A distinct advantage over scheduled airlines is that business jets can fly to lots more locations worldwide. For example, in the United States there are only 500 airports served by airlines – but about 5,000 can be reached by a business jet. Of course, it can mean that there isn’t much more on the ground than a runway and an air traffic control tower. What happens if a customer requires help at such a remote location? Recently Rolls-Royce was presented with such an extreme and complex challenge.
A customer had flown to a village on a Canadian island in British Columbia called Masset which is very close to the coast of Alaska. After landing, the pilot noticed a maintenance message from one of the engines. The area is beautiful, but not really a business hub – what brings a customer to fly to such a remote airfield?
“The answer is easy enough – the region is famous for its salmon population and is popular during fishing season,” explains Andy Robinson, SVP Services, Business Aviation, Rolls-Royce.
“Onsite failure diagnosis from our technicians and the Regional Customer Manager showed there was a malfunction of the engine preventing it from starting, so the engine had to be removed and exchanged onsite – a very challenging, complex task given the remoteness of the island, the lack of regular transport into the island and the shortage of equipment at the airfield. To complete an engine change you need a crane, trained technicians, specific tooling and ideally a suitable hangar,” said Andy.
None of this existed so the Availability Centre decided to turn Masset airport into a fully equipped service station for an engine change, all with the support of our global services infrastructure. While one part of the team took care of the collection of the lifting tools, a mobile crane, a large tent and tools, others organised the required airlift to get all the equipment to Masset as fast as possible.
A Rolls-Royce powered Lockheed C-130 Hercules landed in Indianapolis (the main site for Rolls-Royce in North America). It was loaded with the spare engine, necessary tooling and people, and departed for Masset. The team arrived on site and immediately started to exchange the engine in the full knowledge that the clock was ticking. With no disruption the airplane could return to service.
“The operation ran like clockwork – all of our team were focused on meeting our customer’s needs and giving the best service in the market,” said Andy Robinson. “Not to mention that the whole recovery operation and associated costs were covered by our industry-leading CorporateCare service package so the customer was not charged. If there had of been a chance that we would have failed to meet the customer’s timeline then under CorporateCare we would have provided 'Alternate Lift' such as a replacement aircraft to ensure the customer met his intended schedule.”
To find out more about Rolls-Royce’s CorporateCare Enhanced services programme for Business Aviation customers, take a closer look at the dedicated website.