Airbus Corporate Jets (Chalet 1) expanded its service network in the Asia Pacific region with the appointments of Haeco Private Jet Solutions (Booth H425) in Xiamen and ST Aerospace in Singapore as authorized centers, the company announced yesterday at ABACE 2016.
The addition of the two new facilities brings the total number of ACJ service centers in the network to five. Along with Haeco and ST Aerospace, the network includes the Airbus-owned Airbus Corporate Jet Center in Toulouse, France; Comlux America in Indianapolis, Indiana; and Sepang Aircraft Engineering in Malaysia.
The network provides support to customers of the more than 180 ACJs in service worldwide, including line and heavy maintenance, interior refurbishing and cabin and system upgrades. ACJ customers additionally receive services such as single-point-of-contact access to the corporate jet customer care center team, dedicated customer support directors, training and customized maintenance programs.
Separately, the company also announced that Airbus Corporate Jets has secured its first contracts to retrofit ACJs with Ka-band satellite communications. The initial orders were placed by Comlux and an undisclosed customer.
The Ka-band system will provide faster and more capable Internet access, with real-time television, audio and video-streaming rates at up to 50 Mbps. The retrofit requires an antennal larger than typically used for today’s satellite communications.
Airbus will begin installing the system on new Airbus aircraft beginning in the second half. The system also is available for third-party installation.
