Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services (LBAS) celebrated 10 years of a successful partnership on the eve of the show. At a party in Berlin’s historic Tempelhof airport, chairman Bernard Conrad stepped down and was succeeded by Hans Schmitz. It was an emotional night for Conrad, whose brainchild the venture was.
Established to service and support Bombardier’s fleet of corporate jets, LBAS was formed as a joint venture in 1997, with LHT taking a 51% stake. The two companies were joined by a third investor, ExecuJet in 2005, which took an undisclosed share, but said it was attracted to LBAS’ strong reputation in Germany.
From an initial staff of 15 in sparsely equipped offices, the company now offers spare parts sales, 24h airport operations, 24/7 aircraft-on-ground hotline service, customer offices, reception lounges, crew and VIP lounges. It also employs 150 people, owns three hangars with a total space of 8,000m2 (86,000ft2) and services most Bombardier types as well as some Beechcraft, Cessna Citation and Hawker jets.
Conrad, who said he had a “dumpling in his throat”, made a point of naming the first 15 in the team as he thanked everyone who had contributed to the company’s success, whilst looking to the future. Managing director Andreas Kaden was bullish about the facility’s prospects and hinted that the German air force may well take some VIP versions of Bombardier’s Global 5000, bringing new employment opportunities to the facility.
Source: Flight Daily News