Story ID: 335 Comlux
Comlux Awarded Its First ACJ320neo Completion
By: James Wynbrandt
Caption: Swiss company sets accelerated design pace to complete the interior in 10 months.
Word Count: 471
Switzerland’s Comlux is here at NBAA 2017 highlighting the forthcoming completion of an executive-configured ACJ320neo—the Swiss company’s first neo interior installation—with the green Airbus scheduled for induction at the Comlux America facility in Indiana in September 2019. Four design firms—Paris-based Alberto Pinto Design, the UK’s Design Q and Winch Design and Unique Aircraft of Germany—have been invited to submit design concepts to the undisclosed Asian customer. Final selection is expected in the third quarter, an accelerated decision date chosen “to optimize the lead-time execution for design, engineering and custom fabrication phases before input, so we can revolutionize the integration and certification phases that occur in the hangar,” said Scott Meyer, CEO of Comlux Completions. The goal is to perform the completion in 10 months. “We are committed to delivering this interior within one of the shortest completion cycles to date,” Meyer said. The company is currently conducting several ACJneo and BBJ Max cabin completion sales campaigns and is “expecting to sign more contracts before the end of the year.”

Late last year Comlux America teamed with these same four houses to develop interior design and floorplan concepts for the neo, the Next Generation ACJ, and its Boeing counterpart, the BBJ Max 8. The goal: to capture the different cultures, styles and tastes of potential customers, according to Comlux. Each design house developed rendering concepts for both airframes, from which Comlux created concept books to share with potential customers and jump-start discussions about interior design.

“Comlux recognizes that every client has different tastes and styles; therefore, by partnering with these four design companies and working together, both Comlux and the designers can progress opportunities and prospects worldwide while fostering innovation for all clientele,” said Meyer.

The slated neo completion appears to be the first project resulting from that initiative.

Comlux also performed the completion on the first EASA-certified executive-configured cabin in a Sukhoi Business Jet (SBJ), redelivered in April. The 19-passenger execliner features a contemporary corporate interior with a VIP area in the forward cabin anchored by a club-four seating area across from a side-facing sofa, and an executive section with 15 first-class seats behind. The SBJ, the executive version of the Sukhoi Superjet 100, is owned by Kazakhmys Corp in Kazakhstan. 

Comlux has also signed a letter of intent with Rockwell Collins for installation of the latter’s cabin products in the Swiss company’s VIP completions. The products include Rockwell Collins’s Venue cabin management system, VIP seating, divans, Nano 3X interior lighting and the option for Inmarsat Jet Connex satcom service. This marks the first program combining products and services from Rockwell Collins’s Commercial Systems, Information Management Services and new Interior Systems businesses since its acquisition of B/E Aerospace in April this year.