20 May 2008 | Ref. 163/2008
Hatfield, Hertfordshire - BAE Systems Regional Aircraft announced today at the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) that it has teamed with Inflite Engineering Services Ltd, one of the UK’s leading corporate aircraft completion, maintenance, repair and overhaul centres and Fixed Base Operator (FBO), to carry out high quality, customised VIP conversions on the Avro Business Jet.
Announcing this teaming arrangement today, Andy Whelan, Sales Executive for BAE Systems Regional Aircraft said: “As market interest in the Avro Business Jet increases, we wanted to ensure that we could offer our corporate customers access to a high-quality, cost-effective completion centre with deep knowledge of our aircraft with reasonable lead times in a market where it is quite normal for completion queues to stretch out for years. Inflite Engineering Services has years of experience on the BAe 146/Avro RJ and has carried out an increasing number of high-quality corporate conversions on the aircraft.”
Founded in 1983, the Inflite Group is a prime supplier to the aerospace market and has grown steadily to reach an annual turnover in excess of £45 million. The Inflite Divisions are based in comprehensive, new, purpose-built manufacturing facilities at Stansted and Chelmsford in Essex and in Manchester. The total surface area occupied by the Group exceeds 600,000 square feet, and is one of the largest privately owned facilities of its kind in the UK.
From the start the group has provided maintenance services to the corporate market at its London Stansted and London Southend Airport bases. For many years the company has concentrated on providing services for the BAe 146/Avro RJ, but it also caters for many other corporate, regional and mainstream aircraft types for which it performs modifications, avionic and cabin upgrades, conversions, line and heavy maintenance, AOG support and storage programmes.
Steve Buckingham, Managing Director of Inflite Engineering Services said today: “we are delighted to work closely with BAE Systems on the Avro Business jet programme. We have unbeatable expertise on this aircraft and we recently celebrated the 500th ‘C’ Check we have carried out on the BAe 146/Avro RJ.”
He added: During the course of recent years we have also built up our capability and expertise in the top quality corporate conversions market. We work closely with design houses to produce many varied interiors and In-flight Entertainment (IFE) options to meet customer requirements. Our most recent programme was for the Avro RJ100 for the Bahrain Defence Force and we are working closely on the Hemus Air RJ70 conversion in collaboration with BAE Systems and Design Q.”
In addition, Inflite has an Executive Jet Centre at Stansted, which is widely recognised as one of the leading FBOs in Europe, setting the benchmark for facilities and service.
About BAE Systems
BAE Systems is the premier global defence and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. With 97,500 employees worldwide, BAE Systems' sales exceeded £15.7 billion (US $31.4 billion) in 2007.
For further information contact:
David Dorman, BAE Systems
Tel: +44 (0) 1582 488336
Email: ddaviddorman@aol.com
John Neilson, BAE Systems
Tel: + 44 (0) 1252 384795 Mob: + 44 (0)7802 337704
john.neilson@baesystems.com
Issued by:
BAE Systems, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 6YU, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1252 384719 Fax: +44 (0) 1252 383947
24hr media hotline: + 44 (0) 7801 717739
www.baesystems.com
