With engines powering more than 3,700 business jets in service, Rolls-Royce ranks as the leading engine manufacturer in this market. That’s a testament not only to the quality of its engines but to its aftermarket service and support, which provides peace of mind and quick AOG resolutions to its customers. This year marks 60th anniversary of its pioneering Power by the Hour (PBH) program that launched the concept of hourly maintenance programs and the 20th anniversary of the launch of the company’s CorporateCare program. This provides a timely opportunity for Rolls-Royce to highlight its commitment to smooth, uninterrupted operations.
“Our customers trust us to deliver outstanding in-service support, and that’s the goal our team is focused on around the clock,” said Andrew Robinson, Senior Vice President of Business Aviation Services and Customer Team.
With that goal in mind in 2019 Rolls-Royce introduced CorporateCare Enhanced. This tip-to-tail, anywhere/anytime, total support program provides complete coverage including corrosion and erosion for the powerplant, including engine and nacelle, priority access to Rolls-Royce’s dedicated Business Aviation Service Network. All labor, troubleshooting, and travel for technicians is included.
“It’s nice and simple: if we provide it, we cover it,” said Robinson of the Enhanced offering. “There are no additional costs for any customer if they're on the program. They really do have the peace of mind that everything is covered, no strings attached.”
Rolls-Royce developed CorporateCare Enhanced together with its Corporate Customer Council, or C3, an advisory group of key customers created to enable direct feedback and facilitate ongoing improvements.
“We asked them, ‘What’s the most important reason for owning a business jet?’,” Robinson said of the program’s genesis. “The reason is, customers want to save time, and these aircraft are indeed time machines.”
As time is at a premium for the customers, availability and reliability of the aircraft are essential.
“Rolls-Royce Business Aviation aims for the highest possible levels of engine reliability plus 100 percent averted missed trips,” said Robinson. “That means no private aircraft running on Rolls-Royce engines, and covered under a CorporateCare agreement, is kept on the ground long enough to delay a planned flight,” he explained. “Our customers told us that to meet that standard, we need to resolve an issue within 24 hours, anywhere in the world. When you consider where these aircraft fly, that can be very, very challenging.”
To ensure customers can fly their aircraft in the most efficient way, Rolls-Royce has set up a dedicated, global Business Aviation Service Network with On-Wing care technicians and more than 80 authorized service centers around the world - the largest and most powerful support network in business aviation. The program has more than 78 mobile repair technicians and stocks spare parts across the world in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. It also has strategically placed lease engines worldwide that are available as temporary replacements if needed. The entire operation is managed by a dedicated 24/7 Business Aircraft Availability Center near Berlin, which is “empowered to do whatever's needed to rescue a customer's aircraft,” said Robinson.
The CorporateCare team handles about 4,000 service events annually, and three years into the Enhanced program, has logged numerous extraordinary examples of what it can do for customers, while simultaneously elevating the definitions of both full and field service.
One memorable call came in from Masset (CZMT), on Canada’s Graham Island off the coast of Alaska, a paved airstrip with no hangar facilities. A customer had flown to this area and the pilot was about to reposition and return in several days. But then the pilot noticed a maintenance message and one of the engines wouldn’t start.
Once initial troubleshooting was completed, the CorporateCare team commenced action. As no support infrastructure was available on the ground Rolls‑Royce chartered a Lockheed C-130, put a replacement engine, tooling, and a team of technicians onboard, and flew to Masset. Amid challenging weather conditions, the technicians jury-rigged a protective enclosure around the engine and the rear of the aircraft and exchanged the engine. And they finished this challenging task in time and the customer could leave the island without any disruptions.
The cost of chartering the C-130 was significant, Robinson noted, but the charge to the customer was zero. “We cover that under the CorporateCare Enhanced program,” he said.
The event taught Rolls-Royce an important provisioning lesson for its global service: “From time to time we are going to be deployed to locations where there aren't any facilities,” Robinson said.
In response, Rolls-Royce developed and commissioned what it calls an “igloo,” a self-contained, palletized inflatable structure designed to wrap around the tail of an aircraft, and large enough to fit two engines inside. Within the igloo, there is power and heating and both engines are shielded from the elements, where our technicians can work in comfort, whether in a desert or Arctic environment.
The CorporateCare team deployed the igloo for the first time in the Maldives, the archipelagic state in the Indian Ocean, for an engine change.
“The igloo worked really well, and we averted the missed trip,” Robinson said. For that operation, the team also handled the more routine challenges that such AOG missions can often entail.
“The Maldives is challenging to get to with an aircraft capable of freighting an engine, and it’s also challenging from a visas and work-approvals perspective,” Robinson said. “We flew a Customer Manager in to work out the logistics, then chartered an aircraft from Dubai to carry the engine.” Along with the igloo, of course.
“Our goal is 100 percent averted missed trips,” Robinson said. “It's almost impossible to achieve, but with our CorporateCare Enhanced network, which enables us to deploy seamlessly, we're currently over 99 percent averted missed trips, with an average AOG response time of about 23 hours.”
Concluded the service specialist: “Despite a pandemic and the logistical challenges it brought us we are beating the targets that our customers gave us, for which I'm very proud of the team.”
Meanwhile, demand for and satisfaction with the program were recently underscored by the signing of the 1,000th CorporateCare Enhanced customer contract. Customers around the world clearly recognize the value of this program with its unrivalled, comprehensive coverage for the full powerplant.