Cool their jets? No way

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StandardAero workers repair a PT-6a engine in the Ferry Road plant. The ability to work on a large variety of engines helps ensure firm’s future. (MIKE DEAL/ WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Just as Manitoba's diversified economy is shielding the city from the harsher effects of the current economic downturn, Winnipeg's StandardAero has its own internal recession-busting features.

The Winnipeg company is now the largest independent small and medium-sized gas turbine engine maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) operation in the world.

Demand for some aircraft engine MRO work has subsided in these times, particularly in the corporate jet realm.

But fortunately for StandardAero, the company works on a wide spectrum of engines in its 65,000 square metres of production space around the Richardson Airport, from the military's Hercules C-130 transport planes to the regional jets that are the workhorses in our increasingly budget-conscious commercial aviation business.

The company is in the process of outfitting a 7,500-square-metre addition to its General Electric CF-34 line, the engines that power the Canadair regional aircraft CRJ 200, 700 and 900, the Bombardier Challenger and the Embraer 170 regional jet.

"Overall demand for MRO in the aviation markets has slowed down," said Ian Smart, Standard's senior executive in Winnipeg and vice-president for airlines and fleets. "Some portions have slowed quicker and more significantly than others."

The company will celebrate 100 years in business in 2011. Over those years, it has built a deep, robust book of business.

"What's really good about the Winnipeg facilities is that there are actually five individual businesses based here," said Smart. "Each operates in a different piece of the aviation market, which generates some natural diversity in the Winnipeg site. While we have seen natural ups and down in different markets, the Winnipeg site as a whole has been very sound for us."

StandardAero was acquired about one year ago by Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) who merged it with Tempe, Ariz.-based Landmark Aviation (the merged business is called StandardAero, and its head office is in Tempe).

With Landmark came a business aviation operation managing the airframe and engine MRO of certain business aircraft operators at four locations in the U.S., plus Associated Air Center, a VIP aircraft completions centre that creates head-of-state, transport category, aircraft interiors in Dallas, and TSS Technologies, an engine component services and repair operation in Cincinnati.

What with the collapse of stock market values and the end of outrageous Wall Street bonuses, the private jet business is down, and the company has had to lay off 115 people at its business aviation MRO centres in Houston, Augusta, Ga., Springfield, Ill., and Los Angeles.

But with the expansion of its CF-34 line, required because of a heavy schedule of work coming up for StandardAero's Regional Jet and Embraer clients, the company will actually add to its 1,200 employees in Winnipeg.

"We are not immune to the recession," Smart said. "We have implemented cost containment measures that range from freezing wages to trying to cut back on travel."

Even though the company has gone through a series of owners over the past decade -- including two private equity firms which essentially held and flipped the company for a profit -- its current owners are focused on the aerospace business. DAE's engineering division paid $1 billion for StandardAero, making it the first piece in what is becoming a sizable global player in the aerospace industry. Last year, DAE ordered billions of dollars worth of new Boeing and Airbus jets for a new leasing business.

At the time of the purchase, DAE officials made a point of lauding StandardAero's tradition of excellence and its superior work force.

Earlier this year, StandardAero opened the Centre for Aerospace Technology and Training (CATT) in partnership with Red River College (RRC) and the provincial and federal governments. Students will be able to train beside skilled StandardAero workers, who will have access to technology that the company might otherwise have had to go outside of the province to obtain.

"Aerospace is technology-driven world," said Smart. "Our ability to stay current or beyond what the industry is doing is a competitive advantage in our efforts to attract new customers and new engine programs."

The CATT initiative and the $20 million-plus CF-34 expansion are examples of the company's further commitment to Winnipeg.

"The Winnipeg site has fared well in today's economic environment because of the diversity of the different businesses that we have here," Smart said. "That is huge for us."

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

StandardAero facts

Winnipeg employees: 1,200-plus

Locations (before the merger with Landmark): Winnipeg, Maryville, Tenn.; San Antonio, Tex.; Cincinnati, Oh.; Tilburg, the Netherlands; Singapore; and Sydney, Australia

Additional locations (after the merger with Landmark): Tempe, Ariz. (new corporate headquarters); Los Angeles, Calif.; Houston, Tex.; Augusta, Geo.; and Springfield, Ill. The company has 14 more service centres around the world.

Total employees: 4,000-plus

Revenue: about $1.3 billion

Engine brands that are serviced: Honeywell, General Electric, Pratt & Whitney Canada, Rolls-Royce and others

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 19, 2009 E2