New E-commerce Ventures Face Off in War of Words

Asian Aerospace 2000 -- At parallel press conferences, Monday, two new high-profile start-up aerospace e-commerce ventures were launched. Both aim to provide users with an unparalleled on-line neutral marketplace for sales and services, but both hold pointedly differing views on each other's approach.

SITA and AAR Corp have established aeroSPAN.com. SITA is the world's leading provider of integrated telecommunications and IT solutions to the entire airline market, with most major airlines and manufacturers (including Airbus and Boeing) as its customers. In a unique arrangement SITA's customers are also its members (i.e. shareholders) and General Director John Watson pointed out, this gives SITA a unique access to, and perspective on, the industry. AAR is already a major supplier of spares and services to the worldwide aviation industry and between them, SITA and AAR share 100 years of collective industry experience.

Challenging aeroSPAN.com, and the other emerging rivals in this market, is aviationX.com. It was established in 1999 as an e-marketplace for sourcing, procuring and exchanging information, goods and services and as a technical resource center. AviationX has already announced two firm airline user customers - US regionals Express and Chautauqua. Chairman and CEO of aviationX is Henrik Schröder the former president and CEO of Saab Aircraft Leasing Group and president of Saab Aircraft of America. Alongside him is US industry veteran Bob Page, vice- president of Buy-Side Sales. Page is a former vice-president of procurement at Northwest Airlines and held several high-level management positions at United Airlines.

Speaking at the aeroSPAN.com conference, David Storch, president and CEO of AAR, spoke directly about aviationX's efforts saying, "There is a press conference going on right now, next door, by a group that has no knowledge of how this industry works. They're going to try and pick it all up on the fly. We recognize competition, but we haven't lost out too many times in our history. We aren't going to loose this one."

Jeffrey Saunders, executive vice-president of Strategic Development & Marketing at AviationX, responded vigorously. He said, "With people like Henrik and Bob on this team I don't know anyone with better experience of the market. People have to take a stab at the competition, but the fact is that distributor and supplier-centric offerings are distrusted. They are wolves in sheep's clothing -- and out to protect an old-world business." He questioned the true nature of SITA's relationship with its airline members, noting, "It's not whether you can tap into the business, it's whether you can be trusted. AviationX will be a truly independent, stand-alone storage site for people's precious proprietary data. Everyone promises that they will be neutral, but I can tell you that every airline in the US has told us, 'these proprietary guys don't get it. We will not let them have our data'."

By Robert Hewson