This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
St. Louis, Inc. “We do everything from simple upgrades to major reconfigurations, but the trend is definitely towards larger projects again,” explained Joan Pompa, the company’s senior manager, modification sales. “Floor plan changes, new cabinetry components and total soft goods replacements are really big now.” It’s not only the little guys flying


Gulfstreams and Falcons; cabin upgrade and refurbishing projects are also popular with owners who want a few more years out of larger VIP aircraft. “I have a customer in here now with a 727 that’s operated in Asia,” Mike Plavchan, CEO, M and D Aviation said. “It has an interior in it that I installed 30-years ago when I was at Page AvJet. It was really plushed out back then. Now it’s kind of tired.” “The hull value of the airplane is only


around $500 thousand today. But the owner wants to fly it for another couple of years,” he said. “What we’re basically doing is some airframe system repairs and interior touch ups. With a $500 thousand hull value, it’s not worth spending $20 million on a new interior.” But that doesn’t mean owners won’t


do it. Singapore based, ST Aerospace recently completed a total interior/exterior refurbishing project on a DC-8 (When was the last time one of those was on a revenue flight?). The company started on the project in July of 2010 and delivered it in May of 2011. “This was an all-inclusive project. Our


scope of work for the aircraft extended from design, to engineering, installation and certification of the aircraft,” an ST Aerospace spokesperson said. “Our in-design and engineering teams in Singapore and San Antonio, Texas, undertook an extensive reconfiguration of space, seats, galleys and lavatories within the cabin.” “Many times it’s more economical investment-wise to upgrade to a newer aircraft, but it’s up to the owner,” Plavchan said. “If they want to stay with their current airplane that’s what we do. But I try to give them good guidance from the beginning.” Because M and D Aviation specializes in


the large VIP and VVIP aircraft upgrades and refurbishing projects, Plavchan said that one trend he is seeing is that owners, especially in Europe, the Middle East and China are taking advantage of the availability of low- cost, ex-airline airframes to move up to large cabin, long-range airplanes. “We have a customer in Northern Europe


who is currently operating a Global,” he said. “He needs something bigger and with more range. He just signed a contract with us to outfit a triple-seven.”


24 Aviation Maintenance | avmain-mag.com | October / November 2011


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63