New Interior May Revive Caravan Sales

A nine-month-old program that's allowing Cessna Aircraft Co. to sell more of its Caravan single-turbine-engine airplanes is also helping three Wichita companies grow revenues and add employees. Yingling Aviation, Millennium Concepts Inc. and Global Engineering and Technology Inc. officials say their work in Cessna's Oasis executive interior program for the Caravan has pushed them to add 19 workers between the three companies.

And for Yingling, Oasis sets the stage for a new component to its business, aircraft completions and refurbishment. Until now, Yingling's business has primarily been providing maintenance, fuel and de-icing services for transient aircraft as well as pilot training and aircraft hangars.

"As fate would have it, it's turned out to be bigger than I thought it would," Lynn Nichols, Yingling's president and owner told the Wichita Business Journal 

Nichols says he's added three employees at Yingling since the launch of the Oasis interior program, while officials at aircraft engineering and certification firm Millennium say they've added one engineering designer.

"It's been a really good project for us," says Millennium President Phil Holland.

At Global, which is responsible for Oasis' upholstery and cabinetry, the company has added 15 workers."It's going to grow because, right now, it's on the ground floor," says John Larson, vice president at Global. Larson says Oasis accounted for 5 percent of Global's business last year. This year he expects it will represent 10 to 15 percent of Global's revenues. To date, eight new Caravans have been outfitted with Oasis. Another 10 are scheduled to be installed this year, Nichols says.

Nichols says Oasis will be the catalyst for moving Yingling into aircraft interior and exterior refurbishment work. It's something he's been planning since his acquisition of the company in February 2000. Because Yingling already services airplanes, it makes sense to offer refurbishment as an added service to airplane owners. "It was a strategic fit," Nichols says.

Under an agreement, Yingling has the exclusive contract to install the Oasis interior on all new Caravans. It is not being offered the same deal on used Caravans. The Oasis interior includes leather fixed and swivel chairs, veneer or laminate wood in its cabinetry as well as in fold-out tables and trim, and an optional on-board flight entertainment system that includes three video monitors connected to a DVD player and VCR.

The Oasis interior, which seats 10 passengers, also includes carpeting and other fabrics that are similar to those found on Cessna's Citation business jets. The designer of the Oasis interior, Angie Jackson, has also worked on the design of the Citation line's interiors for Cessna.

Yingling hired Jackson as a liaison between Cessna and new Caravan customers. It's her job to get customer requests included in the interior design as well as work with them before and after delivery of the airplane. Unfortunately, their havent been too many of them. Shipments of Caravans fell to their lowest level in five years in 2003. According to the GAMA, Cessna delivered 57 Caravans in 2003. That's down from 80 shipped in 2002. The decline followed a broader trend of a 3.2 percent decrease in shipments of all U.S.-made general aviation aircraft -- from 2,207 to 2,137 -- and a nearly 17 percent decline in total billings, from $7.72 billion in 2002 to $6.43 billion in 2003.

Cessna believes the Oasis interior will lift sales of the airplane.

"Customers choosing the Oasis interior have been thrilled with the results," says John Doman, Cessna's vice president of worldwide propeller aircraft sales.

FMI: www.cessna.com