This sponsored article was created by Insight magazine, the sponsored content division of MHM Publishing, on behalf of StandardAero.
After a busy period of growth and transition, StandardAero is running at peak efficiency, delivering the unparalleled service that customers have come to expect.
As the largest independent maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider in the world, StandardAero’s helicopter program — headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba — delivers a full suite of rotor-wing services through its global helicopter division. StandardAero prides itself on customer-centric service that is the hallmark of everything its 7,000 employees do in more than 50 major facilities worldwide.
Recently, StandardAero promoted longtime employee Neena Gill to the role of vice president and general manager of helicopter programs. Gill most recently served as the division’s controller. She takes the position as the company continues to grow and refine its rotor-wing services.
In summer 2021, StandardAero acquired Signature Aviation’s engine repair and overhaul (ERO) business, including four entities: Dallas Airmotive, H+S Aviation, International Governor Services, and International Turbine Service. The transaction added 1,100 employees in 14 locations to the StandardAero family.
“The integration is going well,” Gill reported. “We’ve established centers of excellence [COEs] in key locations, where higher volumes allow us to achieve better efficiencies.”
In 2022, StandardAero transitioned its Rolls-Royce M250 engine business from Dallas Airmotive to Winnipeg, with expanded capability in Concord, North Carolina, and Richmond, B.C. This freed necessary resources and floor space for other growing business lines in Dallas-Fort Worth, as well as at the company’s plant in Portsmouth, U.K. Gill said no jobs were lost during the transition — in fact, the move added 20 new jobs to the company’s existing COEs.
Along similar lines, StandardAero also moved its Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T engine line from H&S Aviation, and in 2023 its PW200 business from Dallas into the Winnipeg shop. Finally, the Rolls-Royce RR300 engine line was shifted from Dallas into Winnipeg, with expanded capability for that engine in Concord and Richmond.
“At one point, there were eight shops doing the M250,” Gill continued. “We consolidated that into five shops. We still have a shop in Europe, one in Asia, and three in North America: Winnipeg, Richmond and Concord.”
In keeping with its consolidation plan, StandardAero merged two businesses into one in 2021, when its Singapore M250 line integrated with Vector Aerospace’s turboprop business. This development happened after StandardAero’s acquisition of Vector in late 2017. While the process was delayed by Covid, the newly consolidated facility is currently at full capacity.
Meanwhile, its COEs for accessory repair and overhaul in Hialeah and Fort Myers, Florida, are also running at peak efficiency three years after all related work was centralized there.
“Those locations have had two years of stability and growth,” Gill said. “When we moved everything there three years ago from Winnipeg, we felt the pain. Covid affected the process since we couldn’t send techs and engineers down to do as much training as we’d hoped. It slowed our progress, but I’m happy to say that’s behind us now. Accessories customers can now expect the full StandardAero experience, focusing on service, turn time and quality.”
She said StandardAero’s COE structure has allowed the company to manage through the supply chain issues that are still affecting the industry.
“We have volume and purchasing power. We get the lion’s share — we have large fleets of safety stock and large numbers of rental assets to keep people flying.”
Gill said StandardAero is in tune with its customers and realizes they are dealing with hyper-inflated costs of doing business. Meanwhile, their own rates and revenues are not rising at the same pace.
“Customers are leaning on us to deliver cost effective solutions,” she said. “So, in an effort to stem inflation, we try to source used and overhauled material, rather than brand-new equipment. There are instances when it does make more sense to utilize a new part so that the engine can run more hours.
“We understand costs have increased substantially, and we are concentrating on trying to manage them for our customers. We’ve always focused not on the cost of each overhaul, but on the cost-per-hour over time.”
StandardAero will be exhibiting at several upcoming shows, including the Air Medical Transport Conference (AMTC), NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition, European Rotors and the Helicopter Association of Canada (HAC) annual conference and tradeshow.
Customers will find a full contingent of staff on hand to showcase all the company’s capabilities — not just gas turbine engine repairs, but also airframe structures, modifications, supplemental type certificates, and dynamic component overhaul.
Close relationships with OEMs — including manufacturer approvals from Airbus, GE, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Safran, Sikorsky and Triumph — continue to be a critical component of StandardAero’s success.
The company’s office in Winnipeg also enjoys a close collaboration with non-profit Manitoba Aerospace, which promotes aerospace and defense in the province. In 2022, the two organizations partnered to develop a gas turbine engine repair and overhaul training program that was designed to speed the training process for new employees and to encourage more women to choose aviation MRO careers.
Thanks to Manitoba government funding, the 18-week program — which is open to both men and women — recently graduated 10 women technicians who are now employed full time at StandardAero.
The successful program is testament to the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace, a philosophy Gill said is baked into StandardAero’s global operations.
“We try hard to create a workplace where everyone is welcome. Our view is that the company benefits from a variety of diverse perspectives that combine into one strong team. This commitment is essential to our success, both now and in the future.”
