Story ID: 456E
Jet Aviation Inks New 787 Completion
By: James Wynbrandt
Caption: Company also announced developments in its Airbus ACJ380 and ACJ350 XWB completion programs.
Word Count: 468
Jet Aviation (Booth A18) announced a new Boeing 787 completion contract, in addition to developments in its Airbus ACJ380 and ACJ350 XWB completion programs.

The 787-9 contract, for an undisclosed customer, is the Zurich-based company’s second 787 completion. Jet Aviation has dedicated “significant research and development” into the carbon fiber composite airframes since 2013, and can integrate a cabin onto a 787 “without modifying the fuselage, avoiding time-consuming and costly repairs,” the company said.

This research “places us in an excellent position to create a finished interior that is truly VVIP, and represents the latest in aviation technology for business aircraft,” said Neil Boyle, senior v-p, global completions. The 787 interior will be installed at Jet Aviation Basel, the company’s completions and maintenance center that has performed completions on 28 Boeings since 1998.

Jet Aviation also announced a partnership to develop VVIP interiors for the ACJ380 together with Geneva’s Sparfell & Partners, the UK’s Winch Design and Germany’s DS Aviation.

“We’ve been excited about this project since Sparfell first approached us with their concept to pool all of our collective expertise to bring a completions solution for the ACJ380 to market,” said Matt Woollaston, Jet Aviation vice president of completions sales and design. He noted that the Jet Aviation team has worked closely with Winch designs “on many projects over the years.”

Sparfell & Partners is a consultancy specializing in business aviation sales, acquisitions, and services; Winch Design designs bespoke interiors for luxury homes, yachts, and executive-configured aircraft; and DS Aviation is an investment company focused on widebody aircraft.

Under the agreement, Jet Aviation will engineer, manage, manufacture, install, and certify a VVIP cabin interior for the ACJ380, the world’s largest airliner. Its Basel facility is “one of the few completions centers in the industry that can accommodate aircraft the size of the ACJ380 for VIP platforms,” the company said.

Additionally, Jet Aviation announced the Basel facility has received approval from Airbus for completions of the ACJ350 XWB (extra-wide body). Like the 787, the ACJ350 has a composite airframe. Jet Aviation can use Airbus' proprietary Easyfit concept to integrate the cabin without airframe modifications, Boyle said, proclaiming his company “ready and pleased to welcome ACJ350 XWB owners and operators” to the Basel facility for completions.

Airbus appointed Jet Aviation to create renderings of an ACJ350 XWB interior displayed at EBACE 2016, and the company is currently building an 8,700-sq-m (93,650-sq-ft) hangar in Basel to meet anticipated increased demand for wide-body completions and refurbishments. Expected to be operational by year-end, the new hangar is “ideally suited for next-generation aircraft such as the ACJ350,” the company said.

The Basel center has completed 23 ACJs since 2000, ranging from the ACJ319 to the ACJ340-600.