Garrett Aviation Services is forecasting 20% revenue growth for 2000, more than doubling its annual revenue over the six years since it spun off from AlliedSignal in 1994. Garrett President Ron Frederick said the company forecasts $650 million in revenue for 2000, following a $540 million 1999.

And, for the first time, engine services will not comprise the majority of the Phoenix-based company's revenue stream. New business opportunities such as Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) completions, RVSM-compliance upgrades on the Gulfstream II and III, and glass-cockpit upgrades on the Falcon 20B will account for some $350 million of Garrett's forecast revenue in 2000.

That is not to say that Garrett is remaining static in engine services. In fact, the company announced Sunday night that it has acquired the rights to all service needs for the AlliedSignal TPE331 engine, including all TPE331-10 upgrades, General Maintenance Agreement (GMA) regional airline maintenance, and new-engine warranty work. In addition, the company will maintain all AlliedSignal-owned TPE331 loaner and rental powerplants. Though he would not release the cost of the deal or the forecast market size in dollars, Frederick said that the deal will pump 350 engines into Garrett Aviation's service books.

The company will divide the TPE331 work among three engine service bases: Los Angeles will handle major overhauls in the GMA program; Houston will perform -10 conversion program work; and Springfield, Ill., will handle hot-section inspections.

Work under the deal will begin immediately, Frederick said, adding that the first GMA engines will hit the LAX base this week. To gird for the growth in engine work, Garrett also is opening two new test cells, one each at Houston and LAX. The new cells will each be able to handle up to 20,000-pounds-thrust, allowing both to test engines up through the TFE731-5. Ultimately, the companies will be able to test the CFE738-20, -40 and -60 series of engines.

The company also said it would establish a new spare-parts business. The system will unify spares supply that has been spread across the 10 Garrett service centers across the U.S.

Frederick said Garrett is slated to deliver its first completed BBJ from its Van Nuys Jet Center. The company currently has four BBJs in various stages of completion: two at Van Nuys, and two more at its Santa Barbara Jet Center at the former Tracor hangars there. The first two BBJs will be delivered out of Van Nuys; Garrett plans to run virtually all successive BBJs out of Santa Barbara.
Frederick predicted the company would contract an additional three or four BBJ completions, at an estimated $8-$10 million apiece, over the next 90 days. The two 40,000-square foot hangars at Santa Barbara can handle up to six of the 737-derived super business jets at once. "We hope to give Boeing the chance to devote most --i f not all -- of Santa Barbara's capacity to BBJ work," Frederick said.

Garrett also is touting a new branding campaign for its chain of Garrett Aviation Service Centers. According to Garrett's Ken Goldsmith, the campaign is an outgrowth of Garrett marketing research that showed that Garrett employees and customers--and other companies' employees and customers--share a common perception of Garrett: "They all perceive Garrett as an organization of customer-focused employees with unsurpassed skills pride and passion."

To that end, the company's new slogan will be "Who's working on your airplane." The new motto, Goldsmith said, would serve to reinforce Garrett employees' pride in their work, reinforce current customers' choice of maintenance provider, and prompt non-Garrett customers to reconsider whether the people working on their planes are of similar quality. The campaign is to run a three to five-year course, Goldsmith said.

With its April 1 acquisition of ElectroSonics, Garrett's ability to do avionics upgrades and retrofits has expanded. The company's major upgrade projects in the works includes its 731 Falcon 20B, the first of which is in the final stage of flight test. The 731 Falcon 20B includes new AlliedSignal TFE-731-5BR engines, a 36-150 APU, and a glass cockpit including Collins Pro Line 4 avionics paired with triple Universal 640 displays. Exterior and interior refurbishments complete the update.
Another Falcon upgrade in the works is a Falcon 50 engine retrofit, the first of which is nearing completion. That project will involve replacing the current TFE731-3 engines with the TFE731-40. That upgrade will bring a 24% increase in cruise thrust and a 7% decrease in fuel consumption.
The company sold its first Honeywell Primus EPIC retrofit package for the Gulfstream III. The retrofit includes Primus II radio, EGPWS, single LaserREF inertial reference system, TCAS 2000, and Primus 880 radar. Work will take place at Springfield.