Firm Is Strong And Growing Presence In Europe, Mideast, Africa

A missing piece of the puzzle -- the aircraft-sales piece -- dropped into place for Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Service (LBAS) on Tuesday, November 8th at the National Business Aviation Association annual meeting and convention in Orlando, Florida.

"We want to share with you a fresh partnership for complete support," LBAS Managing Director Andreas Kaden said. The German maintenance and modification facility has been joined by ExecuJet Aviation Group, an aircraft sales and aviation management firm which began in South Africa, but is now headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

LBAS can now offer every conceivable service from the selection and completion of a new aircraft, to all maintenance and upgrades throughout its entire life cycle, to its disposition and the acquisition of a replacement. LBAS is a certified EASA and US FAA Part 145 repair station, and also holds other national certifications.

"Including -- and I would like to stress this -- Russia," Kaden said.

ExecuJet isn't just signing a contract with LBAS. "We send them a lot of maintenance business already," ExecuJet Chief Executive Officer Niall Olver said at the press conference. It's also taking a significant equity position, buying a share the company from Bombardier.

The privately-held firm with 51% owned by Lufthansa Technik, 29% by Bombardier, and the remainder in ExecuJet's hands.

"Why partner ... in the LBAS venture?" Olver asked. "To make a long story short, our business is predicated on aircraft sales, and the integration of services in support of aircraft sales. LBAS of course have a strong reputation in aircraft maintenance. We believe that we're a good fit as partners."

"Welcome onboard, partner," Andreas Kaden said.

In response to a question his reasons for taking an equity position instead of some other form of partnership, Olver said, "We've found, around the world, that it just makes the most sense to have money in the game."

LBAS concentrates exclusively on Bombardier's lines of business aircraft: the LearJet, Challenger, and Global Express lines. It has access to Bombardier technical data including the all-important STCs.

The company began as a joint venture between Bombardier and Lufthansa Technik in 1997. At the outset, LBAS employed about 17 workers. It now keeps 110 full-time employees busy. All technicians are factory-trained by Bombardier.

The men in the photo are, from left to right: Bernhard Conrad, Senior VP, Completion Center of Lufthansa Technik; Niall Olver, CEO of ExecuJet Aviation Group; James Copeland, VP Bombardier Business Aircraft;  David Olcutt, VP Customer Support, Bombardier Business Aircraft; and Andreas Kaden, Managing Director of LBAS.

(Aero-News thanks Gregor Schlaeger of Lufthansa Technik for the photo[s] of LBAS's maintenance facility in Berlin. The other photos came from the LBAS website or were taken by Aero-News staff photographers).  

FMI: www.lbas.de/en/