Sabena technics (Stand 623) announced here at MEBAA it has been selected by Saudi Arabia’s Al Atheer Aviation to refurbish an Airbus A310. The aircraft’s bedroom, bathroom, private office, and lounge will undergo extensive soft furnishing replacement, including seat and divan upholstery, with the contemporary design incorporating Arabian motifs. Additionally, the IFE system will be upgraded with an HD screen. The cabin work will take place at the same time as a heavy maintenance C-check, with the entire project slated for completion in three months.

“Thanks to our large range of capabilities, our customer will benefit from a complete turnkey program with a single interface for design, materials, systems, as well as associated EASA STC,” said Pascal Jallier, vice-president of VIP Programs for the Paris-based MRO. “We are confident that our highly skilled and experienced craftsmen will be able to meet this tight schedule and deliver a cabin to the highest business aviation standards.”

Captain Daif Alsolamy, CEO of Al Atheer, said, “The reduced downtime of the project is extremely important to meet with our specific operations,” adding, “Sabena technics offers us the right combination of maintenance and VIP cabin refurbishment skills.”

Secure Aircraft

Sabena technics is also debuting here in Dubai the new version of Vigiplane, the security system Sabena purchased a year ago. Installed on an aircraft’s landing gear when on the ground, Vigiplane monitors and records a 360-degree view around the aircraft. Sabena engineers have made the new version 40 percent smaller, 40 percent lighter, and 50 times as powerful, now incorporating a full color, higher resolution camera, a new 250 GB digital video recorder, and cloud monitoring server. All events recorded by Vigiplane are now easily and quickly transmitted in real time to the operator via smartphone, tablet or laptop, using 4G LTE data technology. More than 70 Vigiplane units have been sold over the past year, according to Sabena.