On the Record with
AUGUST W. HENNINGSEN, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, LUFTHANSA TECHNIK

Completions, connectivity and maintenance are the three major themes at this year's NBAA for Lufthansa Technik, the world's leading VVIP completion center.

August Henningsen

Expect an announcement here tomorrow on new solutions for digital, network-based inflight entertainment for the passenger cabin, an area Lufthansa Technik has been developing for some time. Its Internet and live TV solutions are based on broadband satellite communications, which can receive and transmit vastly greater amounts of data than narrowband systems (several of which are making their first appearance here based on the Inmarsat Swift64 service).

Lufthansa Technik is the first to install a Connexion by Boeing broadband antenna in a revenue-service airliner-a Lufthansa Boeing 747-400-and it will begin trials late this year on bringing Internet and live TV to passengers inflight. The next challenge is to develop this service for VVIP and top-of-the-line narrowbody business aircraft.

"We are working hard on satcom, Internet and network solutions that will integrate the aircraft cabin into a broad network of different applications," August Henningsen, chairman of the board of Lufthansa Technik, told Show News.

His focus since September 11 has been to increase the ability of Lufthansa Technik to adapt to changing market conditions, specifically the requests by some customers to delay completion of their BBJs and ACJs.

"We have reorganized the completions business into a completions center under one umbrella," Henningsen said. "This has brought us the flexibility to adapt to market conditions, so if we need to book more BBJs or more widebodies, we can adjust accordingly. We can also finish the completions more quickly."

At the same time, Lufthansa Technik engineers can focus on innovation in such areas as cabin electronics.

"We are further developing new technologies and features, especially in regard to electronics, to make all online services available to all passengers. We are heading for, and leading that process," Henningsen said.

COMPLETIONS
Lufthansa Technik is cementing its position as the world's leading VVIP aircraft completion center by offering up to 10 completion slots per year-representing half the market for widebody exec airliners and narrowbody BBJ and ACJs.

The Hamburg center has delivered seven customized business and government aircraft in the last nine months, including the world's first two BBJ2s. Since 1999 it has delivered 10 completed BBJs, two ACJs and three widebodies (a 747SP, a 747-400 and a 777)

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Revenues from completions will top $100 million in 2002, having more than doubled in three years, and Henningsen expects to see nearly $140 million by 2005.
The new organization has its 600 technicians and engineers all pulling together for the completion center, whether its four production lines comprise two BBJs and two widebodies or three BBJs and one VVIP aircraft. A fifth line can be started if the need arises.

"With an integrated organization we can be flexible," Henningsen said. Lufthansa Technik has now delivered the fourth of 11 BBJs it is completing for NetJets, the world's largest fractional ownership company, under an order it received in 2001 that included options to complete a further 20.

CONNECTIVITY
Henningsen believes broadband will be the way of the future, and that narrowband services will prove to be an interim and comparatively low-powered solution. Watch for the announcement here tomorrow.

MAINTENANCE
The world's largest provider of MRO services is expanding its offerings of equipment and worldwide servicing of business aircraft, with a particular focus on North America.

One example is the new service for GE CF34 engines in Tulsa, Okla., where the Lufthansa Group's BizJet International, working with Lufthansa Technik's engine servicer Lufthansa A.E.R.O. in Germany, offers maintenance and overhaul of that engine type.

BizJet's staff of 300 maintains and overhauls not only BBJs and ACJs throughout the U.S., but also offers a wide range of services for small and medium-size business aircraft such as the Falcon, Gulfstream, Learjet, Citation, Hawker and Sabreliner and their GE, Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney Canada engines.
"BizJet has won three times in a row a top award as the best shop in the U.S. for business jet engines," Henningsen said. "This shows we can understand the needs of our customers."

Earlier this year, Lufthansa Technik acquired Hawker Pacific, which specializes in servicing landing gears. "This enables us further to augment and extend the reach of our landing gear and related services, and to provide better service to U.S. customers locally," Henningsen said.

By John Morris