MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA • MRO IINVESTMENT
Bombardier goes for Aussie growth
Bombardier expanded its MRO services last year in a range of locations. We peek behind the hangar doors and into the executive lounges. Words: Mike Stones
Bombardier’s new Service Centre in Melbourne has added an additional 50,000sqft to the manufacturer’s service capacity in Asia-Pacific.
LOOK BEHIND THE hangar doors at Bombardier’s new Service Centre in Melbourne, in the state of Victoria, Australia and you’ll find a lot of space: 50,000sqft (4,645sqm) to be precise.
Revealed in September 2022, the centre will provide scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) capabilities for all Bombardier business aircraft, including a parts depot and back shop capabilities. Services also include: modifications, avionics installations and aircraft on ground (AOG) support. The investment is expected to create an extra 65 jobs including roles for 48 highly-skilled technicians.
Australia is a key market for Bombardier with more than 80 aircraft in its Australian business fleet, according to the manufacturer. It claims the largest percentage of deliveries in Australia, representing 31% of the market (47% for medium and large business jets).
Speaking during the opening of the centre in September, Éric Martel, president and CEO, Bombardier said: “In the past year, we have added close to 1m square feet of service capacity in key locations, solidifying our plan to bring more Bombardier jets home no matter where they operate.”
In addition to the Melbourne investment, in June 2022 Bombardier revealed its new Singapore Service Centre followed in October by a new Service Centre at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, Florida. In November, the manufacturer revealed its enhanced London Biggin Hill Service Centre.
The Melbourne facility was launched last September.
An executive suite offers clients a deluxe waiting area in Bombardier’s Melbourne Service Centre.
Ringing the changes. This area is for visitors to Bombardier’s Biggin Hill Service Centre, UK.
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ZURICH SWITZERLAND • PLANE PROTEST
Putting civil rights protests on a plane
Outraged by the apparent civil rights abuses in Iran, Argentine pilot and filmmaker Enrique Piñeyro decided to protest alleged government aggression on the airframe of a Boeing 787-8. Words: Mike Stones
ZURICH SWITZERLAND • PLANE PROTEST
Putting civil rights protests on a plane
Outraged by the apparent civil rights abuses in Iran, Argentine pilot and filmmaker Enrique Piñeyro decided to protest alleged government aggression on the airframe of a Boeing 787-8. Words: Mike Stones
PROTESTS ABOUT planes are growing common. But protests on a plane are much rarer. One recent example, (pictured), involves a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, operated by Enrique Piñeyro.
The Argentine pilot, philanthropist and filmmaker was so moved by the plight of Iranian citizens swept up in their governent’s harsh response to civil protests, he decided to take action. His response was to put messages and images in support of the protestors on the airframe of the Boeing 787-8 he operates for the humanitarian non-government organisation Solidaire.
Featured on the aircraft’s tail assembly is an image of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman who was arrested in September by Iran’s morality police. Accused of wearing her hijab improperly, Amini later died in custody, sparking a spiralling wave of increasingly fatal protests throughout the country.
Piñeyro chose a series of messages to accompany Amini’s image: ‘No woman should be forced to cover her head’, ‘No woman should be killed for not covering her head’ and ‘No man should be hanged for saying this’. The last message referenced male protestors who have been executed for alleged crimes during the civil protests. The port side of the aircraft features an image of Iranian footballer Amir Reza Nasr Azadani who initially faced a death sentence and is now serving 26 years in prison following the wave of protests.
Flying for Solidaire, the Argentinian pilot has operated a series of humanitarian flights worldwide. Missions have included: transporting food to war-torn African countries, moving medical supplies to India during the Covid-19 pandemic and evacuating refugees following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the protest plane was photographed in January during a visit to Zurich by Pascal Gerschwiler.
