Autumn 2014


Private Aviation & Premium Travel
Lufthansa Technik to dazzle Dubai


Lufthansa Technik will be present at the upcoming Middle East Business Aviation (MEBA) event in Dubai, UAE, showcasing its spectrum of services including its expertise in VIP aircraft completions, which now has a new face at its helm.

MEBA will be held at Dubai World Central (DWC) from December 8 to 10 and Lufthansa Technik will be present at Stand 500.

Lufthansa Technik’s new Senior Vice President VIP & Executive Jet Solutions is Walter Heerdt, who has headed its Marketing and Sales department since 2003.

Appointed to the new position in September, Heerdt, who holds a degree in engineering, succeeds Dr Hans Schmitz, who is retiring early after seven years at the helm of Lufthansa Technik’s VIP division.

Heerdt joined Lufthansa in 1979 and initially held a variety of management positions in the engine services division. In 1995, he was named Vice President and in 1998 Senior Vice President of Engine Services. These roles were followed by three years as Managing Director of the large MRO subsidiary in China, Ameco Beijing, a joint venture between Lufthansa and Air China before he became Senior Vice President Marketing and Sales for the entire Lufthansa Technik Group in 2003.


FIRST CHOICE 

With more than 60 years of experience and more than 90 narrow- and wide-body VIP aircraft completions, Lufthansa Technik is an unrivalled market leader in this business. Besides all well-established Airbus and Boeing aircraft types, Lufthansa Technik is already working on the newest wide-body generations such as the Boeing 787, 747-8 and the Airbus A350. The implementation process for 787 completions is running and the first 747-8 VIP completions are already being performed at the Lufthansa Technik facility in Hamburg.

Lufthansa Technik’s worldwide network of companies offers the unmatched flexibility, fast delivery times, high reliability and the individual caring that VIP and executive jet owners look for.

The company offers an unparalleled completion process including interior design, engineering, on-site furniture production and finally cabin installation, covering all Airbus and Boeing VIP aircraft. Plus, with Lufthansa Technik’s worldwide presence and on-site services, it provides its customers with top-class operational support around the clock and around the globe.

Customers can enjoy all the benefits of a one-stop provider for completion, modification and technical services focused on quality and maximum aircraft availability, it says.

One of Lufthansa Technik’s innovative products for business aviation includes nice HD, a next generation business jet cabin management and entertainment system. nice HD is now supporting a studio approved content service with latest Hollywood Blockbusters, provided by IDAIR (a joint venture between Lufthansa Technik and Panasonic Avionics Corporation) and optimised for business aviation.

Other innovations introduced by Lufthansa Technik this year include a unique family of chairs for VIP aircraft and a pre-customised VIP cabin.

The new line of chairs is simply called ‘chair’ and enables designers to adapt the seat to designated purposes and interior requirements, from basic working chairs, to lounge and dining chairs or to full flat sleeping beds.

Besides weight and space savings in the cabin, ‘chair’ also offers other new features such as “active seating” for children and adults.

The pre-customised cabin offers a large variety of configurations and is mission optimised with regards to cabin interior weight, seating comfort, sufficient stowage volume and the integration of client oriented features for maximum comfort and usability, like a king-size bed, vanity table, master bathroom with full size shower and a private office.

This year, Lufthansa Technik also launched Inairvation, a joint venture with List components & furniture, for integrated business aircraft cabin interiors.

Inairvation offers complete, integrated solutions for interior fittings for business and private jets. Its services range from inflight entertainment to interior design, from wiring to lighting technology.

In the past, Lufthansa Technik has supplied nice HD and List components & furniture’s cabin interiors independently to aircraft manufacturers. From now, when commissioned, the two will together implement innovations that follow the theme of ‘Technology meets Cabin’, with the aim of blending entertainment electronics, furniture and lighting together in an advanced design.

In other news, Lufthansa Technik is investing almost €60 million ($76.5 million) in a new wheels and brakes shop in Frankfurt, Germany. The new building will be put into service at the beginning of 2017. It will enable Lufthansa Technik to continue to grow in the segment of wheels and brakes maintenance.

The building will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology in order to exceed the requirements of the German Energy Saving Ordinance by 30 per cent.

From spring 2015, an ultra-modern workshop with a gross floor area of 14,500 sq m will be built on a 35,000-sq-m plot at Frankfurt’s East Harbour. Operations are scheduled to commence as early as the beginning of 2017.

In addition, this opens up opportunities for further growth with customers outside the Lufthansa Group which is already strong. The workshop’s layout, together with a high degree of automation and optimum machine utilisation, will further enhance Lufthansa Technik’s competitiveness.

“We made a conscious decision to use a location near Frankfurt airport to be able to offer our customers high-quality products paired with short and reliable supply routes. We’re convinced that this will enable us to further extend our market leadership in this segment,” says Lufthansa Technik Chairman August Wilhelm Henningsen.

The existing workshop at Frankfurt airport has long exceeded its capacity limit: Originally built for 15,000 wheels and 2,500 brakes, more than 26,000 wheels and 4,500 brakes per year are now repaired there. The freed-up space will be used by other Lufthansa Technik units in the future.

Due to the high levels of stress they are subjected to and their importance for the safety of flight operations, aircraft wheels and brakes require a significant amount of maintenance. Lufthansa Technik takes care of all the necessary work – from wheel or brake changes to small repairs or complete overhauls. Every wheel or brake passes through numerous stations until, after a thorough check in accordance with internationally applicable aviation regulation, it is approved in the final inspection.

Lufthansa Technik is a leading manufacturer independent provider of maintenance, repair, overhaul and modification services for civil aircraft. With tailored maintenance programmes and state-of-the-art repair methods, Lufthansa Technik ensures the unbroken reliability and availability of its customers’ fleets. Lufthansa Technik is an internationally licensed maintenance, production and development organisation. The six business units of Lufthansa Technik (Maintenance, Overhaul, Component Services, Engine Services, VIP Services and Landing Gear Services) serve about 750 customers worldwide.





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