AAR extends its international footprint further |
| Romain Guillot |
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05 JUL 2017 | 671 words
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© AAR |
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The multiplication of AAR's flight hour support contracts was not won by chance, as Kathleen Cantillon, Vice President of Strategic Communications for the American MRO company explained to us during the Paris Air Show. AAR Corp also took advantage of the show to renew its component support contract with Air Austral. The Reunion Island airline's two 737-800s have been covered by a PBH contract with AAR for the last 8 years. The American independent MRO company has also just signed a new contract of this type with Kuwaiti airline Wataniya Airways.
Kathleen Cantillon told us that the number of PBH contracts has risen quickly from 12 to 32, with over 1300 commercial aircraft covered by this type of support contract. They cover repairs, component replacement and AOG support. In Europe, this relates to airlines such as Enter Air, Small Planet and the airlines of ASL group. In the Middle East, Flydubai is also covered and AAR has just signed a contract with Viva group for its airlines in Peru and Colombia, the first of this type for AAR in Latin America. "We have programmes starting on every continent; this is a really good time for us", said a delighted Kathleen Cantillon.
She also reminded us that AAR has recently set up operations in London, opening offices in Gatwick which are specially dedicated to this type of service. Historically, AAR was mainly geared towards North America, but also had a repair centre in Amsterdam as well as warehouses in Europe. With solutions such as Airinmar (online repair management) AAR finally had all the elements to develop this type of service, while also being able to offer its customers landing gear repair services in the United States or heavy works on airframe for example. Kathleen Cantillon explained to us that with a single provider, operators can have a whole range of services and this has been a major source of growth. "Many airlines saw that they could save money by outsourcing this type of service", she adds, specifying that for start-ups, for example, this enables them to free up assets while improving their operations. It also enables larger airlines to reduce costs.
Kathleen Cantillon also mentioned the parts distribution activity for OEM on certain markets, notably for replacements and spares. "This means that they can use our commercial teams and our warehouses for better distribution". AAR is currently working with over fifty OEMs, both for commercial aviation and for government aviation.
Concerning AAR's MRO activity, Kathleen Cantillon revealed to us that a new base outside the United States would soon be unveiled. The American company will also be taking advantage of the coming MRO Europe conference and exhibition in London in October to present new digital services for operators. "Of course, there are many companies who also propose this type of service, but we've been present in the sector for a very long time and we have a huge quantity of data and we fully understand what customers need when it comes to real-time visibility to show them where their equipment is". On this topic, last November AAR launched a tool named "Online Parts Store" for new parts from OEM, but will also be integrating its own inventory into it. AAR currently has over a million parts in stock. It is by trading parts in particular that the American MRO company has built up its activity over the last sixty years.
"This is a really busy time for us, with this transition towards services", continues Kathleen Cantillon, even if many other actors are also making moves in this market, with aircraft manufactures such as Airbus and Boeing to the fore. "But we think that there is a huge amount of room available for us as we are independent and we can really offer what we think is the best solution, the one which will save airlines the most money, as by being a smaller actor, we can customise our programmes more easily". And so conclude: "I think we're more agile".
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Romain Guillot
Chief editor
Cofounder of Journal de l'Aviation and Alertavia
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