Dutch completions specialist Fokker Services Group (FSG) is partnering with Aviation Glass to replace standard inner polycarbonate window lenses with real glass on an Airbus ACJ330 completions project.
Last week at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Germany, FSG outlined how this solution offers more light and better scratch resistance than traditional polycarbonate windows. The product complies with V60, heat-release, and smoke-density requirements, which will help it secure an EASA supplemental type certificate for use in commercially operated aircraft carrying more than 20 passengers.
The project will be completed in FSG’s facilities in Woensdrecht in the Netherlands, where the company has recently opened a widebody hangar as part of an expansion plan to cement its position within the European completion and conversion services market.
“Normally, the window treatment is made from polycarbonate and there will always be some compromises to make in terms of brightness and color...[There's] a greyish tint…to pass smoke and toxic approvals,” FSG sales director Boaz Bal told AIN. “For this project, that was not desired so we were looking into how to overcome that problem and one of the solutions was to partner with Aviation Glass. There are some advantages to real glass in addition to being fully transparent. First of all, it's scratch resistance and secondly, it is resistant to UV light damage, which can occur in the traditional polycarbonate treatments.”
FSG said it plans to work with Aviation Glass on developing combined offerings and Bal said that increasingly more applications are being done with real glass. “This is not our first partnership with Aviation Glass,” Bal said. “We worked together in 2019 on the Dutch governmental BBJ turnkey project in partnership with Boeing where we certified a real glass shower door.”
Roald Vos, director of aircraft completion and conversion services with Aviation Glass ,said, “It’s never been easier for business aviation customers to make the upgrade to glass and say goodbye to scratched plastic interior window panes. Combining forces with FSG means we can already offer certified glass lenses with existing window shades, saving customers time and money. "