Story ID: 614
Rolls-Royce Bolsters Bizav Lead
By: Ian Sheppard
Caption: With three engine lines serving bizav, Rolls-Royce believes it will retain its leading position as the provider of power plants for corporate jets.
Word Count: 681
Rolls-Royce (Booth A073) pioneered the power-by-the-hour concept in mainstream aerospace. And the business aviation version, CorporateCare allows aircraft owners all-in-one, worry-free care for their engines at a fixed price.

Steve Friedrich, v-p sales and marketing for civil small and regional engines, told AIN, “We’ve got a milestone coming up–we’re about to reach 2,000 aircraft covered.” He said that this has grown from 1,000 in 2010, and 1,500 in 2013. “There are now 1,930,” business aircraft worldwide that are covered by CorporateCare, he added.

Friedrich said that R-R now has a 70 percent market share in the business jet sector with its BR700 line, the older Tays, and the AE3007 family. He said, “We’ve been the market leader since 1999.”

Not only do customers appreciate the engine manufacturer taking the risk, Friedrich maintained, but brokers say that CorporateCare “really helps sell the aircraft,” especially if it has been on the program since it was first placed in service. And being on the larger-cabin aircraft side has helped to “weather the economic volatility” as this sector proved far more resilient during the downturn after 2007.

“We’re still positioned for growth,” Friedrich claimed, especially with the BR725 on the Gulfstream G650ER and Cessna Citation X+. But he admitted that “large-cabin customers are very demanding and expect a very high level of service and reliability.

“But for more than 50 years we’ve been serving this market, and we have been able to leverage our technology base. We have a deep understanding of the technology.” Friedrich added that business aircraft engines will benefit from core Rolls-Royce research and technology programs that are also directed at its Trent engine line and future programs, in particular “Advance” and “UltraFan”, which could deliver a 25 percent drop in fuel burn over current engines. “Already our [business jet] engines are the most environmentally friendly,” Friedrich claimed.

He mentioned that senior v-p Andy Robinson had done an excellent job overseeing global service delivery for R-R’s small and medium engines division. “He and his team have done a phenomenal job of improving service delivery.” A dedicated service desk for business aviation customers is now available 24/7/365, he added.

In an attempt to further improve service levels, Friedrich said the company has been “measuring missed trips” to refine how parts stocks and AOG (aircraft on ground) capabilities are dispersed worldwide. One of its performance measurements is AOG response and resolution time, “and it’s now under 24 hours,” he told AIN. “We have continued to geographically disperse our parts distribution centers and measure the time to ship, etc.” At the moment, the main ones are Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai as well as those in Europe (such as at London Heathrow Airport) and “an extensive network in North America,” representing “almost 70 percent” of the business jet fleet powered by R-R.

“We’ve also been asking customers where they’re flying”, he said, and looking ahead to plan for one-off events. “We’re expecting high traffic in Brazil and Rio this summer for the Olympics, so we’re making provisions in staff and parts.”

Friedrich admitted that customer feedback was vital and the manufacturer relies upon it a lot, along with the network of authorized service providers–“there are 57 now, and we continue to attract new partners. We will be announcing new European providers at EBACE too.”

He also said the company is “focusing on technical publications,” for example 3D tech pubs for the BR710, “and enhancing the user interface.”

“We also continue to enhance engine health monitoring, for example for the G450/550, with auto-downloads, and similarly, with the Global 5000/6000. We are looking at improving the downloads. The most important thing is getting data faster.” Downloads usually occur when an aircraft can access the WiFi hotspot at an FBO. “The G650 can do it in flight too,” he told AIN. R-R engineers continue to develop better ways to process data, as well. For example, they are developing algorithms that help to “proactively” identify impending problems.