. The Honeywell -14GR is ideally suited to these requirements. It produces 1759 thermodynamic horsepower which we are flat rating to 1000 shaft horsepower to allow for better high altitude, high temperature performance. It was also important to us that Honeywell is highly committed to the success of the Kestrel program. We are very happy to have their support, knowledge and expertise on board.” Q P av ai o ick la ur u b p Bo le a bro on ot t th chu e o h No e E res f . H VA 06 st 2 an d