Expansion Continues In Europe, Asia, While Luton Facility Earns New Certifications

Gulfstream says its product support grew substantially over the last year, most notably by increasing its international parts and materials inventory, adding key personnel in Europe and Asia, and opening the second phase of its Gulfstream Savannah Service Center.

"We've expanded to meet the demands of the Gulfstream fleet as it grows around the world," said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream Product Support, a 3,200-employee organization.  "We have a very strong support network in North America and we're working to enhance our depth internationally.  The people and parts we've added in Europe and Asia reflect our commitment to our customers."   

Gulfstream GII

On the inventory front, Gulfstream has $1.2 billion worth of spare parts and materials at 15 facilities around the world.  Nearly $60 million of that inventory is housed at two facilities: CORJET Europe at Madrid Barajas Airport in Spain, and Metrojet at Hong Kong International Airport in China.  Those distribution centers had a combined inventory of less than $20 million in 2009.  The Madrid facility's capabilities include courier service through Iberia Airlines.

"We've increased the parts and materials inventory at Madrid and Hong Kong because of the increase we've had in international sales," Burns said.  "Those two locations are ideally located - we can get parts to a lot of Gulfstream operators and deliver them faster than ever." 

To further support growth in international sales, Gulfstream appointed six field service representatives in the last year.  Positions were added in Madrid; Mexico City; Beijing; Chennai, India; Amman, Jordan; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.  In Sao Paulo, Gulfstream also provides maintenance support and dedicated maintenance technicians from Jet Aviation. In the past year, Gulfstream also added two authorized warranty line-service facilities to its product support network, Aerovics, S.A. in Toluca, Mexico, and Jet Aviation Brazil in Sorocaba.

Gulfstream G450

As part of its growing commitment to the rapidly growing Asian business-aviation market, Gulfstream recently established a Beijing-based maintenance support team, a Hong Kong-based regional program director, an international distribution manager for parts and materials, and two Hong Kong-based interior technicians. "These new positions underscore our commitment to business aviation in Asia," Burns said.  "The growth is tremendous, and we plan to be right there assisting Gulfstream operators with the same exemplary product support we have established in many other parts of the world."

Additional highlights for Gulfstream Product Support in the past year included the October 2009 opening of the second phase of the Gulfstream Savannah Service Center, which is part of a seven-year, $400 million long-range expansion plan the company announced in March 2006.  At 679,199 square feet, the overall service center is the largest maintenance facility in the world built specifically for business jets. The completed service center, which has a maximum capacity of 74 aircraft, puts all Savannah Gulfstream Product Support personnel under one roof for the first time.  Since hangars are connected to back shops, aircraft components can be moved back and forth internally without major transportation issues while an airframe or power plant is being serviced.

In the UK, Gulfstream's Service Center at the London-Luton Airport continues to receive approval from civil aviation governing bodies worldwide to perform maintenance and repairs on business aircraft, most recently in 2009 from Canada and Aruba.

The 7-year-old Gulfstream facility, the only Gulfstream service center outside the United States, is a certified Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Part 145 repair station, which means Luton employees can work on Gulfstream aircraft registered in the U.S. and European Union countries. 

Gulfstream G550

Gulfstream Luton has EASA Part 21 Design Organization Approval, which means its employees can install and repair avionic equipment and cabin interiors for Gulfstream aircraft registered in EU countries. In addition, Gulfstream Luton has approvals from the civil aviation authorities in Bermuda, Bahrain, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Kuwait, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

"Luton is an attractive place for Gulfstream to be," said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream Product Support.  "Our business there continues to expand as the number of Gulfstream operators increases in Europe and the Middle East.  We added six technicians to the staff in the last year and foresee the need for more people in the coming months.  We're very excited about Luton's present capabilities and future potential."

In 2009, Luton's 56,000-square-foot service center and its 123 employees serviced nearly 1,100 Gulfstream aircraft.  To support the growing fleet of Gulfstream aircraft in Europe and the Middle East, Gulfstream Luton has a spare parts and materials inventory valued at approximately $20 million.

Gulfstream operators in Europe can also get their aircraft serviced at six Gulfstream-authorized facilities: Jet Aviation in Basel and Geneva, Switzerland, Hannover, Germany, and Moscow; Altenrhein Aviation Ltd. in Altenrhein, Switzerland; and CORJET Maintenance in Madrid.

FMI: www.gulfstream.com