Australia's leading avionics supply, repair and overhaul company, Australian Avionics, is set to deliver a wider range of services and faster turnarounds for aircraft operators after receiving accreditation from leading US-based supplier, Universal Avionics Systems Corporation.
The service centre accreditation will allow the wholly-owned subsidiary of Australia's largest aviation sales and product support company, Hawker Pacific, to extend its capabilities to service and repair the range of Flight Management Systems (FMS) for key clients including regional airlines and the Royal Australian Air Force.
Australian Avionics General Manager, Jason Burzacott said the Universal Avionics accreditation for the Australian marketplace meant the Cairns-based company was now positioned to provide a comprehensive overhaul and repair service for regional airline operators in the region with most major avionics brands now supported.
"This is great news for the industry. Australian Avionics has been the authorised service and repair provider in Australia for most of the leading brands including Bendix King/Honeywell, Rockwell Collins, Garmin, Aerosonic, Artex, S-Tec and Mid-Continent, so the addition of the Universal FMS brand fits extremely well," he said.
"The Universal Avionics accreditation means we can now offer aircraft operators in Australia an unmatched range of avionics bench services" he said.
Mr Burzacott said Universal Avionics Systems Corporation was the industry's leading manufacturer of Flight Management Systems and Australian Avionics status as a Universal repair centre would deliver tangible competitive results to aircraft operators.
He said that in the past, the supply and repair of Universal Avionics equipment had mostly been carried out offshore necessitating a delay of up to two weeks for users. "Now with Australian Avionics holding the necessary spare parts and test equipment in-country, it should be an irregular occurrence for an FMS unit to go offshore for repair."
"Australian Avionics will be able to service this equipment on a rapid turnaround basis," he added. "The fact that Australian Avionics holds EASA Part 145 certification adds to the value proposition for clients because we can provide an EASA component release tag when required."
An EASA component release is widely seen as the world benchmark for airworthiness and accepted by the majority of Airworthiness Authorities in the Region.
Commenting on the Universal Avionics service centre accreditation, Hawker Pacific's Vice President, Avionics and Government Business, Doug Park, said that it reflected the confidence of Universal Avionics and the marketplace in the company.
"This additional accreditation is also consistent with the rapid growth experienced by Australian Avionics over the past four years. We set an even more aggressive course of growth for the company when we invested in our new Cairns Avionics and MRO support facility nearly two years' ago," he said.
"That decision has now been more than vindicated by the strong flow of new business which resulted in a doubling of the business unit's workforce - not an easy task given the skills shortage in the aviation industry."
"As we predicted, Australian Avionics is a perfect fit with the broader Hawker Pacific Maintenance Repair and Overhaul business. There are real synergies between the two operations and we will continue to develop these further over the coming years as we grow our business, particularly in Asia and the Middle East," Doug said.
Notes to Editors:
Hawker Pacific
Hawker Pacific Pty Ltd is the market-leader in integrated civil and military aerospace sales and product support in Australia, Asia and the Pacific. The company maintains facilities in Sydney, Melbourne, Sale, Brisbane, Oakey, Perth, Townsville, Cairns and Auckland as well as in South-East Asia and the Middle East.
Universal Avionics
Universal Avionics manufactures and markets the UNS-1 WAAS Flight Management Systems; the EFI-890R Flat Panel Display; a line of Flat Panel Integrated Cockpit Displays; Vision-1™ Synthetic Vision System; TAWS Terrain Awareness and Warning System; the ASU chart, E-DOCS, checklist display system; Engine Display System; Cockpit Voice Recorder; Radio Control Unit; and a host of other advanced avionics equipment.