Carts that carry parts are lined up in Enhance Aero’s hangar at Clermont-Ferrand airport.
technicians who each specialize in now offer the full spectrum of main- ment and aircraft data recovery.
avionics or airframe. Also on the tenance services. In early September, Léchevin and Marchat plan to hire
payroll are 15 project coordination Enhance Aero Maintenance was a total of 15 people for the division
engineers, as well as 12 pilots. approved for maintenance checks up by the first quarter of 2010. Enhance
In addition to employing Enhance to C level on Embraer ERJs and for Aero Engineering has its 3,700-
Aero Consulting service, Michelin Air engine borescopy. In the near future, square-foot (350-m
2
) headquarters at
Services has contracted Enhance Aero the maintenance division will offer Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport.
Maintenance to provide line mainte- similar services on Falcon 50/50EXs Enhance Aero’s three divisions have
nance for the flight department’s two and Fokker 70/100 aircraft. shareholders in common—Léchevin
Dassault Falcon 50EX business jets. The company performs heavy and Marchat—but there also is some
maintenance in a fully equipped han- cross-holding. In addition, “Time To
Embraer Subcontractor gar at Clermont-Ferrand Airport. It is Fly,” a newly formed company involved
Much of Enhance Aero’s work is as a rented from Clermont-Ferrand-based in fixed-base operator (FBO) layout
subcontractor for Brazilian airframe partner NSE. With its new hangar, consulting, is a strategic partner of the
manufacturer Embraer. It supports Enhance Aero will benefit from the engineering division,” says Léchevin.
several of the Brazilian manufactur- proximity of an engine run-up area. The first permanent employee—who
er’s customers, both civil and mili- The working day at the maintenance came in addition to the two founders—
tary. In Central America, it services center will be organized in two shifts was hired in May 2008. In December of
E-Jets for a local operator. Other for operations seven days a week. the same year, there were 11 employ-
countries where Enhance Aero sends At the beginning, approximately 20 ees. Now at about 50, the total work-
its Embraer specialists include the employees will work in the hangar. force is targeted to reach 60 in the
U.K. and Germany. In an empty 32,000-square foot short term. “We are constantly moving,
The company’s alignment with (3000-m
2
) building dating back from adding new projects to current ones,”
Embraer has a unique origin that 2000, Enhance Aero has added offic- Marchat said.
resulted from a previous effort by es, stores for tools and parts and The two founders did ask themselves
Léchevin to establish a business. cloakrooms. Chemicals (lubricants, the question, “Do we put a cap on the
Sensing an opportunity from the cleaning products etc.) are stored size of our company?” One argument
growing fleet of Embraer commer- outside the building in a climate- was that a 10-person company already
cial aircraft in Europe, he teamed controlled Portacabin-like room. As offers enough challenge and full-time
with other experienced people to set of mid-September, all the tooling was jobs for the two partners—as it would
up a maintenance company aimed in place, including safety equipment. for any entrepreneur.
at becoming a major manufacturer- From a clean sheet of paper, “But we realized we would have
approved service center. Located in Enhance Aero managed to have an got bored; we rather chose to have
Grenoble, France, in the shadow of operational and approved heavy main- fun and carry on growing,” Marchat
the French Alps, RJS Europe would tenance hangar in just two months, jokes. Léchevin’s ultimate dream is to
have been among the largest facilities Léchevin says. He insists his people go beyond maintenance and “become
for ERJ jets in Europe. Its founders worked relentlessly during the period a more diversified player in aviation.”
were looking forward to the entry into for a result he deemed “exceptional.” “Despite the downturn, we get bus-
service of Embraer 170/190 E-Jets, The refurbished hangar, which can ier and busier. For the future, we are
pegged for 2003 at the time. accommodate two ERJ 145s, is to be bullish—the OEMs’ [original equip-
In September 2001, after a year of officially inaugurated in mid-Novem- ment manufacturer’s] order books are
work, the company was about to be ber. One of Dniproavia’s ERJ 145s full. There will be more maintenance
legally created and registered. Mid- was to be rolled in on October 8, thus work to do and, as always, new stan-
term plans were calling for a hangar being the first aircraft to be main- dards to meet,” Marchat explains.
able to house four E-Jets. Embraer tained there. The two entrepreneurs foresee
was not directly involved but was future growth for the maintenance
supportive. However, financial part- Youngest Division division in aircraft interior comple-
ners backed off a few hours after the The youngest division, Enhance Aero tion. Airframe and system modifica-
terrorist attacks in the United States, Engineering was created in June of tion could be offered, too. They also
thus killing the project. In a sense, this year after Léchevin identified consider further diversification by
Enhance Aero’s success is fair revenge demand in fleet continuing airwor- securing approvals to maintain and
on misfortune. thiness management. Enhance Aero repair other aircraft types. And they
Engineering thus has received from believe further business for Enhance
A Full MRO EASA a Part M subpart G approval Aero Consulting could be found by
Enhance Aero is starting a new busi- (see box). The new division promotes becoming a recognized expert organi-
ness—heavy maintenance—and can its expertise in document manage- zation for litigations.
Aviation Maintenance | avmain-mag.com | Oct/Nov 2009 39
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