BAE Regional Aircraft Adds New Support Services

Maintenance, engineering support, modification, aircraft conversion, and spares provisioning have all been taken on by BAE Systems Regional Aircraft under a new program of customer service and product enhancement recently announced. A division of BAE Systems, BAE Regional Aircraft has for years supported operators of more than 1,100 regional and commuter airplanes through marketing, spares provisioning, and also by way of trading and leasing. Now this support is being extended to full-blown engineering and other work, and not merely for its own customers in the regional airline market but for major suppliers in the aerospace field. As examples, Regional Aircraft is involved in detailed design of the composite structure of the Lockheed Martin F-35 joint strike fighter, systems and safety engineering on the Airbus A380 and other Airbus models, cabin interior work on the A400M, and airframe design and systems engineering on the Nimrod MRA4 maritime reconnaissance aircraft. Such third-party engineering work is worth $38 million a year to the company, to which can be added $8 million for modification work performed over the past six months.

Under a newly devised life-extension program, BAe 146s and Avro RJs will be able to continue operations for another 20 years. The corrosion protection and control program is invoked when a particular airframe reaches 20 calendar years and introduces an indefinite calendar life. In addition, the life of all components on the BAe 146 and Avro RJ has been de-limited.

On the maintenance front an optimization program for the 146/RJ and BAe ATP was introduced, which will revise maintenance intervals to reflect in-service experience. A reliability database is being created, and with approval of a revised program in January 2006, direct maintenance cost reductions are expected of up to $16 per flying hour on the BAe 146, $9 for the Avro RJ, and up to $33 per flying hour for the ATP. Much of these cost savings have been achieved through the simplification of inspection practices, new procedures to improve component reliability, and the introduction of cost-saving modifications.

Upgrading work on its BAe-built range of regional airplanes includes total modification of the flight deck instrument panels to replace the earlier-built electromechanical displays with LCD flat panel electronic displays. This change has been made by Regional Aircraft in response to customer demand. The first customers for this modification are Eurowings of Germany and Air Dolomiti, both part of Lufthansa’s regional organization.

Modification work has become big business for BAe Regional Aircraft, with 11 operators recently placing orders for work worth over $8 million. The modification team is now receiving requests for more than 800 customer modifications a year, ranging from the installation of a fire-extinguishing system in the 146 baggage bay, to the installation of a flight- management system in an RJ fleet, to the construction and introduction of enhanced security flight deck doors for 146-300s.

BAE Systems Regional Aircraft has always strongly supported its customers with spares and its JetSpares and MACRO spares-by-the-hour programs have been enhanced further. JetSpares applies to the BAe 146 and Avro RJ series and MACRO (material component repair and overhaul) is a similar program for the Jetstream 31/32 and 41 and ATP. Both are individually customized support programs designed to allow operators to concentrate on operations while BAE Systems takes care of spares inventory, logistics, and repairs. New business announced for this program is in excess of $30 million. “Both the JetSpares and MACRO programs are highly regarded in the market,” said Rob Hearn, customer services director. “We now have 153 aircraft on the JetSpares program and 83 aircraft from 10 operators on the MACRO. Also, new leasing business invariably brings with it either a JetSpares or MACRO follow-up contract. Additionally, we are now looking at the possibility of extending JetSpares and MACRO to our customers’ other aircraft types.”

Two final developments are in hand at BAE Regional under the expanded work program announced. The company has been working for some time on the likely development of an airtanker version of the BAe 146 for fire-fighting purposes and this program is now going ahead, with a Series 200 aircraft as the first for conversion. Flight trials were first conducted with Tronos of Canada, an owner and lessor of a 146-100, and Minden Air, a tanker operator. Tronos is now a part of the conversion program along with Minden Air and BAR Regional Aircraft, which is providing engineering data and technical support. Flight demonstrations have already been made to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management and to members of the fire-fighting operator community in the Western U.S. Work is proceeding towards achieving a supplemental type certificate, with the first aircraft scheduled to enter service early in the 2006 U.S. fire season. The U.S. Forest Service has a requirement for a fleet of 35 turbofan airplanes.

BAE Regional Aircraft is meanwhile assessing the viability of a passenger-to-freighter conversion program for the 146QT (Quiet Trader), 10 of which would be converted to start. Eight engineering centers/conversion houses are currently in discussion with the company over conversion, kit manufacture, and pricing details.