News

Air France, Lufthansa MROs Join on A380 Support

European MRO archrivals Lufthansa Technik (LHT) and Air France Industries (AFI) at the Paris Air Show in June launched Spairliners, a 50-50 joint venture for Airbus A380 component support. The offer is based on the economies of scale that can be achieved on a sufficient number of aircraft, as the average A380 operator will have only a few. The joint venture's corporate headquarters will be located in Hamburg and the operational center in Paris.

According to the two partners, operators signing up for the A380 full component support package can save a lot. The component-associated cost per flight hour is said to be as low as that of an 80-aircraft operator. This is much more than the computed savings by two average airlines sharing their inventory. Air France and Lufthansa have placed firm orders for a total of 25 A380s.

The basic package, called "A380 full component support," includes guaranteed component availability, component repair services, and logistics. It will work on a component-exchange basis. According to Uwe Mukrash, LHT's senior vice president for component services, delivery time will be one to ten

days instead of six to ten weeks if the airline does not have the part in inventory.

Two add-ons are offered on top of the full component support package. The first add-on, called "customer integration," provides recommendation, financing, and administration services at the main base. The second add-on, called "worldwide support," provides the same services at any outstation.

AFI and LHT boast the fact that one flight-hour-based fee covers everything. The A380 has a number of new technologies. "And nobody knows the reliability of individual components," as August Henningsen, LHT's chairman, put it. No capital investment is needed from the operator. Moreover, Spairliners is a single focal point for all A380 component issues.

"Everything has to be smooth so part management has to be perfect," said Bruno Delile, AFI's senior vice president of materials and services. Logistics management will notably take advantage of Air France's Charles de Gaulle airport hub. "We may add some inventory at other places," Delile added. Key is the monitoring of the supply chain, he insisted. For example, AFI and LHT have started talking to Airbus about how to ship large A380 parts in their existing fleet of freighters.

The value of the inventory will rapidly reach $50 million. Henningsen expressed hope for the first contracts to be signed this year. "Our target market share is 30 percent of the A380 fleet," he said.

Spairliners will start operations with 15 to 20 people. In the longer term, about 100 jobs are expected to be either created or secured at each partner company. The first Spairliners CEO is Jean-Luc Fattelay.

In Hamburg, the headquarters include material management, customer service, and AOG support. In Paris, the operational center is the central stock location and the logistics platform. AFI's EOLE new component repair facility near Paris (see Aviation Maintenance, February 2005) and LHT's component shop in Hamburg are supposed to share A380 work evenly. "We will try to avoid the duplication of capabilities," Delile said. -- By Thierry Dubois

Payne Stewart Learjet Lawsuit Claims Rejected by Orlando Jury

Learjet was absolved of any negligence in a high-profile lawsuit brought by the families of Payne Stewart, a prominent professional golfer, and his agent, Robert Fraley, who were both killed along with four other people when the aircraft crashed in a South Dakota field five years ago.

It took a jury of six women less than six hours June 8 to reach their verdict following a month-long trial in which the family had sought $200 million in damages from the aircraft manufacturer.�Mystery has continued to surround the circumstances of the Learjet 35A crash because the aircraft lost cabin pressure shortly after it took off from Orlando October 25, 1999. It was believed the two pilots and passengers were all unconscious while the aircraft flew to South Dakota and then crashed.

"We are pleased with the outcome of the trial and the decision of the jury," said Leo Knaapen, a spokesman for Bombardier Aerospace. There were allegations during the trial that Learjet was negligent because of a weak pressurization valve adapter and that it was subject to corrosion and fracturing. Knaapen said that it has "never been an issue" with Learjet.

Testimony in the trial revealed there has never has been a failure of the valve in 300 same model Learjets. Attorneys for the Stewart and Fraley families alleged that the failed valve adapter caused an outflow valve to pull away from the aircraft structure and depressurize the cabin. Learjet attorney Robert Banker said that type of incident had never happen with the aircraft in the past.

"When federal investigators could not find a cause of the crash, we decided we could not leave this terrible tragedy unsolved," said Gregory McNeill, an attorney for Stewart's widow, Tracey. "The entire point in bringing the litigation was to determine what happened on this crash and who should take responsibility for it."

Federal investigators were unable to determine the cause of the crash. FBI agents had raided the offices of Sunjet Aviation, which owned the aircraft, and seized aircraft maintenance records. The company later went out of business but was never blamed for failing to properly inspect and maintain the aircraft.

During the trial, Learjet brought in an expert witness, Douglas Stimpson, who testified that the outflow valve and other components were improperly maintained, and the plane's pilots were notified that tests were needed before the flight occurred. Claiming that the Learjet was flown despite uncompleted work orders, Stimpson testified that the aircraft should never have been flown. -- By Dennis Blank

TAT Finalizes Sabena Acquisition

On July 8, 2005 a share transfer agreement was signed in Brussels, Belgium in which the trustees of Sabena and the French TAT Group successfully finalized the acquisition of Sabena Technics by TAT Industries. Sabena Technics's new board of directors met after the signing and appointed Christophe Bernardini, managing director of TAT Industries, to the position of chairman of the board and managing director of Sabena Technics.