Abu Dhabi-based Gulf Aircraft Maintenance Company (GAMCO) Small Engine Overhaul Division (SEOD) used to be anti-airshows - until participating in a South African show four years ago landed it a major contract.
"So from that point on we changed our philosophy," says Mike Sweeting, sales and marketing, GAMCO SEOD.
This year sees GAMCO SEOD's Paris debut and, as it did at Farnborough last year, it is exhibiting as part of the Middle East pavilion.
While GAMCO experienced success with its small space on the pavilion at Farnborough it decided to increase the space at Paris, particularly to highlight the fact that "we've added the Honeywell 331 APU series to our product lines, which means we can now attack a lot of the airlines which are buying 777s and aircraft with APUs in them," Sweeting says.
Along with approval for the repair and overhaul of the GTCP331 APU series, GAMCO SEOD is also approved for the full overhaul and repair of the Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) PT6 engine series.
However, Sweeting says stand size doesn't matter. The important thing is to participate and have "somewhere you can say to someone 'come and meet us on the stand'". And there's also the passing trade.
Sweeting himself is seconded from the UK's Preston Air Services, which is contracted to manage and operate the small engine overhaul division on behalf of GAMCO.
He says GAMCO SEOD currently has more than 60 customers from four continents. Clients include Gulf Air, Etihad Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines and the Saudi Royal Flight.
Sweeting believes GAMCO SEOD's Abu Dhabi location puts it in a strong position and said that for 3,500 miles (5,600km) in any direction the company has no competition.
Source: Flight Daily News
