Geoff Thomas/DUBAI
Rolls-Royce announced at the show yesterday that it has bought National Airmotive of Oakland, California, a major servicing, repair and overhaul company, in a deal worth $73 million. The new acquisition will be known as Rolls-Royce Engine Services - Oakland.
Speaking at Dubai 2000, Martin Wilson, Rolls-Royce's senior vice-president of marketing and contracts - aero repair and overhaul, said: "We are delighted to welcome this long-established and hugely successful company into the R-R fold. The synergies between our businesses are strong and will provide all our customers for Allison T-56 and 250 helicopter powerplants with what amounts to a one-stop shop for the lifetime of these engines.
Servicing
"We now have 15 similar servicing units operating under our banner, looking after 30 R-R engine types and around 18 not made by us, including commercial, military, industrial and marine."
The acquisition brings R-R's total number of employees worldwide to 9,400, including the Californian company's 400.
It also means that National Airmotive's existing customers - including several North African air forces, the Royal Saudi air force and the air forces of both the UAE and Jordan - will be able to have their T-56 engines serviced by the OEM, the first time that R-R has offered in-house service and re-build coverage of the T-56, still in regular use on 8,500-plus C-130s Hercules worldwide.
Source: Flight Daily News
