Will Grow To 30 Airplanes By The End Of The Year

Continental Motors Group has partnered with Xinjiang Tianxiang Flight School in Xinjiang Province, Northwest China to expand their CD-135 powered DA40 fleet. Tianxiang’s current fleet of 16 aircraft will expand to 30 with four airplanes delivered this week and 10 more delivered by end of 2015.

In addition to expanding its fleet, Tianxiang’s strategy is to increase the flight hours of its existing fleet through improved maintenance practices. To that end, a Tianxiang delegation including Mr. Ouyang Xinxing, Chief of Maintenance Department and Mr. Zhulei, Purchase Manager visited Continental Motors Group’s CD135 and CD155 diesel manufacturing facility in St. Egidien, Germany.

Tianxiang Flight School was established four years ago and has since set records with its CD-135 powered DA40 fleet, which is flying an average of 13 hours per day and averaging 13,500 total flight hours per year. Over 70 percent of these aircraft have reached 1000 hours total flying time, with some up to 1200 hours a year.

During the delegation’s visit, Tianxiang acknowledged and expressed appreciation for the efforts made by Continental Motors to improve customer service, in particular the spare parts ordering experience. In 2014, Continental Motors established warehousing capabilities in Chinese capital Beijing, hence drastically reducing the lead time for parts delivery in Asia. This translated into reduced inventory and aircraft down time for Tianxiang and other Continental Motors clients in the region.

“Efficient operation depends on qualified maintenance work and close cooperation between operator and engine manufacturer. Continental Motors’ capabilities of quick response to customer needs and supplying localized service are strengthened. The establishment of Continental Motors’ offices and warehouse in Beijing is very convenient for our flight school,” said Mr. Zhu Lei, Purchase Manager at Tianxiang.

“Tianxiang’s performance is remarkable, particularly because Tianxiang is a young flight school,” said Jan Helwig, Head of Sales and Service at Continental Motors in Germany. “We recognize their accomplishment to date and are happy to welcome their mechanics to the increasing number of maintenance seminars we hold in China. First and foremost, it is a priority for us to support our customers overall maintenance capability level. Jet-A burning engines are particularly well suited to the very demanding environment of flight schools, especially those who accumulate many hours per annum. Altogether, 4000 plus Continental Diesel engines have been delivered to date and have performed more than 4 million flight hours to their operators. This demonstrates the efficiency, safety and reliability of Continental Motors Diesel engines,” continued Helwig.

“We are deeply impressed by Continental’s manufacturing facility in St Egidien. Its modern workshops; safe and efficient manufacturing; control system and qualified workers, give us even more confidence in operating Continental Diesel engines,” said Mr. Ouyang, Chief of Maintenance at Tianxiang.

(DA40 pictured in file photo)

FMI: www.continentalmotors.aero