undertakings within the Global Customer Support organization: ƒ Two new company-owned service centers have been opened and two more upgraded;
ƒ New, specially equipped trucks have been positioned, ready to respond to aircraft-on-ground (AOG) circumstances;
ƒ New parts and distribution centers have been established around the world;
ƒ Manuals have been converted to an electronic format, performance publications are being put on-line and new apps are being produced for iPads and tablet computers;
ƒ $5 million has been invested in maintenance technician training and a partnership established with FlightSafety International that resulted in a new maintenance training facility;
ƒ The field service representative (FSR) organization in the Americas has been enlarged by 16 percent and in Europe, Asia and Africa by a noteworthy 62 percent, and
ƒ A customer advisory board has been established and meets regularly. These and other actions have occurred under the leadership of Christi Tannahill, vice president in charge of Global Customer Support. She leads a worldwide organization of about 1,000 employees, which took in more than $126 million in sales during the third quarter 2011. Increased emphasis on after-market support has generated for GCS about 17 percent revenue growth over recent years. Some three years ago, Tannahill,
Parts and Distribution, Tannahill managed the consolidation of the company’s after-market services with its parts and distribution function. “We weren’t integrated,” she explains. “The skill sets in each area are different, but they both can talk of the entire company’s focus, and now they do. We now have a consistent message to our customers.”
Money in Mods While Tannahill touts GCS’ recent developments that “serve customers in total,” she takes particular pride in the company’s current “willingness to invest in the retrofit market.” Some HBC officials once felt that modernizing aircraft in the field might negatively impact new aircraft sales. But this bias has, under Boister’s lead, succumbed to a hardy embrace of the retrofit market. With an estimated 36,000 Hawker Beechcraft airplanes in the field, that embrace would seem appropriate.
GCS’ investment decision no doubt is
in recognition that operators are keeping their aircraft longer and that other companies are already active in the Hawker Beechcraft retrofit market. Most notable, perhaps, is Nextant Aerospace, which has been modifying Hawker 400XPs. “There are other organizations doing some modifications,” acknowledges Mike Turner, GCS’ senior product marketing manager. “But being the OEM, we have the type certificate data and [thus] can provide broader levels of service that translate into greater value-added for the customer.” Tannahill says that retrofitting Hawker Beechcraft aircraft represents a billion-dollar market. “Historically, our company has had less than 11 percent of that business,” she adds. “Now it’s the largest growing part of [GCS’] business.” The support organization has developed modernization packages for each of its products, from the piston- powered Bonanza to the Hawker 800 midsize business jet.
It has had early success with its XPR (R Christy Tannahill, VP Global Customer Support
a 15-year veteran with the company, replaced Bill Brown, now HBC’s vice president of operations. In her former position as vice president of HBC’s Global
for retrofit) program, which offers Hawker 400 and 800 owners a menu of upgrades that includes winglets, Pro Line 21 avionics and engine options. The 400XPR program replaces Pratt & Whitney JT15D-5 engines with Williams International FJ44-4A-32 turbofans, while the 800XPR swaps the Honeywell TFE731-5s for the more fuel efficient and more powerful 731-50R variants. The company recently gained avionics
approval for the modernized Hawker 400XP and expects winglet and new- engine certification by June. With production of the 400XPR program sold
16 Aviation Maintenance |
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out through the end of this year, GCS decided to double its 2012 production slots for the upgrade. This will allow operators to “acquire a slot sooner than originally planned,” says Tannahill. The comparably upgraded Hawker 800XPR, certified by both EASA and FAA in autumn 2011, has enjoyed similar success in sales. A Danish operator recently has taken delivery of the first upgraded 800XPR, and Brisbane, Calif.-based XOJet has ordered 12 of the updated aircraft for its charter business.
In October 2010, GCS announced a line-up of 15 upgrades for a program called King Air Transformation. On the list are new avionics, winglets, propeller options, new engines and both interior and exterior enhancements for the popular twin turboprop. “We continue to add new upgrade options to the Transformation program,” says Turner.
And in September 2010, Global Customer Support introduced the Beechcraft Bonanza Xtra program, a bundled package of upgrades (which also can be acquired separately) that would be installed at one of the company’s service centers. The package includes wing-tip tanks, new Hartzell ScimitarPlus propeller and Continental Motors’ Gold Standard IO-550 engine, essentially the same powerplant that powers the Bonanza G36. GCS currently is developing an Xtra program for its twin-engine Baron, too, but has yet to set a date for its unveiling. OEMs often seek input from their support organizations when designing new aircraft, but at Hawker Beechcraft, that practice has been nearly eclipsed by GCS’ ambitious upgrade developments. “Because of our success in the aftermarket, we have the funds to develop newer technology offerings,” Turner explains. “So, in some ways, we’re leading new-aircraft development around the components for our upgrade programs, such as synthetic vision systems, touch-screen technology and enhanced vision systems.” Thus, GCS upgrade development is “driving the new technology into the new airplanes,” he adds.
New Service Centers Further strengthening its product support, GCS recently announced two new facilities for its Hawker Beechcraft Service (HBS) network of company-owned service centers. Both facilities are in North America. Like GCS’ other centers, the new facilities will support all Hawker Beechcraft warranty programs and the company’s SupportPLUS power-by-the- hour maintenance program.
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