A multi-engine, instrument rated pilot, James Wynbrandt has been an AIN and Business Jet Traveler contributor since 2003. His in-depth reporting and insightful features have won more than a dozen editorial honors, including two National Business Aviation Association Gold Wing Awards (2019; 2021), and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Barron’s, Fortune, Forbes, and Smithsonian Air &amp; Space. He has flown his Mooney M20K 252 on assignments throughout North and Central America and the Caribbean. Wynbrandt is also the author of Flying High (Wiley &amp; Sons), a biography of Jet Blue founder David Neeleman, as well as histories, references works, and books on a variety of other topics from major publishers. He lives in New York City.

Contributor - Business Aviation

James Wynbrandt

EBACE, the Continent’s grand stage for the best and biggest in business aviation, draws the world’s premier aircraft completions and refurbishment services companies, all showcasing the latest innovations in this rarefied realm of interior design. Here are some of the exhibitors likely to make interiors news at this year’s show, and key developments of the past annum.

 


Switzerland’s Jet Aviation (Booth A18) is committed “to both beautiful design and craftsmanship, alongside the newest technologies” in its completions, said Matthew Woollaston, vice president, completions sales and marketing. These technologies include weight-management processes, creating “significantly lighter” interiors that enable aircraft to fly farther and/or carry more than standard-weight interiors, Woollaston said. Two recent ACJ interiors were lighter than contractually obligated, he said, one an ACJ330 that can fly against prevailing winds nonstop from Riyadh to Los Angeles.

 


In addition to design and craftsmanship, GDC Technics (Booth D08) has also placed a priority on weight reduction. In fact, the interior of the first of two VVIP 787s under completion at its Fort Worth, Texas facility came in “20 percent lighter than industry estimates” for a standard cabin interior, Mohammed Alzeer, GDC general partner, reported earlier this year.

 


Aeria Luxury Interiors (Booth C51) has delivered its first full VIP widebody completion, refurbishing an unidentified widebody model for an undisclosed customer. (The widebody’s 3,000-sq-ft interior reported by Aeria is very close to a 777-200’s.) In February the San Antonio, Texas company won a completion contract for a BBJ 737-700, with the project now underway. Aeria also became a direct subsidiary of Singapore’s ST Aerospace and received its own Part 145 repair station certificate, which will streamline its completions and maintenance processes, the company said.

 


AviationGlass &amp; Technology (Booth L98) is showcasing its AeroGlass mirrors, transparencies, and ornamental panels for cabin interiors. Up to 50 percent thinner and 25 percent lighter than traditional polycarbonate products, according to the Netherlands company, they nonetheless provide superior optical quality via 99.9 percent transparency and are scratch and UV-resistant.

 


Last year at the show Basel-based Amac Aerospace (Booth I115) announced its selection to perform the first completion on an ACJ320neo, for UK-based Acropolis Aviation, launch customer for the NextGen ACJ. An update on the project is on Amac’s EBACE agenda, along with showcasing the latest cabinetry and interior structures from JCB Aero, its Toulouse-based subsidiary.

 


Comlux America, U.S. completion center of Switzerland’s Comlux Group (Booth O99), recently announced it will install a complete VIP interior on a green ACJ320neo for an undisclosed Asian customer over a 10-month span, “one of the shortest completion cycles to date,” said Scott Meyer, CEO of Comlux Completions. The aircraft is slated for induction in September 2019.

 


U.S.-based Duncan Aviation’s display (Booth E89) includes a spectrum of cabin refurbishment and upgrade options for business aircraft. A simple change in cabin lighting, such as colored and color-changing upwash and downwash lighting, can bring new life to an interior, according to Duncan, as can retrofits with alternative finishes, such as carbon-fiber material, painted finishes, and metal and leather on cabinets.

 


Flying Colours (Booth W107), the Canadian Bombardier completion and modification specialist, sold a minority interest this year to New Heritage Capital, a private-equity firm. The investment amount “can’t be disclosed,” said Sean Gillespie, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Flying Colours, but was “sizeable,” and will fund an expansion of the company’s Peterborough, Ontario headquarters facilities, among other projects.

 


Narrow- and widebody completion specialist Haeco Private Jet Solutions (Booth J71) of Xiamen, China, has drawn attention with its cabin design concepts based on feng shui and Zen principles. But it can design, build, install, and certify customized designs of any style. It is the only authorized completion facility in the Asia-Pacific region for both Airbus and Boeing, and provides all necessary EASA, FAA, and CAAC regulatory approvals, according to the company.

 


Signature Plating (Booth Q107), metal plated parts maker for aircraft manufacturers, refurbishment&nbsp;and completion centers, and individual aircraft owners, is displaying its decorative plating products for aircraft cabins and highlighting its ability to anodize parts and color match metal parts and finishes. “It’s a very specific skillset; we don’t have employees, we have artists,” said Zane Leake, Signature’s president.

News and developments about everything that goes into the cabin of an aircraft, from floor coverings to headliners, with a special emphasis on in-flight entertainment, communications and other electronics for passengers. If it is in the cabin of an aircraft, it’s covered here.

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