The strong investment Rolls-Royce has made in customer service was vindicated by the results of this year’s AIN Product Support Survey, which placed the engine maker in joint number-one position. Last year the engine maker established a new operational service desk in Dahlewitz, Germany, and made a series of reforms aimed at making its product service delivery team more responsive. It has also expanded its part distribution network with a new facility at Los Angeles International Airport and in recent months has expanded its support network around the world.
“Our service delivery is now the best in the industry,” said Stephen Friedrich, Rolls-Royce’s sales and marketing vice president of civil small and medium engines. “We have significantly reduced missed trips and have reduced AOG [aircraft-on-ground] turn-times. The business jet market has a higher level of expectation in this regard.”
Rolls-Royce (Booth 4253) believes that its CorporateCare support contracts are a key to its strong track record, due to the program’s emphasis on engine health monitoring and what Friedrich called “fixing problems before they are problems.”
As well as avoiding AOG situations and missed trips, the company says that having engines covered by CorporateCare enhances asset value and liquidity, mitigates maintenance cost risk and protects against unscheduled events. “Aircraft buyers have recognized the value of the program, and aircraft that are covered by it sell at least twice as quickly as others,” said Friedrich.
There are now more than 1,600 customers covered by CorporateCare and more than 70 percent of new aircraft with Rolls-Royce engines are enrolled in the fixed-cost-per-flight-hour program.
Another aspect to Rolls-Royce’s efforts to strengthen its commitment to product support has been the expansion of its network of authorized service centers. At the start of 2012, there were nine such facilities but by the end of 2014, the manufacturer expects this number to increase to 84. Much of this growth has occurred in Asia, the Middle East, South America and the U.S.
Service Centers Grow
At the EBACE show last May, Rolls-Royce signed an agreement authorizing ExecuJet Aviation’s service centers in China, Malaysia, South Africa, Nigeria and Australia to perform line maintenance, removals and installations for BR710 engines. Two years earlier, the companies had agreed that ExecuJet’s Dubai facility would provide the same services for the BR710, as well as for the AE3007A turbofan.
Also in May, Rolls-Royce approved Bombardier’s service centers in Amsterdam and Singapore to maintain BR710 engines installed on the airframer’s Global Express, Global XRS, 5000 and 6000 twinjets. Back in 2012, Bombardier’s facilities in Dallas, Tucson, Hartford and Fort Lauderdale received the same approval.
Under the leadership of customer service senior vice president Andy Robinson, Rolls-Royce is reviewing where it needs to locate training personnel to ensure that it has the right skills to implement its support strategy. The company benefits from having numerous long-serving employees, such as western U.S. regional sales executive Adrian Cooper who this week is marking 35 years with the company.
In addition to the Global family, the BR710 engine also powers Gulfstream’s GV and G550 models. Rolls-Royce’s BR725 turbofan is on the larger G650, and the Tay 611 is in service with the GIV, G350 and G450. The group’s AE3007 engine powers the Cessna Citation X (including the new Mach 0.935 X+ model) and Embraer’s Legacy 600 and 650.
According to Rolls-Royce, it has been the market leader in providing engines for large-cabin business jets for the past 15 years. It defines the large-cabin sector as aircraft with cabins of more than 1,000 cu ft and with more than 4,000 nm range.
“Being in the large-cabin sector has allowed us to weather the downturn and our position has remained very robust,” Friedrich told AIN. In his view, this part of the market has done better in recent years because of strong demand for new aircraft from key emerging markets such as Asia, where customers require more range, and also because many buyers are wealthy individuals who have not been as impacted by the downturn.
