With sales of the aircraft it powers going so well, Rolls-Royce (Booth 5855) has been working hard to enhance its support offering, from the network of authorized service centers to its AOG support and parts stocks.

AIN spoke with Steve Friedrich, R-R’s vice president sales and marketing, civil small and medium engines, just before EBACE. He has been working to strengthen the UK manufacturer’s CorporateCare package, which was launched in 2002 and built on the power-by-the hour support concept pioneered by the company in 1962 for the Viper engine that powered the Hawker-Siddeley HS125.

Over the past 10 years two aspects in particular have developed–one being engine health monitoring and another being global support. The main engines it supports these days are: the BR725 that powers the fast-selling Gulfstream G650 (and the BR710 on other long-range Gulfstreams); the AE3007, which powers the Cessna Citation X and the Embraer Legacy family; and the Tay 611-8/8C, which powers smaller and earlier Gulstream models.

“CorporateCare is a comprehensive fixed-wing engine program for new and in-service engines that completely transfers the risk of maintenance from the operators and aligns the interests of the manufacturer and the operator,” said Friedrich. There are more than 1,500 aircraft worldwide in the program and more than 70 percent of aircraft are signed up for CorporateCare.

Helping to make the program a must-have is continuous expansion of what is included. “We’re enhancing service delivery, growing the service center network from nine at the start of 2012 to 54 by the end of 2013 and we’ll have more than 70 by 2015”–all third-party companies that are company-authorized service centers. “Our growth is global,” said Friedrich. “We’re also making sure we have people geographically dispersed and spare parts pre-positioned.”

Another thing Rolls has done in response to customer feedback is enhance the support desk service it offers so it is not just a “tactical help desk,” but an operator service desk, available 24/7/365. “We have also pre-positioned spare engines around the world and our lease engine pool continues to grow,” said Friedrich.

Rolls-Royce’s activity in this respect involves a large control room and, while it has been focused mainly on airline operators (its Trent engines), the business aviation community is now getting similar treatment. Friedrich said, “We’ve improved protocols and efficiency, with accountability and communications with our teams globally.

“We’ve improved AOG response times and recently opened a new parts distribution center in Los Angeles for BR710 and BR725 parts–and we’re opening more throughout the world,” he added.

In conclusion, Friedrich said, “We think that we’ve been very adept at listening to our customer base and providing for their needs–but we will continue to look at enhancements,” noting that even those not in CorporateCare get the same level of service–“they just pay more for it.” Ultimately, this can hit residual values too, as Friedrich confirmed: “Several brokers, consultants and appraisers out there have told us you’d be crazy not to have CorporateCare.” When it comes to $60 million aircraft, you’d think it was a no-brainer.

What Is Covered Under CorporateCare?

Under its CorporateCare program, Rolls-Royce provides the following coverage for AE3007, BR710/725 and Tay 611-8/8c engines:

•All regular scheduled shop visit costs (labor and materials);

•Unscheduled shop visit costs for non-FOD events;

•Loaner engines during scheduled or unscheduled shop visits;

•Removal and reinstallation labor for operator and loaner engines;

•Transportation to and from overhaul shop for operator and loaner engines;

•Inclusion of all airworthiness directives;

•Inclusion of all recommended service bulletins at shop visit;

•Annual training course at Rolls-Royce U.S. facility for one individual;

•Annual technical publications revision service;

•Engine trend monitoring service;

•Spare parts;

•Worldwide recovery of engine suffering an unscheduled event (excluding FOD);

•Line replaceable unit repair/exchange service including removal and repair labor;

•Scheduled borescope inspection labor;

•Line maintenance labor for A and C checks (BR725 only);

•Alternative lift (BR725 only).