Airbus is re-structuring and re-launching the former EADS Sogerma cabin-outfitting business, providing additional capacity and choice to its corporate jet customers in a market where there is strong demand and a shortage of capacity.
Called the Airbus Corporate Jet Centre, the business regroups EADS Sogerma employees and its cabin-outfitting facilities in Toulouse, capitalising on proven experience and building on an established track-record in this specialised field. Airbus will fully support this subsidiary, mainly in project management and procurement.
EADS Sogerma has previously outfitted a variety of Airbus Corporate Jetliner (ACJ) Family aircraft for customers that include Aero Services Executive, National Air Services (NAS), the Venezuelan government and undisclosed clients in the Middle East – as well as some VIP widebodies.
The Airbus Corporate Jet Centre will begin business this summer, initially upgrading an Airbus ACJ Family aircraft cabin for an existing customer. It will build up to outfitting three new Airbus ACJ Family aircraft a year. A majority owned subsidiary of Airbus, the Airbus Corporate Jet Centre will include investment by an outside partner.
Airbus‘ ACJ Family, which features the A318 Elite, ACJ and A320 Prestige, has won more than 80 sales to date. It won 20 sales in 2006 – twice as many as in 2004 – and has led the upper end of the top-of-the-line corporate jet market for the past three years.
Airbus has always taken the view that cabin-outfitting of VIP aircraft is best carried out by specialists, and has previously put in place a network of approved completion centres that comprises Associated Air Center of Dallas, Texas, Gore Design Completions of San Antonio, Texas, Jet Aviation of Basle, Switzerland and Lufthansa Technik of Hamburg, Germany.
All of the approved completion centres also have the capacity to provide related maintenance and other services to their customers.
The Airbus ACJ Family is derived from that of the A320, which recently passed the milestone of 5,000 firm orders and has some 240 customers and operators to its credit.
By far the most modern designs in their class, the A320 and Airbus ACJ Families are unique in offering customers a host of benefits that include the widest and most spacious cabins in their class, new-generation cockpits and fly-by-wire controls, fuel-efficient aerodynamics, extensive use of weight-saving materials such as carbonfibre and fully centralised maintenance.
