BAE Systems Businesses Showcase Total Support Solutions for Commercial Aviation Market

Sept. 23, 2011
BAE Systems will be exhibiting its new Attendant Control Panel (ACP) at MRO Europe.

BAE Systems will use its participation at this year’s MRO Europe exhibition and conference in Madrid (27-29 September) to highlight its ‘Total Support’ offerings from two business units. Located at booth 730/732, BAE Systems is represented by its Commercial Avionics business and also by its Regional Aircraft business.

BAE Systems Commercial Avionics is a supplier to the commercial aircraft industry, with a range of high integrity products and services that improve operational safety and performance. The company is committed to best-in-class customer service to maximise in-service reliability and minimise Turn-Around-Times.

BAE Systems will be exhibiting its new Attendant Control Panel (ACP) at MRO Europe. The ACP makes work easier for flight attendants and adds new functionality. The ACP is an integral part of the new Boeing Sky Interior ¯ recently delivered on the new 737-800 for Flydubai and has been taken up as an option by the majority of customers for the airplane.

The ACP is an FAA-certified design and features a durable, colour touch-screen display and a variety of peripheral and network ports, which is configurable to airline preferences. The ACP controls a number of cabin system functions including dynamic "mood" lighting, environmental systems, and data collection of cabin equipment faults. A key feature of the ACP is a laptop-based software tool that allows airline personnel to modify lighting requirements associated with changes to the passenger cabin layout and to control and modify lighting scenes onboard the aircraft.

Whilst BAE Systems touch-screen technology has been initially designed for commercial aircraft, it is also well-suited for military applications. The system can be easily installed on new and/or, legacy aircraft, making its touch-screen controls an optimal solution for the US Air Force’s air refuelling aircraft KC-46A – whose design is based on a reconfigured Boeing 767.

The Regional Aircraft business of BAE Systems currently provides support and engineering services for over 750 BAE Systems-built aircraft worldwide.

A growing trend among major European operators is the consolidation of their support and maintenance requirements to try and seek as much of a ‘one-stop shop’ as possible. This new market trend, coupled with Regional Aircraft’s wide ranging and well-established support solution has resulted in the development of a Total Support proposition that covers not just the traditional airframe components supported by the company but an extended offering to cover the other major repair and overhaul areas affecting the cost of ownership.

Part of this new approach is the revamping of its Rate Per Flying Hour programmes, including the well-established JetSpares programme – called Jetspares 2020 – into a new format that will offer extended coverage and increased flexibility in a package that will take this business forward into the next decade.

BAE Systems has identified five key elements to the Total Support package, available in a modular format with individual operators taking the elements that return best value to them. These five elements are Airworthiness Support, Spares and Logistics Support, JetSpares 2020, Technical Support and Modifications.

A strategic Total Support solution contract was signed in late 2010 with Ireland’s CityJet, part of the Air France-KLM Group, and covering a five-year renewal of the JetSpares rate per flight hour agreement, together with Continued Airworthiness, and Technical Support Services and the supply of Technical Publications.

BAE Systems is now seeking to build on this contract and has bids in place with other major fleet operators to secure other strategic Total Support contracts.