The large aerospace industry exchanges, led by Honeywell/United Technologies (UTC), SITA/AAR, and Boeing, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, made their debut at Farnborough with new branding and demonstrations but little progress on securing customers and new partners for their e-commerce ventures.
SITA/AAR is the only one of the large exchanges that claims to have airline customers, announcing that it has started beta testing of Aerospan.com with an unidentified "major international airline", with three airlines signed up to follow, says Hal Chrisman, senior vice-president marketing and business development.
Beta testing started in mid-July and the first phase of the product - technical procurement - will be launched at the end of this month, he says.
Only Honeywell/UTC was able to announce a new partner, signing a letter of intent with BFGoodrich to become a shareholder in MyAircraft.com. Under the terms of the agreement, BFGoodrich will have an undisclosed equity stake and a seat on MyAircraft's board.
The exchange will launch services in the middle of this quarter with trading and e-procurement. Supply chain management functions to be added at the end of September. MyAircraft has yet to sign up airline customers, however.
Boeing, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon unveiled branding and a name - Exostar - for their exchange, which will be operational in stages starting with non-production purchasing from September.
Exostar has no operator customers and is "talking to just about everyone", including EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space), about joining the exchange, says Chris Bade, vice-president strategic planning and business development at Raytheon and an Exostar board member.
By year-end, a "solid management team" is expected to be in place, with an international search underway for a chief executive, he says.
Source: Flight International
