Airbus commercial aerospace aftermarket subsidiary Satair (Hall 1, Stand 1150) plans to introduce a new e-commerce platform in early 2019. Operating until recently as Satair Group, following the 2014 merger of an established Satair business with Airbus Material and Logistics Management, it is integrating the two companies' respective SatairSpares and AirbusSpares parts-ordering portals.
Consolidation is a "necessary and a natural step" in development, says Satair. "Integrating our systems will not only 'smooth' operations, it will give customers a better and easier way of handling business,” according to integration project head Ian Dodgson.
"We could say our current portal is like a VHS player: the job gets done and people know what [to] expect," said digital and business-transformation head Christian Agger. "But we want to be the Netflix of the aviation aftermarket—we will provide the customer with more choices, recommendations, and continuous real-time improvements.”
Satair is a standalone subsidiary of the Service by Airbus business unit set up by Airbus Customer Services in 2015, four years after the airframe manufacturer bought the aftermarket-spares business. A $1.8 billion-turnover company with 1,400 employees operating from 10 locations worldwide, Satair is celebrating 60 years since foundation as Scandinavian Air Trading and its first spare-parts transaction.
With the 2011 Airbus acquisition, Satair claims to have become "the largest independent distributor of [aviation] spares and components." It reports having exclusive, or primary, distribution arrangements for component manufacturers, supplying parts to multi-fleet customer airlines and maintenance companies.
Satair provides material service support for the 7,000-strong Airbus in-service fleet, including logistics, inventory, and battery-maintenance services, up to "full scale" third-party solutions such as integrated material services through subcontracted material management for consumables and expendables.
In the UK, a multi-million-pound Satair investment program has established a new aircraft-battery overhaul and sales facility, close to London Heathrow International Airport. One of the largest such operations anywhere, it services 7,500 civil aircraft batteries annually for almost 200 international scheduled, charter, low-cost, and regional airlines; maintenance companies; and helicopter, business jet, and private aircraft owners.
Satair UK is also one of the largest battery distributors, representing the top-five manufacturers—ACME, Concorde, Hawker Enersys, Marathon Norco Aerospace, and Saft—and plans to expand into other areas. "We are working with Satair and Airbus [to determine] a wide range of stocked parts [with] significant UK demand, and have a development plan for this year and 2019 for both warehousing and repairs,” said Satair managing director and head of operations repair Europe (UK) Jon Ravenhall.