Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

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Opened in 2024, Textron Aviation’s aftermarket parts warehouse—three times larger than the facility it replaced—represents a significant investment by the company in its Wichita infrastructure.
“The flying activity that we’ve seen coming out of Covid has definitely helped the aftermarket side of the business, and we’re trying to grow and provide solutions for our customers,” Brad White, Textron Aviation senior v-p of global parts and distribution programs, told AIN. “It’s a huge market for us, a huge installed fleet around the globe, and constant demand on everything from an old piston all the way up through our latest and greatest business jets.”
For all of Textron Aviation’s in-service aircraft, there are about 600,000 unique part numbers, and the company’s three global warehouses maintain an inventory of about 150,000 parts. Last year, the company delivered a record number of one million line items, he said, “and we’re on pace to do better than that this year.” (A line item is one shipment.)
As part of the investment in facilities, Textron Aviation revamped its e-commerce system with an internally developed website where 90% of parts transactions are completed. “We continue to add functionality to our website just to make us easier to do business with,” White said. “That’s the nice thing about having an in-house [system].”
A recent improvement is what is called “shop by doc,” as in document or phase inspections. Textron Aviation’s parts experts use historical information from its service centers to put together kits of parts that will likely be needed for a customer’s next doc inspection.
“If you’re doing a doc 10 inspection on a Latitude,” he said, “we know all the doc 10 inspections that we’ve done ourselves, or we’ve had with our authorized network, and we know what parts are procured and used on that inspection.”
The Wichita parts operation has achieved a 93% fill rate on orders shipped on the same day. “We’re always working on that other 7%, though,” he said. “That’s the focus in our business, and trying to put inventory closer to the customer.”
In addition to the Wichita warehouse, other large Textron Aviation parts facilities are located in Düsseldorf, Germany, and Melbourne, Australia.
To supplement parts availability, Textron Aviation has added support teams at these facilities. This includes a warranty analyst; people to help customers find the right parts, where they are located, and the best shipping method; and program analysts for aircraft that are on parts- and maintenance-by-the-hour programs. The three facilities also help with ensuring customer support 24/7 because of their location in different time zones.
Looking to help customers with new initiatives, Textron Aviation is developing cost-effective repairs and using used serviceable materials. “It’s been a growing part of our business,” White said. “We’re working to expand our product catalog to be a one-stop shop and continuously being easier to do business with.”

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