Raytheon Loses/LHT Wins

After receiving the initial contract to complete the first 10 Boeing Business Jets for the Boeing NetJets program, the BBJ organization has taken away the contract from Raytheon's Waco finishing group and given it to Lufthansa Technik. The reason: late completions, BBJ vice president of sales Lee Monson told Show News.

Raytheon will be allowed to finish a total of six of the original 10 NetJets BBJs; the remaining four will go to LHT's Hamburg facility.

The four LHT completions are part of a much larger contract announced on Monday for a total of 10 firm completions and 20 options for BBJs going to Boeing NetJets, a joint venture of Boeing and Executive Jet. LHT chief Wolfgang Mayrhuber was on hand for the announcement, which LHT says is the largest order ever for aircraft completions.

Lufthansa Technik, already an authorized BBJ completion center with four finished aircraft under its belt, will begin the first NetJets completions next year. The option completions are for the period from 2003 through 2008.

Mayrhuber said he has guaranteed Boeing that the NetJets BBJs will be completed in no longer than five months, significantly faster than the nine to 18 months it has taken to complete some of the BBJs over the past couple years.

The swift turnaround will be pegged to a uniform configuration for as many as 20 passengers that Lufthansa Technik will install. In addition, LHT has upped its completion lines in Hamburg from two to four.

In the U.S., the new Lufthansa Technik service center in Tulsa, OK, will join in completing the cabin areas of the BBJ. In May, LHT acquired Tulsa-based BizJet International, and an additional hangar big enough to accommodate two BBJs is being built.

By Barry Rosenberg