Results in AIN’s 2023 Product Support Survey showed a tie in the business jet category between Gulfstream and Textron Aviation, each of which posted an overall average score of 8.1—just one-tenth of a point ahead of last year’s top scorer, Embraer. Meanwhile, helicopter maker Leonardo finished in the top spot among all companies still producing aircraft with an 8.7 rating. Finally, Pilatus’s support of the PC-12 turboprop earned the highest score among all in-production fixed-wing aircraft at 8.6, equaling its score from 2022.

Virtually every company surveyed continued to feel the results of supply chain constraints, reactions to which appeared varyingly effective in mitigating its impact. Efforts to relieve the pressure took several forms among the respondents, including more communication and hands-on help for suppliers, increasing inventory levels, and maintaining closer ties with teardown agencies to help supplement its parts inventory.

Other factors included a need for more staffing as several companies added or continue the process of adding more square footage for MRO operations and parts warehousing.

A total of 593 respondents completed the survey this year, 402 of which hailed from North America. Latin America followed with 50 responses and Europe and Asia-Pacific with 46 each, with the remainder from the rest of the world.

AIRFRAMERS

Gulfstream

One of two airframers to rise to the top spot in the business jet segment, Gulfstream saw its total score of 8.1 result from very high scores in overall aircraft reliability (9.0), technical representatives (9.1), warranty fulfillment (8.7), and factory-­owned service centers (8.2). The company saw its weakest score in cost of parts (6.0). Although, parts availability, at 7.4, appears low compared with the rest of Gulfstream’s results, the company finished ahead of each of the other four business jet makers—underscoring the ongoing supply chain struggles throughout the industry. Gulfstream’s score this year inched up by 0.2 from 2022 results, propelling it to the top spot.

The Improvements

Intent to ensure that customers receive the exact same level of support regardless of their location, Gulfstream has embarked on an infrastructure expansion plan that saw it announce in April the continued growth of its Savannah, Georgia-based MRO facility. Already one of the largest dedicated business aviation MRO facilities in the world, Savannah will see the creation of an additional 200,000 square feet of workspace for inspections and maintenance, avionics upgrades, and interior redesigns.

Following the Savannah announcement, the company opened a new repair and overhaul shop at Farnborough in the UK that will bring significantly more capacity for work on wheels, brakes, and batteries. Other projects either finished or in progress over the last year include expansion of facilities in Mesa, Arizona; Fort Worth, Texas; and Farnborough.

Over the past year, Gulfstream also has invested heavily in spare parts storage and distribution, locating warehouses near key airports such as Atlanta Hartsfield and Amsterdam Schiphol. It purposely chose the Dallas-Fort Worth area as the location for its new component repair and overhaul facility for its proximity to the largest air cargo operation in the U.S. and DFW Airport.

The company says it invested more than $1 billion in parts inventory around the world to help mitigate supply chain disruptions. Another strategy centers on its expansion of in-house repair and overhaul (R&O) capabilities to help it gain more control over the supply chain. According to Gulfstream, R&O proficiency aligns with its sustainability goals, allowing it to extend aircraft life cycles while reducing the need for raw materials and manufacturing of replacement goods.

Finally, Gulfstream strengthened its workforce by identifying and placing new roles within the support organization and adding headcount. The company now employs some 5,000 people in more than a dozen MRO locations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. It claims to maintain a sharp focus on employee training and has committed significant investment in on-the-job training resources.

Now preparing for G700 entry into service, Gulfstream support teams have undergone what the company calls extensive training to support delivery of the aircraft

Textron Aviation

Also notching a composite score of 8.1—up from 2022’s 7.8, Textron Aviation benefitted most notably from a high score in warranty fulfillment (8.9), technical reps (8.8), and factory-­owned service centers (8.2). It also scored best among the five OEMs in the category in cost per hour programs with a 7.9 rating and only a tenth of a point behind Gulfstream in parts availability with a score of 7.3. However, it performed comparatively weakly in overall aircraft reliability, tying Embraer at 8.6 for the lowest score among the five business jet airframers. Other conspicuous ratings included an 8.4 for authorized service centers, which, although relatively high, placed Textron at the bottom of the rankings in that category.

The Improvements

Textron Aviation’s expansion of its global footprint, people, and inventory highlighted its product support offering over the past year, giving Beechcraft, Cessna, and Hawker customers more ready access to parts and services they need to maintain their fleets. Specifically, it added team members in Europe and Latin America to further expand its presence outside the U.S. and established a 1CALL AOG support team in Spain as well as customer support teams in Germany and Brazil to facilitate parts ordering, returns, and warranty claims.

Now building another 180,000 sq ft of space at its parts distribution warehouse in Wichita, Textron Aviation aims to invest further in inventory to support not only new models such as the Cessna SkyCourier and Beechcraft Denali, but older models as well. The company says the expansion will make it easier for customers to conduct business with features such as a dedicated lane for customers to drop off or pick up parts in person and opportunities for consolidated shipments.

Textron Aviation recently added a stockroom in Fairbanks, Alaska, allowing Cessna Caravan and SkyCourier customers to receive parts faster than those shipped from the company’s headquarters in Kansas. It also opened a new satellite service center at Dallas Love Field to support customer demand in the high-traffic Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. The location offers customers additional flexibility for support and complements the company’s unscheduled AOG response.

Textron also continues to adopt digital platforms such as the Service Management app, which eases customers’ review and approval of work and connections with service centers.

Meanwhile, Textron Aviation redesigned its parts product website to make it easier for customers to ensure they order the correct parts. Customers can shop for parts by aircraft model and save them for future use. They also can track their orders from the moment the company receives them, giving operators visibility of the order’s shipment status.

Separately, Textron Aviation has instituted new pricing policies. Customers on ProParts fixed-cost programs benefited as their rates increased at a lower percentage than the Consumer Price Index adjustment for 2023.

Finally, ProAdvantage maintenance budgeting and price protection programs now cover Wi-Fi hardware installed on customer aircraft at no additional cost.

Embraer

Embraer’s 8.0 overall score placed it in the middle of the grouping of five business jet manufacturers, albeit only a tenth of a percentage point below the two top-ranking OEMs and the same as the Brazilian manufacturer posted last year. Last year’s winner in the category also saw high ratings in technical manuals (8.5), technical reps (8.6), cost of parts (the highest at 7.1), and authorized service centers (8.7). Lingering supply chain issues likely resulted in a low ranking in parts availability (6.4).

The Improvements

Brazil’s Embraer took deliberate steps to confront supply chain disruptions and higher fleet utilization with an investment in additional inventory and human resources around the world to support throughput, resulting in more than a 20 percent increase in parts availability compared with its performance in 2022. Meanwhile, revenues generated by the company’s services and support division has already returned to above pre-pandemic levels and backlog growth compared with last year stands at 8.3 percent.

Embraer now counts more than 680 aircraft enrolled in its Executive Care program, including the fleet of a new customer from Brazil—fractional operator Avantto. The company also appointed ExecuJet as its authorized service center for business jets in South Africa, at Lanseria International Airport near Johannesburg.

“Capacity expansion is our priority in [our] MRO network,” said the company. “Last year we increased staffing in our MROs and we plan to keep capacity growing, hiring experienced technicians, and enhancing our portfolio. The expansion is driven by [sustainability] efforts. We are working on LED lighting upgrades and on battery-powered [ground service equipment] replacement.”

Other sustainability measures include 25 hours of free carbon-neutral flight hours for enrollees in the Embraer Executive Care program through 4AIR to offset carbon emissions during their first year of ownership.

Separately, as pilot training capacity becomes ever more strained, Embraer has taken steps to boost the number of student slots and availability of full flight simulators. For example, it added a simulator in Las Vegas to address U.S. demand. A joint venture between Embraer and CAE called ECTS will operate the machine at the new CAE Las Vegas Training Center near Henderson International Airport. Six Phenom-series simulators reside in Dallas, London Burgess Hill, and Guarulhos Airport in Brazil. Along with CAE for the Phenom fleet, Embraer has partnered with FlightSafety International for Praetors. Embraer plans for a new Praetor simulator in Orlando during this year’s third quarter.

So-called digital transformation stands as a key pillar in Embraer’s support foundation. The company recently launched a new feature within its AHEAD health analysis and diagnosis system called Health Monitoring, which provides trend analysis and detects parts degradation to avoid AOGs and unscheduled maintenance. Furthermore, the company’s Smart Troubleshooting program has resulted in about 30 percent less troubleshooting time and a 9 percent decrease in labor expenditures. Finally, the company’s Beacon maintenance-­coordination platform tracks scheduled and unscheduled events and allows technicians to accelerate return to service from any device, eliminating the need for emails and multiple phone calls. 

Dassault

Finishing with an overall score of 7.9, Dassault ended up just two-tenths of a point behind the leaders in the overall average category, thanks to a first-place score in authorized service centers (8.8) and relativelly high scores for warranty fulfillment and technical reps (8.7), and overall reliability (8.9). These scores also helped boost its overall average by four-tenths of a point compared with 2022. The company’s weakest scores this year reflected its high cost of parts (6.4) and relatively low-rated cost-per-hour programs (6.8) and AOG response (7.6). The Falcon service provider finished in the middle of the grouping of five bizjet OEMs in parts availability (6.9) and technical manuals (8.4).

The Improvements

Dassault this past year has continued to commit major investments in expanding and improving its customer support network while working with key vendors affected by the supply chain crisis to monitor recovery plans and boost inventory levels. One of those investments, namely a new spares management system, required some “debugging,” said the OEM, but it now performs as intended. The company also has increased the size of its rotables inventory as an added resource for operators and a means to minimize the effect of supply chain disruptions.

Finally, as the Covid crisis led to more retirements and other employment dislocations, Dassault boosted recruiting efforts in all service disciplines.

Meanwhile, Dassault expects to see the opening of additional service centers following the establishment of its ExecuJet Dubai MRO early this year to serve Middle East owners and operators of the newest and largest Falcons. Other new MRO centers will open soon in Kuala Lumpur and, later, in Melbourne, Florida, in 2025. In India, Dassault operators now have access to a new authorized service center in New Delhi through Indamer, complementing two other ASCs in Mumbai.

Through the Dassault MRO network, the company has developed what it calls efficient service packages for major inspections, including Falcon 7X 2C checks (a 16-year inspection), minimizing downtime and cost for operators.

Finally, as the Falcon 6X approaches the cusp of service entry, Dassault has assembled a dedicated team to manage pilot and maintenance training for the type. Dassault senior v-p of worldwide Falcon customer service Jean Kayanakis said customer training will begin shortly in a full-flight simulator at CAE Burgess Hill in the UK.

“Dassault MRO centers will be ready to support the aircraft at EIS with trained technicians and $80 million in parts and tools,” said Kayanakis. “We’ll have several go teams in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East ready to dispatch when needed.”

Bombardier

Bombardier finished with the same 7.6 overall score as last year’s survey, placing it a half-point behind the leaders and three-tenths of a point behind fourth-place Dassault. The Learjet (out of production), Challenger, and Global manufacturer trailed the other OEMs in factory-owned service centers (7.3), AOG response (7.4), warranty fulfillment (7.8), technical manuals (7.7), and technical reps (8.1). However, it posted relatively high scores in authorized service centers (8.6) and overall aircraft reliability (8.7).

The Improvements

Recently executing a plan to more than double its aftermarket services network, Bombardier designed its infrastructure expansion to complement its “Bring Your Jets Home” campaign, meant to encourage owners and operators to return to the OEM for service. By the end of last year, the plan came into clearer focus, resulting in a doubling of its worldwide aftermarket footprint to nearly 1 million sq ft. Along with the facilities expansion, the company remains in the process of hiring more than 300 technicians around the world.

Over the course of six months, Bombardier opened new service centers in Melbourne, Australia, and Miami. It also inaugurated major facility expansion in Singapore, London Biggin Hill, and Paris, where it operates a line maintenance station. The company also broke ground on a new Abu Dhabi service center last December.

Reaction to supply chain constraints resulting from the Covid pandemic included increased communication with primary and sub-tier suppliers and deploying Bombardier staff members to their facilities. The company also acquired more critical parts and raw materials, adding inventory purchased in the fourth quarter of 2021 and first quarter of 2022. It also maintained close ties with third-party aircraft teardown agencies that provided removed inventory.

Over the past year, Bombardier’s customer support team accelerated response time to AOG events, boosted support capacity with the expansion of its service center network, introduced its Smart Link Plus connected aircraft system, lengthened maintenance intervals, added a customer support response center in Singapore to allow for round-the-clock service, and maintained a network of 54 field support staff around the world.

Bombardier expanded its Mobile Response Team (MRT) last year as more customers asked for mobile aircraft maintenance. In the U.S., it added new teams in Charlotte, North Carolina; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Hammond, Louisiana. In Europe, MRT crews in Geneva and Paris have expanded to include more trucks and 14 new staff members. Bombardier’s MRT now operates 21 trucks in the U.S., 11 in Europe, and two in Dubai.

Now that several aviation regulators this past April approved Bombardier’s Smart Link Plus connected aircraft program, operators of most in-service Challenger and Global aircraft have clearance to install what Bombardier calls the most advanced aircraft health monitoring system in business aviation.

With Smart Link Plus installed in their aircraft, customers enjoy real-time aircraft performance monitoring, remote troubleshooting capability, and live OEM data and support. Under the program, customers benefit from constant connection to Bombardier’s customer service team, which receives automated real-time notification of critical aircraft events, including takeoff and landing advisories, in-flight fault notifications, and all related data. Moreover, with the customer’s permission, Bombardier can automatically send engine trends and exceedance notifications to the powerplant OEMs in accordance with their coverage programs.

TURBOPROPS

Pilatus

PC-12 manufacturer Pilatus—the clear winner of the turboprop group—outscored every other OEM across all three categories except Leonardo and Mitsubishi, registering an 8.6 overall average rating and placing seven-tenths of a point ahead of Textron’s King Air support apparatus. Meanwhile, Pilatus’s 9.3 rating in overall aircraft reliability not only placed it ahead of Textron’s position in the turboprop grouping, but three-tenths of a point above the winner of the business jet category, Gulfstream.

Matching its score of last year, Pilatus outscored Textron’s King Air support in every category and finished well above all companies except Mitsubishi in AOG response with a score of 8.6. Other highlights included a 9.1 score in factory-owned service centers, an 8.9 in warranty fulfillment, and 8.8 in technical manuals.

The Improvements

Pilatus Aircraft’s expansion of its authorized service center network saw the addition of five locations around the world, helping boost the support division’s revenue contribution by 10 percent in 2022.

Further growth came in the form of a new paint shop at its location in Broomfield, Colorado, and the acquisition of sales and service center Skytech. Founded in 1976, Skytech maintains two East Coast bases—in Baltimore, Maryland, and Rock Hill, South Carolina—and has served as a Pilatus-authorized center since 1993.

In Europe, Pilatus opened a factory-owned line station at EuroAirport Basel equipped with a PC-12 NG to dispatch its AOG recovery team. The start of construction of a new repair facility in Buochs, Switzerland, and a composite structures building in nearby Ennetburgen reinforces its European presence.

Among its engineering and design improvements, Pilatus instituted several systems enhancements to the PC-24 jet to extend the model’s mission profile and boost reliability.

For its CrystalCare program, Pilatus now offers renewal packages of three or five years in response to customer input. Designed to complement standard warranties, CrystalCare eliminates the uncertainty of maintenance cost variations and includes a mobile recovery service that dispatches mechanics and parts when a maintenance need arises away from home.

Separately, the company held seven customer-oriented operators’ conferences and launched the enhanced MyPilatus 2.0 customer portal.

Pilatus reached several delivery milestones since AIN published its previous customer support survey, starting with the shipment of its 2,000th PC-12 as the fleet’s flight-hour total surpassed 10 million. Separately, the world PC-24 fleet reached 200 airplanes, which together clocked a total of 60,000 flying hours. Finally, the company delivered its 260th PC-12 NGX. That fleet has accumulated 120,000 flight hours.

Textron Aviation (King Air)

Although unremarkable compared with its turboprop rival Pilatus, Textron managed a respectable 7.9 composite score for its King Air support, also the same as 2022. Textron’s authorized service center score of 8.7 placed it above several others in that category, while its AOG response of 7.2 placed it last among every company in every grouping. However, it did finish relatively high in overall aircraft reliability at 8.9, a score matched only by Pilatus (9.3), Gulfstream (9.0), and Dassault (8.9)

The Improvements

See summary of Textron Aviation improvements above.

HELICOPTERS

Leonardo

The leading composite scorer in all three categories of aircraft (except for out-of-production Mitsibishi), Leonardo posted an 8.7 rating—a tenth of a point above turboprop maker Pilatus and six-tenths of a point ahead of business jet OEMs Gulfstream and Textron Aviation, maker of the Citation, Hawker, and Beechcraft models. With an overall rating this year that was one-tenth higher than last year’s, Leonardo finished with more scores of 9.0 or above than any other company (except for Mitsubishi). Specifically, it posted a 9.2 in factory-owned service centers, 9.3 in authorized service centers, 9.5 in warranty fulfillment, and 9.0 for its technical reps. The company also finished ahead of all other aircraft in the survey in cost-per-hour programs (8.9) and cost of parts (8.2). Leonardo’s AOG response (8.4) also exceeded all in-production companies except Pilatus at 8.6.

The Improvements

Leonardo’s efforts to ensure customer satisfaction have taken several forms, including closer proximity and quicker responsiveness of its support centers. Recent examples include the expansion of its gearbox MRO in Melbourne, Australia, as part of what it called the “reinforcement” of its Australian subsidiary. In the U.S., it opened a new facility in Milton, Florida, to provide dedicated service to customers in that area.

The investments add to the capabilities of its Gulf of Mexico support center, whose offerings this year will expand to repair services for AW169 blades. Other initiatives include the opening of a training academy in the U.S., a new helicopter service and logistics center in Brazil, a new service center at Paris Le Bourget Airport, and soon, another one in London.

Meanwhile, supply chain disruptions continue to demand operational agility and organizational ingenuity.

“Clearly, the pandemic and the geopolitical scenario have affected the industry in every part of the value chain, from raw material sourcing to end-customers’ operations,” the company said.

“To overcome these new challenges, we have extended the firm order horizon toward our suppliers and we have included additional flexibility in the volumes projected for the next two years, anticipating a substantial financial risk, in order to ensure continuity to all our customers.”

The company added that it has streamlined its order management process, including with the online Leonardo Store, increasing efficiency and transparency of any logistics order—including AOG orders.

“Despite the constraints over the past years, we are constantly investing in increasing and strengthening our network and partnerships worldwide in order to be even closer to our customers and to guarantee a widespread offer of capabilities and services in proximity to their areas of operation,” Leonardo stressed.

As part of an effort to leverage data sharing and analytics in recent years, the company welcomed the new Diagnostic Services Tower in Sesto Calende, Italy. Engineers can monitor thousands of parameters and analyze data generated there to support customers’ fleets and optimize service in all operating scenarios.

Finally, Leonardo launched a new family of so-called enhanced training devices called virtual extended reality (VxR) simulators. The first device of its kind designed and built with native helicopter OEM characteristics, the VxR uses qualified Level D full flight simulator data and features real flight dynamics, performance, and cockpit components, allowing users to interact with the physical cabin and panels. It integrates with a VR headset and uses a visual database to provide a 360-degree immersive view for pilots. Leonardo’s initial focus centers on the single/light twin market with the development of a single-seat simulator cockpit for light helicopter simulation. The device can also support multiple platforms with the integration of additional cockpits.

Bell

Bell did not garner enough responses for inclusion in this year’s survey results.

The Improvements

Led by 20-year Bell Helicopter veteran and former director of support and services Chris Schaefer since July 2022, Bell’s “Customer Experience” unit counts several successes in the past year, including increasing time between overhaul for transmissions on Bell 407s from 5,000 to 6,000 hours, launching its extended maintenance customer advantage plans (CAP), upgrading the avionics suites in the Bell 429 and 412, and reaching the final stages of the integration of Australia’s Eagle Copters Maintenance.

The company also reports favorable changes to its warranty policy for 2023, thereby benefitting its Customer Service Facility (CSF) network by allowing spare parts warranties to start upon installation rather than a year from delivery. It also began modernizing the first nine CH-146 Griffons under its $800 million Griffon limited life extension program, which involves replacement of avionics, engine upgrades, and integration of new sensor systems.

Meanwhile, due to an increase in CAP volume, the company expanded its Miami operation to support component repair and overhaul. Bell says its CAP Select program means it can customize those offerings to meet individual needs of customer. The company plans to expand CAP offerings, allowing customers flying less than 200 hours a month to benefit from simple and easy-to-understand coverage plans.

Finally, Bell this year plans to share details of a still unannounced plan involving its partnership between TRU and Bell Training Academy, whose students have benefitted from virtual reality advancements in their training curricula.

Airbus Helicopters

Airbus Helicopters did not garner enough responses for inclusion in this year’s survey results.

The Improvements

Airbus Helicopters continues its efforts to innovate and, in its words, transform the company to benefit its customers with its recently restructured HCare offering. Calling HCare the best combination of support and services for each customer’s unique profile, the program offers different packages—namely, HCare Initial, HCare In-Service, and HCare Lifetime. Airbus tailors the three levels of support to the life cycle of customer fleets to best match the needs of high or moderate flyers with wide-ranging operating environments.

In the realm of ensuring fleet availability, Airbus Helicopters conceded that spare and overhauled parts represent a key area of concern for its customers,