All business aircraft up to 20-years-old are being targeted for retrofit, says company
Flight Options is looking at developing common cockpit layouts throughout the majority of its pre-owned fractional ownership fleet.
The move, designed to "increase the mean time between failure, and to reduce the number of components and spares", will affect around 80% of the line-up, some 60 aircraft, says Flight Options.
Jim Miller, vice president of the Cleveland, Ohio-based company, says: "All business aircraft ranging from eight to 20 years old - the Raytheon Hawker 800s, Beechjets, Cessna Citation IIIs, Vs and Dassault Falcon 50s - are being targeted for retrofit.
"Our Bombardier Challenger 601s, Gulfstream IVs and Citation Jets will be unaffected."
Miller admits there is currently a huge diversity between cockpits, which makes it difficult for crews to move from one aircraft to another. He dismisses as financially unviable a full upgrade to an electronic flight instrumentation system and multifunction displays, which cost over $2.5 million each.
"Our goal is to find a standardised cockpit that will use the same part-numbered displays and components," Miller says.
Flight Options is holding discussions with "small and large" avionics manufacturers, including Honeywell, Rockwell Collins and Garmin, and hopes to select a supplier within the next 18 months.
Miller points out: "There is huge investment involved, each shipset is estimated to cost between $250,000 and $500,000. But the payback should be immense." He explains: "We will be able to standardise training, eliminate unscheduled maintenance, lower overall maintenance costs and improve dispatch rates."
Flight Options plans to operate a fleet of around 90 aircraft by the end of the year, increasing to some 350 by 2005, of which around 300 will be targets for cockpit retrofit.
Elsewhere, BAE Systems has delivered a sixth Jetstream 32EP to fractional ownership provider and joint venture partner Corporate Aircraft Partners (CAP).
Cartersville, Georgia-based CAP placed an order at last year's NBAA show for 10 Jetstream 32EPS and an option for a further 10. The remaining aircraft will be handed over throughout the year "asnew customers sign up to theprogramme".
The company expects to swell its fleet to around 20 J32s within two years and is also eyeing the larger Jetstream 42 stablemate.
Source: Flight International
