TO SERVICE OR NOT TO SERVICE?
There is undoubtedly an opportunity for helicopter service organizations to make money servicing eVTOL and UAS aircraft. But the three companies featured in this article offered differing opinions about whether this is an opportunity worth seizing.
For Airbus’ Le Marechal, expanding his company’s traditional helicopter MRO services to include eVTOLs and UAS is a no-brainer. “There are different business models possible. Airbus could service the vehicles, the operators could do it themselves, or it could be a joint approach,” he said. “Which model will be applied depends on the operator’s requirements and the local conditions. CityAirbus NextGen is designed for simplicity, so any MRO work will not require a high effort in any case.”
Precision Integrated Programs already has grasped this opportunity with UAS. “Our unmanned company operates and maintains UAVs both for their customers and the assets they personally own,” Ballantyne said. “Our customers range from commercial to government agencies, such as Lockheed Martin, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the United States Special Operations Command, the U.S. Marine Corps, and other Department of Defense agencies.”
Conversely, Lee County Mosquito Control District’s Lefkow does not see possibilities in servicing other people’s UAS aircraft. “We are a government agency with a very specific mission to protect public health by controlling mosquito populations throughout the county,” he said. “LCMCD’s MRO facility only services our own fleet; we are not open to the public.” He adds that most of the UAS maintenance required for LCMCD’s systems can be completed by UAS Department employees, though they have utilized the experience of the district’s avionics team to repair small internal components.
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