B/CA Show News - NBAA 2007 - September 27, 2007 - (Page 28)

N B A A 2 0 07 Gulfstream Opens Service Center Gulfstream Aerospace’s newly opened Savannah Service Center is part of a key and expanding company focus on customer product support. The first phase of the service center was opened in July but officially dedicated in August, at which point hangar space was already filled with aircraft. The facility includes a 136,200-sq-ft hangar that can accommodate 18 large-cabin Gulfstream G550 and G450 business jets or a larger number of aircraft, depending on the large and midsize mix. Another 20 aircraft can be handled on adjacent ramps where power and air have been channeled underground to ramp utility stations to reduce clutter and the need for outside support equipment. The new complex, on the south side of the runway at SavannahHilton Head International Airport, also includes an already operating refurbishment center; customer offices; sheet metal, avionics, APU overhaul and upholstery shops; an engine run-up area; fuel farm and employee facilities. The facility also will house, beginning next year, Gulfstream’s 24-hour call center, which handles about 20,000 calls—half about parts, half technical questions—a month. The call center is located now in Gulfstream’s older service center on the north side of the runway. When fully completed two years from now, the new service center “south” will total nearly 625,000 sq ft under one roof, including 282,300 sq ft of hangar space, additional repair shops and a second engine run-up area. It will be nearly double the size of Gulfstream’s “north” service center, open since 1996, which will eventually be shut down. That center currently accommodates about 20 large-cabin aircraft inside and another 30 to 40 outside. Because Gulfstream will service aircraft in both facilities for the next two years, the company has two daily videoconference meetings— at 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.—in which as many as 60 to 70 service center managers, engineers, and planning and parts people discuss aircraft already on site and those inbound. “We were worried about a split operation,” said Mark Burns, vp customer programs, so the twicedaily sessions were one way to make sure they are fully coordinated. The meetings take place in large rooms with wide tables about 24 feet long, raised high enough for most to lean their elbows on, and no chairs. “It creates the right sense of urgency,” Burns said. “A meeting used to take an hour; now it takes 30 minutes.” Gulfstream also intends to extend its worldwide service network beyond its 12 company-owned service centers and 14 authorized warranty or line service facilities. Plans currently include one company-owned service center in London and 13 authorized centers elsewhere. Burns said Gulfstream is looking at opportunities to expand its authorized network in Customers in Asia, India, the Middle East and Russia are buying Gulfstreams. Non-U.S. Outpaces U.S. International sales of Gulfstream aircraft outpaced U.S. domestic sales in the first half of 2007 for the first time ever. The company sold 66 business jets to international customers in the JanuaryJune period, compared with 62 to U.S. customers, for a 51-49% split. A larger product line and increasing sales to growing markets in Asia, the Middle East, Russia and India account for the shift, officials said. Last year 58% of its sales went to domestic customers and 42% to international buyers. Spain, India and Venezuela this year and Russia and China in 2008. Gulfstream is also planning to increase the spares it stocks at strategic parts locations, particularly in London and Hong Kong, because of the increase in international sales. Burns noted that aircraft owners used to buy a lot of parts when they acquired new aircraft, but they no longer find it necessary since parts distribution is so much easier today. As a result, stocking critical dispatch and highuse inventory in strategic locations is a key part of the company’s product support commitment. Its 11 parts locations around the world house $600 million in spares, including $80 million in spares in FedEx home Memphis. The company also maintains a dedicated G100, with tail number N247PS, for delivering flight essential parts and technicians to customers around the clock. “Product support is really a core business for us,” Burns said, adding that it also “helps sell new planes.” Gulfstream’s new 136,200-sq-ft Savannah hangar can accommodate 18 large-cabin jets. Overall, Gulfstream 28 serviced more than 11,600 aircraft last year, 40% of them non-Gulfstream aircraft through its General Dy nam i cs Avi at i on Servi ces. Working on other types of aircraft gives the company additional customer exposure and increased chances to sell new Gulfstreams, Burns said. Gulfstream, FSI Expand Ties Gulfstream Aerospace and FlightSafety International will announce a significant expansion of their Total Technical Training partnership at NBAA. The partnership will double the capacity of the maintenance training building at Savannah, while the maintenance training program at Dallas will grow from six to 10 instructors, including four from Gulfstream. Responding to customer requests, the TTT partnership will also launch a new program next year at Long Beach. The goal is to begin teaching by June 2008. September 27, 2007 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

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Why Buy Columbia? Too Much of a Good Thing? The User Fee Fracas Big Toys for Big Boys Honeywell for RNP High Miles Air Taxi Bombardier at Your Service NARA Names Officers Learjet’s Racier Image ILA 2008 in Berlin Gulfstream Hangar Opens Anti-Runway Incursions Like ReallyLarge Cabins? Sentient-Jet Direct

B/CA Show News - NBAA 2007 - September 27, 2007

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