Only three years old yet fully mature Europe`s only MRO center for Bombardier business jets
Though only three years old, the Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Service Center (LBAS) at Berlin-Schoenefeld has become Europe`s leading provider of MRO services for Bombardier`s fleet of Learjet, Challenger and Global Express business jet aircraft.
Barely three years after its founding on 19 November 1997, LBAS has gained yet another important customer, the well-known JetConnection Businessflight AG, launch customer for the new Bombardier Continental Super-Midsize Business Jet. Finding that LBAS fully meets its high quality and service standards, the Frankfurt firm is entrusting to it the complete servicing of its two Learjet 60 jets. Similar maintenance contracts have already been signed for 12 other aircraft, a notable mark of that customer`s confidence in the new company.
With nearly 70 employees, LBAS is a joint venture of Lufthansa Technik AG (LHT) and Bombardier Aerospace, the world`s third-largest producer of civil aircraft. Serving a territory that includes Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the CIS countries, LBAS has acquired more than 60 firm customers, out of a total of almost 150 potential customers, with an aggregate fleet numbering some 250 aircraft. The aircraft types serviced by LBAS include the Learjet 31, 35, 36, 45, 55 and 60, the Canadair Challenger CL 600, 601 and 604 as well as, since January 2000, the Bombardier super-long-haul business jet Global Express and the Beechcraft KingAir series 200, 300 and 1900.

The highly qualified specialists at LBAS do comprehensive servicing ranging from relatively frequent maintenance checks to extensive overhauls like the one done during the 12-year inspection, which is comparable to the D check of an airliner. As one of the few providers of these services in Germany, LBAS is currently performing the first check of this kind with a Learjet 35.

The highly mobile LBAS aircraft-on-ground (AOG) team springs quickly into action whenever a customer has a problem anywhere in Europe. As a first in Europe, the LBAS experts in Berlin are currently equipping a Learjet 35 with the RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation Minima) system. This modification of the altimeter system increases the accuracy of the flight-altitude indication, a necessity for reducing the mandated vertical separation between aircraft flying in the same air space. The system meets the latest air-traffic-control requirements for European air space at an altitude above 29,000 feet, which are to go into effect in July of 2001.

LBAS is of course approved by Europe`s Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and has been certified by many other countries as qualified to service the jets in question. LBAS is also Europe`s only MRO operation authorized by the manufacturer to modify an aircraft`s airframe and/or avionics on the basis of the supplementary type certifications developed by Bombardier.

This fall, LBAS has set new standards of customer service with its newly created and expanded customer and crew lounge, complete with a rest area for VIP passengers and crews. Topping off this service are the offices, conference rooms and meeting rooms that it makes available to its customers, as well as a reception desk at which the customer can book a hotel room, rent a car and make travel arrangements. Another advantage to the customer is the company`s location in the Berlin-Schönefeld airport`s general-aviation terminal (GAT), which is open 24 hours a day.

Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services is an important member of LHT`s alliance of companies serving Europe`s business-aviation sector. So far this year, as part of its aircraft-completion business, Lufthansa Technik has customized six Executive Jets (Boeing Business Jets and Airbus Corporate Jetliners) and has delivered them on schedule to the respective customers. LHT will of course also be servicing those aircraft in the years ahead. Six to eight more will be completed and delivered during 2001.

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