Basel, Switzerland-based completions and MRO facility AMAC Aerospace (Booth I115) has finalized plans for a fifth hangar, having experienced considerable growth as well as interest from Canadian OEM Bombardier in having a hangar that is dedicated to its Challenger and Global families. AMAC Aerospace CEO Bernd Schramm said the investment will be about €18 million.

“We’re building Hangar 5 and it will be a big highlight for us at EBACE," said AMAC director business development and marketing Waleed Muhiddin. "The AMAC upper management and Basel Airport started construction last month and it will take one year. The new hangar will allow us to cater for the 800 or so Bombardier business jets flying around the region.” It also means AMAC will add around 100 new high-skilled jobs at Basel over the next 12 to 18 months, he added.

Eric Hoegen, director of completion sales and key account management, told AIN, “It’s been a very good year for us so far and it was excellent last year, too. The MRO business and completions are both doing well. In maintenance we’ve never sold as many hours—we have around 25 aircraft in maintenance, from bizjets to widebodies. Now there has to be a lead time, especially on the widebody side—we have five widebody slots, more than any competitor. It’s the first time for us having all five always occupied over the past six months.”

As for the new hangar announced this week at EBACE 2019, Muhiddin said it will be 450,000 sq m and there will be 22,000 sq m of additional apron at the front, taking the current 41,000 sq m up to 63,000 sq m total apron space for parking in front of the AMAC hangar line. There will also be a new taxiway link from the main runway “within 300 to 400 meters of our facility.” He reflected, “Ten years ago, this was farmland and with Geneva and Zurich saturated in terms of space, Basel has a lot of land available for development.”

Muhiddin noted AMAC has around 750 employees at Basel and as a group has around 1,000 employees over a total of six locations with seven hangars. The other locations are its sister company JCB Aero in Auch, west of Toulouse; Zurich; Istanbul; and a regional sales office in Beirut that is currently dormant. He said the two hangars at Istanbul Bodrum Airport service Pilatus aircraft (AMAC is the agent for the Middle East for the PC-12 NG turboprop and now also the PC-24 jet) and Dassault as an authorized service center.

Driven by Connectivity

Hoegen said of the business in Basel, “2019 has started very well and we have seen some combined projects—being base maintenance in combination with cabin upgrades. The highlight has been connectivity—everybody wants broadband connectivity that’s just like at home, so we’re seeing 10, 20 or even 30 Mbps in the cabin. It’s never been there in the past.”

He noted that AMAC was recognized by Honeywell as its strongest seller. “We installed 12 Ka-band systems last year—we did the first in 2017…[and] from the design organization perspective we are the company that has created the most STCs—we now have nine different types.”

Regarding price of installation for a Ka-band system, including that for the required large antenna, Hoegen said, “For the whole system you’re looking at around $1.25 million now” and “for installation we’re down to about four weeks…the first one took eight weeks.” Typically, AMAC does a Ka-band system install “during a C-check or a cabin upgrade,” as the cabin is being removed anyway and all the cable runs can be done. Muhiddin added, “This business opportunity extends to other MROs too—the STCs are available for sale for other MROs, with tools and instructions.”

In terms of current work, he said, “The biggest news is we got the [VIP] ACJ320neo for Acropolis—we’re very much involved in the certification and delivery. The aircraft is with us now and we will install Ka-band, and the client chose our STC not the Airbus one, as the forward antenna position gives better coverage.” Delivery to Acropolis is due in October, he added.

While AIN visited the facility last month, a VIP 747-8I had been stripped out and some items were being fitted, such as cabin dehumidifiers. “We are installing eight overhead sleeping compartments in the aft fuselage too,” said Muhiddin, during a tour of the aircraft. The Aeroloft installation comes under a Greenpoint STC and it has been arranged so the aircraft can stay at AMAC for the installation.

Muhiddin also reported that AMAC has “signed up two customers for [Boeing 737] Max completions—one Max 8 and one Max 9. “The first has not yet been delivered from Boeing but we’ve done full-scale cabin mockups for the customers. For the Max 8, the principal has already been here twice to see the mockup and made a lot of changes.” On the grounding of the Max, Schramm said both projects were continuing and for the Max 8 “the customer is aware there might be a delay to his aircraft.”

Hoegen was keen to stress how useful having a cabin completion mockup is. “It’s a very important message to customers—we can do a 3D computer-generated walk-through but on that you can’t see if it works for the owner—it’s hard to see if the ergonomics works—for example, that you can get up from a divan without knocking your head on an overhead bin. And it means you don’t have to fix the problems later, which is where it gets expensive.”

On Monday at EBACE 2019, Schramm said another focus at the show would be its A350 XWB design by Pininfarina. This can be seen at the company’s booth during the show. He also noted that AMAC is now offering installations of the Elbit FlightShield laser countermeasures system, used by Israeli airline El Al. "Some of the Elbit team is at EBACE with us," said Muhiddin.