AMAC Aerospace, which has accomplished many impressive milestones since its inception in 2007, is pressing ahead with a billion-dollar order book. 

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, the leading corporate aviation and completion services group has had a “significant number of customers” since its launch and has worked on a number of wide-body aircraft including two Boeing 777s for completion and an Airbus 340 that has been refurbished to the highest VVIP standards. 

Considering the long-term nature of such projects, this is an astonishing achievement in a relatively short period of time, with AMAC having to date delivered 10 major VVIP completion, refurbishment and modification projects, says Kadri Muhiddin, the Group Executive Chairman and CEO of AMAC Aerospace.

Together with Group Chief Operating Officer Bernd Schramm and Group Chief Financial Officer Mauro Grossi, Muhiddin has built a highly skilled international workforce of more than 750 engineers, craftsmen and designers – a head count that is growing at the rate of five to eight skilled personnel each month. 

AMAC Aerospace’s work is divided between VIP completions and maintenance and refit, explains Muhiddin, pointing out its strategically located and extensive hangarage at Basel will soon be further augmented by a fourth hangar.

He elaborates: “Our three maintenance and production facility hangars in Basel airport’s new expansion zone, enjoy generous workshop and office space as well as 31,325 sq m of securely fenced tarmac that opens directly onto the linkage taxiway. 

“We have dedicated one wide-body hangar to maintenance and the second to completions and refurbishment services. The hangars together comfortably accommodate multiple narrow and wide-body aircraft, Boeing B747s, B777s, B787s, Airbus A340s, A330s and extend to service an A380. A third, smaller hangar is designed to accommodate a wide variety of aircraft combinations for simultaneous maintenance work – for instance, two narrow-body aircraft, Boeing Business Jets (BBJs) and/or Airbus A318, A319, A320 or Gulfstreams and select Bombardier jets.”

The fourth hangar is currently under construction and is due for completion in the autumn of 2015, and its addition will provide AMAC Aerospace with more than 28,000 sq m of total work space in Basel. 

“The arrival of the fourth hangar will facilitate redistribution of the workload and enable an expansion in capacity especially for maintenance,” Muhiddin says, pointing out that maintenance has become a “particular area of expertise for AMAC Aerospace”.

Meanwhile, AMAC Aerospace Turkey, located at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, serves clients from all over the Middle East. 

As the exclusive Middle East sales agent for the Pilatus PC-12 NG, the facility offers Middle East customers Pilatus maintenance facilities. Featuring some 1,500 sq m of hangarage and 1,200 sq m of shop floor space, its wide-ranging aviation services include line and base maintenance, defect rectification, AOG (aircraft on ground) support, accomplishment of airworthiness reviews and certificates, automatic dependent surveillance, broadcast (ADS-B) assessment and the development of maintenance and reliability programmes. 

AMAC Aerospace Turkey is providing maintenance services for all Falcon 900 and Falcon 2000 jets and Middle East customers appear to be making the most of the location owing to time-saving and cost-effective solutions offered by not flying aircraft to Western Europe for maintenance, says Muhiddin. 

Early 2015 will see AMAC Turkey add the Falcon 7X jet with the aim of offering MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) services for the entire Falcon family of jets, including C checks. 


REFURBISHMENT

Owners of wide-body aircraft often employ their own interior designers; however, in the course of 2014, AMAC Aerospace delivered its first interior refurbishment project wholly designed by its own professional in-house design team. 

The project, a refurbishment of a Bombardier Global Express, was executed at its state-of-the-art facilities at Basel and involved a high degree of precision engineering, attention to detail, exquisite selected materials and the highest quality of craftsmanship. 

“The eight-month project comprised eight reworked seat-back shells and arm-rests, six reworked bulkheads, two divans and three tables, new carpet throughout and a newly fitted VIP lavatory,” explains Muhiddin. “The completed interior features five single seats together with two double business class seats as well as offering night configuration for sleeping.”

He continues: “AMAC Aerospace’s brief was to deliver a thoroughly modern look. The in-house team used visual effects, the highest quality of materials and craftsmen as well as colour to achieve the desired result. 

“Warm greys and red accents were incorporated into the cabin to give a modern, unified, dynamic look and feel. Textures were introduced with leather, embossed leather, microfibre and wood to provide additional natural tones and shades of colour.”

The Bombardier Global Express was presented and attracted attention and compliments at the 2014 Middle East Business Aviation (MEBA) show held last December at Dubai World Central (DWC), in Dubai, UAE.

Schramm says: “Our skilled craftsmen and women made the transitional leap from an existing cabin configuration to a new design and delivered a superb, thoroughly modern product. AMAC continues to demonstrate its capabilities as a significant centre for completion and refurbishment throughout the world.” 

A recent completions contract announced by AMAC Aerospace involves a nose-to-tail completion of an A320-200. Currently operated in an airliner configuration, the aircraft will be converted to a VIP business jet.  When delivered, the aircraft will offer all amenities such as a master bedroom, master lavatory with shower, a state-of-the-art inflight entertainment system, including audio-video on demand (AVoD), and wireless streaming to passenger’s handheld devices. 

“AMAC Aerospace is contributing its profound understanding of design and engineering expertise by supporting the owner’s designer during the definition process of the VVIP cabin,” says Schramm.

December 2014 saw AMAC Aerospace announce a contract for a cabin reconfiguration of a BBJ for a Middle Eastern customer. The reconfiguration will see the major part of the cabin converted to a VIP lounge with a separate club seating area. New side ledges will be manufactured and installed on each side. Meanwhile, electrical high-low tables will be installed in the rear section of the aircraft. In addition, new breathable divans will add more sleeping positions in the aircraft cabin. Once again, AMAC Aerospace is providing the interior design package.

As 2014 drew to a close, AMAC Aerospace saw the arrival in Basel of a green Boeing B777-200 completion project for a Head of State client, while other jobs in the hangar include a Boeing B747-8 and ACJ 319, scheduled for delivery in the first and second quarters of this year respectively.

The ACJ 319 comes from AMAC Aerospace’s first Asian customer, and marks yet another proud milestone in the company’s history, concludes Muhiddin.