On The Record with
WOLFGANG MAYRHUBER, CHAIRMAN, LUFTHANSA TECHNIK

Lufthansa Technik's Mayrhuber

Business is so brisk for top-of-the-line business jets that Lufthansa Technik (LHT) is already planning to add a third completion line. But not yet.

"We are growing at the right pace," Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Chairman of LHT, told Show News when questioned about the booming corporate jet market. "But I don't like the word 'boom'-it suggests there is that other end of the business cycle that no-one likes!"

Lufthansa Technik "has grown at a pace that we can cope with and which will guarantee our quality and deadlines," he says. "We are carefully expanding, but it is managed expansion and we don't go the next step until we have the right people in place. When we open our third business completions line for XXL (extra large corporate aircraft-Boeing BBJ & Airbus ACJ size upwards), we will have the qualified staff there well before day one."

LHT, set up just five years ago by its parent company, the German flag carrier Lufthansa, is a maintenance, repair and overhaul operator and airline maintenance service provider.

"At our VIP & Executive Jet Services company in Hamburg, both lines are sold out for next year with BBJ and ACJ completions," reported Mayrhuber. "Currently we have a Boeing 747SP, an Airbus A340, a Boeing 777 and two BBJs in various stages of interior completion.

"The first BBJ took us seven months to complete. We've improved this figure to under four now, but they can still take up to six months to complete if the client has specified extras. Our latest ACJ, the second completed for the Italian government, was finished two weeks ahead of schedule. We were complimented by Airbus Industrie on our workmanship and punctuality. So far we have completed two ACJs and four BBJs."

LHT has also signed contracts to customize the Fairchild Aerospace Envoy 7 from 2003 onwards.

"We hired 92 young graduate engineers last year so that they will bring newer and better solutions for the benefit of clients," Mayrhuber proudly explained.
Here at NBAA LHT has released more information on its 'Defender' security system and is exhibiting technical innovations and solutions-such as virtual reality engineering-at its booth.

Lufthansa Technik will add a new completion center, but not just yet.

Virtual reality engineering enables clients to see what their planned interiors will look like. Chosen textiles and furnishings can be scanned-in and layout changed by moving around the virtual cabin on-screen. Customers do not even have to go to LHT's Hamburg studio to view their corporate interior--it can all be done on the web.

Clients who do go to Hamburg will find fitting rooms containing full-size mockups of BBJ and ACJ cabins in which they can check furniture and fitting selections in 'real life' before they grant final approval for outfitting. An inflight entertainment demonstration studio gives customers the opportunity to assess acoustics.

"From the corporate completions contracts we get a lot of spin-off work for our aircraft maintenance and repair companies," said Mayrhuber. With 111 maintenance stations around the world (mainly at Lufthansa's airline destinations), coupled with 19 subsidiaries such as its bases at Shannon, Ireland and Beijing, China, and interests worldwide, LHT can track corporate clients' aircraft globally.

"This, we believe, gives them the best possible service," noted Mayrhuber, pointing out that LHT's motto for field services is 'Any Place-Any Time'. "We have 15 Governmental aircraft fleets signed-up on various technical support contract packages, but so far we haven't got Air Force 1," he joked.
The high dollar rate has caused many European-based companies some distress over the last six months. Mayrhuber is philosophic. "We have to live with the current high dollar rate. It doesn't disturb us too much, especially since our acquisition of BizJets (the Tulsa, OK-based business jet MRO) earlier this year. BizJets can handle aircraft up to BBJ and ACJ size. The acquisition came just at the right time for us, and we are just where we want to be with our business plan. The BizJets operation is helping to balance things out dollar-wise. Its workload is currently an equal mix on both brand new and replacement aircraft. The company is very important to us, as it gives LHT a strong foothold in the U.S. market."

By Mike Vines