Industry analysts are advised to keep an eye on the Honeywell chalet this week. The company is actively looking for new business partners at Farnborough 2000, according to Jim Taiclet, president of the company's Aerospace Services division.
"We aim to evolve from a provider of services to a manager of services, in partnership with the customer. Honeywell needs to get more involved with forward forecasting, planning and decision making processes, but to do that effectively we realise we are going to need partners in each region," he says.
Representatives from airlines, OEMs and third-party service providers are being wined and dined by Honeywell at Farnborough, and there are multi-million dollar contracts on the menu.
According to Taiclet, Honeywell operates the largest repair and overhaul business in the world with 54 sites across the globe and he sees the European business growing as the company teams up with new suppliers.
"We have a very solid aftermarket and service business in Europe with our flagship site being Raunheim near Frankfurt in Germany. Raunheim handles APUs, propulsion engines and components - all classic Allied Signal products. We have a very high level of customer satisfaction," he says.
"Our second largest site is in Luton and primarily overhauls and part-repairs the former Lycoming-type engines. "We also have a commercial spares distribution centre near London and two wheel and brake shops near Frankfurt and London. Two further sites in Toulouse, France and Hamburg complete the business," Taiclet says.
Negotiations
The Toulouse and Hamburg operations service the Airbus consortium and Honeywell is currently in negotiations to have a number of its products on the A3XX aircraft.
The continued growth in the business jet market is also helping Honeywell. "The fractional owners are looking for a total service solution and corporate owners just want to get on with their core business while we look after their aircraft," Taiclet says.
"We are currently trying to make the merger benefit our customers even more," he continues. "We now have more breadth on any given aircraft, are taking the best practices from both the former Honeywell and Allied Signal companies and using them across the group," he concludes.
Source: Flight Daily News
