Bizjet MRO

Sabreliner Celebrates 20 Years

In just two short decades Sabreliner Corporation has grown from a small aircraft maintenance and modification business to becoming, with the addition of Midcoast Aviation, one of the true corporate aircraft MRO powerhouses in the Midwest. "The success we have enjoyed as a family of companies is attributed to high quality work and dedication to customer service," explained Holmes Lamoreux, chairman and CEO. "In the last year, we made a strategic decision to focus our growth on support of corporate airframes, which will strengthen our position as a leading provider of corporate aviation products and services."

Among its many services and capabilities, Sabreliner-Midcoast is the primary support facility for the nearly 330 Sabreliner business jets in service around the world. The company offers a variety of upgrades and services that will extend the life of this venerable jet well into the next century. Among the more popular offerings are attractively priced RVSM-compliance packages and the Sabre 2000 extended-life inspection program that can increase the airframe's service life to 15,000 hours.

"Since the company's founding back in 1983, we have been in constant evolution, refining our services to meet the needs of our customers," Lamoreux added. "When we began, we supported the four models of Sabreliner aircraft. Today, Sabreliner-Midcoast provides airframe maintenance, modifications, completions, and related services for almost every corporate airframe on the market. We'll continue adapting and improving to meet the changing and varied needs of our customers."

To meet those goals, the company is undergoing expansion programs at all four of its facilities including the recent modification of one of its paint hangars at the St. Louis Downtown location to accommodate Global Express and Gulfstream V jets. Bombardier also recently named the company as the only authorized service facility in the Americas for the Global Express.

That's One Clean Airplane

What do cleaning cars and cleaning business jets have in common? Nothing. And that's the mindset that Chris Oliver has used while building his successful aircraft cleaning and detailing company, 1CleanPlane (www.1cleanplane.com). "I was close to building a car wash, but I wasn't excited about it," Oliver explained. "One day while sitting on a 737, I began to wonder how airplanes are cleaned and started looking into it."

What he found was that it was mostly "mom and pop," with little consideration for safety, quality, and professionalism. "I kept digging," he added, "and realized that to do it right requires skill, knowledge, and an unmatched work ethic. You don't treat aircraft like Toyotas." Apparently he found something that did excite him.

Oliver said that in preparation for his venture he attended the NBAA convention and hit all the leather manufacturers, carpet suppliers, plating manufacturers, and anyone and everyone who supplied interior surfaces for business aircraft. He even "spied" on the competition at the airport. After a year of research, learning, and planning, and with the encouragement of his wife, Oliver was ready to "jump off the cliff and start it up. I had an MBA in aircraft grooming yet still lacked any practical experience," he said. "My wife named the company so I would be first in the directories."

"I still remember our first job, a Challenger," Oliver added. "It took three of us forever to get it done. I wondered how we would ever turn a profit at that rate." Well, he learned, fast.

That was in 2000. Today, Oliver's 1CleanPlane has grown to 26 full time employees and serves an expanding number of corporate flight departments in the Houston and Dallas areas. That's pretty good growth considering the less than cooperative economic environment.

Oliver said that the key to the company's success is based on three things: hiring dedicated, caring people; being committed to the absolute best quality of work; and making safety a priority in everything they do.

He shared a story of a GIV operator who gave 1CleanPlane a try. The flight department's director thought the final job was great. His only "complaint" was the cleaners missed the crumbs under the candy tray in the galley. Oliver told him the cleaning was free. "He protested, but I explained that we made a 100-percent customer satisfaction commitment for a reason and intended to live or die by it," he said. 1CleanPlane now routinely does all three of the operator's jets.

Oliver said the company is just as committed to safety as any other aspect of business. All new hires are required to go through an intensive training program and every employee must complete the recurrent safety-training program each year.

"We keep very close records on all ofour safety training classes," he said. "Our customers are trusting us with twenty-million dollar aircraft and I couldn't sleep at night if I thought we didn't deserve it. Up 'til now we have had no injuries and no insurance claims. It all comes down to training, training, and more training."

Sogerma Bets on VIP Cabin Business

EADS Sogerma Services has regrouped its cabin equipment and VIP interior completion businesses to offer more comprehensive services. The Bordeaux, France-based subsidiary of European aerospace conglomerate EADS now has a single entity-Sogerma Cabin Interiors & Completion Division-to deal witheat, galley, and furniture design as well as Airbus and Boeing aircraft in their corporate variants. Sogerma officials believe this business will fuel the company's growth in the short- and mid-term.

"We have determined that it makes sense to merge these activities because the customer basis, the required technical skills, and the suppliers are the same," Pierre-Antoine Vacheron, the firm's senior vice-president for cabin interiors, told Aviation Maintenance. This will translate into more credibility, he explained. Cabin and interior activities account for 80 million euros ($96 million) in Sogerma's total revenues of about 600 million euros ($720 million U.S.). The maintenance and modification business accounts for 400 million euros ($480 million) and aerostructures for 120 million euros ($144 million).

The current trend in sales shows a rapid growth for the cabin interiors business. According to Vacheron, revenues were 60 million euros ($72 million) in 2002. "We have secured 100 million euros ($120 million) worth of contracts for 2004," he emphasized, asserting the growth was fueled mainly by gains in market share.

The cabin interiors activity employs 300 people in Toulouse, Bordeaux, Rochefort (all three in France), and Casablanca, Morocco. EADS Sogerma Services has specialized its Toulouse facilities on the Airbus Corporate Jetliner (Sogerma was selected as an ACJ authorized completion center in 2001) while widebody VIP completion work takes place in Bordeaux. Total workforce at Sogerma is 4,000.

Three years ago, Sogerma bought a former Northrop Grumman factory in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where Boeing 757s had been converted for the U.S. Air Force's J-STARS program. Under Sogerma's banner, Lake Charles will address two markets: first, Airbus and Boeing aircraft completions for VIP and corporate customers and, second, cabin upgrades for airlines. In the near term, the facility should grow rapidly. "Some 450 to 500 people will work there," Vacheron said. The site was chosen because it is convenient for Airbus customers based in Latin America.

"We intend to grow in the North American market thanks to our aircraft interior business. But we are not talking about becoming a maintenance provider comparable in size to Timco for example," Vacheron clarified. A major objective for Sogerma is to get Boeing's agreement for BBJ completions, Vacheron explained. "We don't see any problem in our being part of the EADS group and neither does Boeing," he said.

Sogerma's Bordeaux site may soon become an installation station for Connexion by Boeing, the on-board, high-speed Internet service. Talks are well underway and should conclude in 2004, Vacheron said. Even Airbus aircraft may be fitted with the equipment. "However, our VIP customers are more in demand of live television than high-speed internet, which airlines like much more," Vacheron added.

Aircraft that recently rolled out of Sogerma's hangars include a VIP A330-200, a long-range A319 for Privatair, an A340-600 with upgraded business and first classes for a European airline, and an ACJ for Blue Moon, a U.S.-based operator that specializes in sport team travel. It was the first Part 25-certified ACJ.

"We now have exclusivity for the Prestige version of the A319," Vacheron told AM. Airbus recently introduced the Prestige interior concept as something that "looks more like the interior of a multi-million-dollar home rather than the interior of a multi-million-dollar airplane." The first two Prestige ACJs will be completed throughout year 2004 at Sogerma's Toulouse facility.

The current growth in the cabin and interiors business implies hiring additional staff. For example, the number of design engineers has doubled in 2003, from 50 to 100. A number of the additional staff in the newly formed division come from other divisions, such as the maintenance arm. The latter is now less busy than it used to be four years ago.

Last October, a Venezuelan C-130 rolled out of Sogerma Bordeaux after 17 months of maintenance and upgrade work. This included avionics refurbishment, heavy maintenance, and installation of a new auxiliary power unit and air-conditioning system. The work required significant structural modifications and subsequent test flights. Venezuelan military teams have been working with Sogerma to offer the same refurbishment on five additional C-130s, this time in Maracay, Venezuela.

However, in 2000, Sogerma lost a major maintenance contract. Portuguese firm OGMA now takes care of the French Air Force's C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. Under French rules, the government can decide every year to change maintenance providers for the Air Force. Therefore, Sogerma has been trying to regain the contract and will continue, Vacheron said. "We can provide the French Air Force with higher availability rates and lower costs," Vacheron claimed.

On the latter aspect, he was referring to the Casablanca, Morocco-based facility Sogerma opened recently. It employs 250 persons in C-130 maintenance and aerostructures and seat production. For a few years, several French companies in the aerospace industry have relocated some production and maintenance activities in Morocco, where labor costs are low when compared to European standards. In addition, many people speak French in this part of North Africa.

At Sogerma, the aerostructure business has been suffering from the reduced production rates in commercial aviation, Vacheron told AM. But the outlook is not as gloomy as the current situation. "We are well positioned on the Airbus A380 550-seater, the A400M military transport, and the A340-500/600 in its high-gross weight version," he added.