Comlux America has won its first widebody completion project, with the announcement of a contact award to provide a VIP interior for an Airbus A330. The aircraft is set to arrive in September 2015 at the company’s completions, refurbishment and maintenance facility in Indianapolis, Indiana and the work will likely take up to two years.

“This [first] widebody aircraft is the start of a new era in the development of Comlux America,” said CEO Jim Soleo, CEO. “We are now capable of offering completion and service work on the whole range of VIP aircraft. Our team is fully committed to delivering our first widebody with the best quality and on time.”

To accommodate the A330 and future widebodies, Comlux America has begun expansion of its current hangar from 128,000 square feet (11,900 square meters) to 157,000 square feet (14,600 square meters). When finished, by mid 2015, this will allow the facility to hold one widebody the size of a Boeing 747-8 and up to six narrowbody airliners simultaneously.

Comlux America is a subsidiary of the Europe-based Comlux Aviation Group, which also offers aircraft management, charter, sales and acquisitions. Group president and CEO Richard Gaona told AIN that Comlux is now seeing a lot of charter demand in the Middle East, where its Boeing 767 and Airbus ACJ aircraft are especially popular.

Earlier this year, Comlux delivered an Airbus ACJ321 to an undisclosed client based in central Asia. More recently, in June, the company delivered to a Chinese customer a refurbished Boeing Business Jet (BBJ). These two deliveries represent the seventh and eighth green interior completions since Comlux America became an authorized service center for both Airbus and Boeing in2010.

The ACJ321 was delivered on time despite having an extremely demanding deadline and, like all other Comlux completions to date, also met or bettered contractual commitments for weight and cabin noise levels. The refurbished BBJ featured extra-wide seats with electric controls that were developed by Italy’s Iacobucci, as well as a high-performance entertainment system. This aircraft allows for four different interior configurations with the lounges and office area being converted into bedrooms asrequired.

The latest deliveries have cleared space in the hangar for an ACJ320 green completion that Comlux was awarded back in February and which is due for delivery in August 2015. Also now in the works is another major cabin refurbishment for a BBJ and one for another ACJ320, which is due to leave Indianapolis by the end of December.

Service HeatsUp

Maintenance activities on the service side of Comlux America’s operations are also getting busier. This is especially the case since the company added Airbus aircraft to a portfolio that already includes Boeing, Gulfstream and Bombardier (for which the facility is an authorized servicefacility).

Learjets and Challengers account for much of the work handled in the maintenance hangar and Comlux is looking to increase its activity with the larger Global models through the introduction of the 10-year 8C check (the first of which it intends to complete this month). It is also adding support for the Learjet 70/75 series to itscapabilities.

Another growth area is supporting the new FANS 1/A+ datalink requirement for which Comlux has developed a new supplemental type certificate covering the Challenger 600s (including the 604 model).