Interview with Jacques Dauvergne, Director of Materials and Services at Air France Industries |
| Interview by Guillaume Lecompte-Boinet |
|
|
31 MAR 2017 | 740 words
|
 |
© Air France |
|
|
|
Le Journal de l'Aviation interviewed Jacques Dauvergne, Director of Materials and Services at Air France Industries (AFI) during a visit with the Association of Professional Aeronautics and Space Journalists (AJPAE). An occasion to focus on equipment maintenance in the MRO division of Air France, a rapidly growing activity.
What are AFI's strong points in terms of MRO Equipment?
We have quite diverse competitors, with original equipment manufacturers, OEMs, aircraft manufacturers, independent MRO companies and, of course, the airline companies that, like us, are involved in MRO activities. In this context, I think that one of our strongest points is precisely that of being a large air transport group with a worldwide fleet of around 515 aircraft, including those of KLM. This gives us good reflexes in order to respond to the demand of the client airline companies that work with us, as we have the same economic and operational problems as they do. The other strong point is that we have an AOG centre (aircraft-on-ground), which is available 24/7 at the Roissy-CDG platform, as well as another at Amsterdam-Schiphol. So we can despatch parts to a client within the hour.
Are you also able to master data?
With our experience in engineering, we can carry out predictive MRO thanks to big data and thus anticipate the risks of immobilising an aircraft, which is vital for our parent companies and is great for our third-party clients. We gather data on the equipment and can detect weak signals.
What are the biggest trends in the MRO Equipment market?
First and foremost, it's a growing market, from 5 to 10% a year, so a higher rate than the total MRO market (+4%). We mainly sell complete support, that is with access to a stock for the client that is worth several hundred million Euro. We invoice our clients per hour of flight, and so deal with almost 2000 pieces of equipment a week, with 160 client companies. Twenty years ago, we focused largely on the European market. Since then we've become international, branching out to the Asia-Pacific region, for example, with clients such as Air Asia, Qantas or Air New Zealand. And moving towards the Middle East, with Etihad, with which we've signed a contract for their 30 Boeing 777s. And not forgetting South America, with Latam, for example. On the other hand, the United States is a very specific market, where we acquired Barfield in 2014. This has allowed us to make a breakthrough with the contract signed with JetBlue for their A320 fleet, for instance. What's more, we've gradually opened service centres in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and Miami.
How is the competitive climate evolving?
It is characterised by the convergence of competition between MRO stakeholders, freelancers, parts manufacturers and aircraft manufacturers. This phenomenon puts a great pressure on prices after four or five years, especially as this situation is combined with a movement towards consolidation in the airline companies. Even if constructors wish to obtain parts on the market, numerous airlines prefer to stick with us, or have their equipment repaired by "pure player" freelancers.
In this context, what role does your investment policy play?
Since the start of the millennium, the group has invested around 400 million Euro in the construction of modern industrial facilities in France and the Netherlands. For example, we've invested 40 million Euro in the Helios de Roissy site, and at Villeneuve-le-Roi, near Orly, we've dedicated 80 million to an equipment repair workshop, the Eole site. And every year we have a lot of investments in our stocks of parts, particularly for the new long-haul airplanes, the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350. This has paid off, as we already have a dozen clients with the 787, amounting to around 150 aircraft. With the A350, everything is just starting to take off. We are in the investment stage at Paris and Amsterdam-Schiphol and we've already signed with Thai Airways and Air Caraïbes.
How many people have you hired?
In my department, the new recruits made up around one hundred people in 2016, with internal career moves, permanent contracts and block release training. Overall, AFI has hired almost 300 people in France. We strongly believe in apprenticeships, and for this reason we often work with apprentice training centres. Moreover, we have 300 permanently-employed apprentices in our workshops and our design offices, covering the majority of the professions at AFI.
|
|
|
| |
They made this section possible |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top stories |
|
|
|
|
|
Top stories
|
