StandardAero has achieved a couple of engine overhaul milestones and continued to see stronger than expected activity despite the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the MRO provider announced at NBAA-VBACE. Among the company’s milestones are the recent completion of its 21,000th Honeywell TFE731 engine overhaul, as well as the completion of more than 650 HTF7000 overhauls since receiving Honeywell authorization for that engine repair and overhaul work in 2016.
Overall, the engine repair and overhaul business has been better than expected in 2020 at StandardAero, said business aviation division president Tony Brancato during a virtual news conference this morning.
“Our business aviation division has held up really well throughout the pandemic and we’re showing some strong results,” Brancato said. “We’re seeing a good pipeline of volume coming through. We’ve seen some unanticipated improvements quite frankly in scheduled bookings and shop visits. We’ve even seen some higher inputs than prior to Covid-19. Many business aviation operators have used this downtime as an opportunity to bring their assets in for early maintenance, and our MRO shops are continuing to book and schedule well into 2021.”
He said as the company enters a new year, it’s seeing positive signs such as increased flight hours. “We’ve learned how to work with Covid and deliver for our customers and they’ve learned how to work to meet their business needs and their travel needs,” Brancato explained.
If there is one concern, he said, it’s the various global travel restrictions that remain in place. “We need to get those global travelers back in the air. We all need to be safe and tackle Covid together.”
From a corporate standpoint, StandardAero has been designed to lessen the effects of a downcycle in business, the current pandemic notwithstanding, Brancato said. “Covid-19 is quite different than anything we’ve experienced before but our multi-sector balance of the aerospace businesses we have provided a natural hedge to protect the company in times like this,” he said.
In addition to robust business around the TFE731 and HTF7000, StandardAero also has seen strong growth in its PW300 engine MRO, work of which the company picked up in its acquisition of Vector Aerospace in 2017. StandardAero has also benefitted from its engine exchange business announced earlier this year as well as from demand for its APU and airframe and avionics modifications and upgrades.
Even with the stronger than anticipated business activity in the past year, StandardAero is not fully back to normal in terms of demand. However, Brancato is hopeful that 2021 will bring greater prosperity to StandardAero.
“So certainly as the market recovers we’re going to recapture our growth momentum,” Brancato said. “We’re very positive of that. It’s a great marketplace and we’ve managed this over the last few years and we’re going to continue moving forward.”
