AIN’s AIN’s PRODUCT SUPPORT SURVEY Part I: Aircraft PRODUCT SUPPORT SURVEY Part I: Aircraft In AIN’s annual survey, readers rate airframe manufacturers on product support. The results of the avionics survey will appear in next month’s issue, with engine ratings to follow in October. by Matt Thurber Embraer Phenom 300 DAVID McINTOSH Embraer leads for jets, Mitsubishi remains in top turboprop spot Readers responding to AIN’s and these are Bombardier’s category, followed by Pilatus’s first-place finish this year were 2016 Product Support Survey Globals and Textron Avia- PC-12s (7.6) and Textron Avia- its top rankings for parts avail- rank Embraer at the top, with tion’s Citations. Bombardier’s tion’s King Airs (7.1), the same ability (8.6, up 0.2 from last the highest combined overall Learjet support climbed to a placements as last year. year) and overall aircraft reli- average (8.4) for newer and 7.8 rating, up from last year’s Rotorcraft rankings start with ability (up 0.1 to 9.0). older aircraft. Dassault Fal- 7.7, leaving it with a fifth- Bell Helicopter at the top of the Embraer’s rankings were bol- con and Gulfstream (both place ranking. list (7.5), as it was last year, but stered by an 8.6 for authorized midsize- and large-cabin jets) Textron Aviation’s out-of- with a lower rating (down 0.4), service centers (up from 7.5), 7.3 tie for second place at 8.2. In production jets see a diver- then Airbus Helicopters holding for cost of parts (from 7.0 last third place this year is Bom- gence this year, with the the number-two place (down 0.3 year), 9.0 for technical manuals bardier’s Challenger series at smaller jets climbing by 0.2, from last year). Sikorsky moved (up from 8.5) and 9.0 for overall 8.1, up 0.1 but matching last to 7.4, but the midsize Hawk- up one place this year to third aircraft reliability (up from 8.6). year’s third-place finish. ers dropping to 6.9. with 6.5, up 0.2, followed by Gulfstream midsize jets Two manufacturers tied for In the turboprop arena, Mit- AgustaWestland with 6.3. earned top scores as a result of www.ainonline.com fourth place, both with a 7.9 subishi’s MU-2s climbed to 9.3 an 8.4 for factory-owned ser- rating, up 0.2 from last year, from last year’s 9.1 to top this Newer Jets vice centers, up from last year’s Three OEMs but an unprec- 7.7; 9.0 for AOG response, up edented four jet series earned from 8.6; and 9.2 for technical Gulfstream IV an 8.4 rating to rank first place reps, up from 8.1. For large- in the newer business jets cate- cabin jets, Gulfstream received gory this year, and all showed a 9.1 for warranty fulfillment, an improvement from last year’s up from 9.0; 9.0 (up from 8.6) rating. First-place rankings for maintenance-tracking pro- this year were Dassault Fal- grams; and 9.0 for overall air- con, Embraer and both Gulf- craft reliability for large-cabin stream’s midsize and large-cabin jets, up from 8.9. jets. Embraer and Gulfstream Bombardier’s Challengers midsize saw the largest change, moved into second place, up 0.2 up 0.3 from last year; Falcon from last year and also up two climbed 0.2 and Gulfstream places from last year’s fourth. large cabins were up 0.1. In third place this year Contributing to Dassault’s was Textron Aviation for the © 2016 AIN Publications. All Rights Reserved. For Reprints go to AIN’s PRODUCT SUPPORT SURVEY Part I: Aircraft Citations, climbing 0.3 Older Jets Gulfstream’s large-cabin service centers was for newer turboprops cate- to 8.1 and up from last In the older jets cate- jets (down 0.4). the Challengers at 8.1, gory was Pilatus’s PC-12 year’s fifth place. gory, Bombardier made The Globals and climbing sharply from series, with a 7.8 rat- Bombardier’s Globals a big move up to first Challengers tied for 6.4 last year. ing, up 0.1 from last received the same 7.8 rat- place with an 8.1 rating top ranking in the fac- The Globals secured year. Top ratings for the ing as last year, but this for the Globals. tory-owned service cen- an 8.2 ranking in PC-12 included factory- year moved up to fourth The company’s Chal- ters category with 7.3, parts availability and owned service centers place from the fifth-place lengers came in second up from the Challeng- a 9.3 for technical (8.5), parts availabil- tie with the Citations. This place with the same 8.0 ers’ 6.4 last year. (The reps. Challengers were ity (7.4), AOG response year, the Learjets and Tex- as last year, followed by Globals did not receive ranked at 8.7 (up 0.3) (7.5), warranty fulfill- tron’s Hawker 400XPs Learjet in third, climb- enough ratings in the for maintenance-track- ment (8.7), technical ranked in fifth place. The ing 0.4 to 7.9, and tied older jets category to be ing programs. Learjets manuals (8.5), technical larger Hawkers climbed with Dassault Fal- included last year.) Top achieved top rankings reps (8.6), maintenance- 0.2 points this year. con (down 0.1) and ranking for authorized in cost of parts (6.3), tracking programs (8.4) AOG response (8.5) and overall aircraft reli- Overall Overall and technical manuals ability (the highest for Combined Overall Average Ratings of Rating Change Average Average (8.4), up 0.3, 1.1 and any newer aircraft at 9.1). Newer and Older Aircraft from 2015-2016 2016 2015 0.5 respectively. In second place was Falcons also scored Textron Aviation for the JETS an 8.2 for parts avail- King Airs. ability (down 0.3 from In the older turbo- Embraer (Phenom, Legacy, Lineage) 8.4 8.1 0.3 last year); 8.6 for war- props category, Mit- ranty fulfillment (up subishi’s MU-2s remain Dassault (Falcon) 8.2 8.1 0.1 0.5); and 8.9 for over- at the top of the list with all aircraft reliability a 9.3 rating, up from Gulfstream (GII-GV, G300-G650) 8.2 8.3 -0.1 (down 0.1). 9.1 last year, followed Gulfstream (G100-G280) 8.2 7.7 0.5 Gulfstream’s large- by King Airs at 7.0 cabin jets tied with Fal- (down 0.3). The MU-2s Bombardier (Challenger) 8.1 8.0 0.1 con’s 8.9 for overall received top ratings in aircraft reliability (down every category, match- Bombardier (Global) 7.9 7.7 0.2 0.2 from last year). ing last year’s 9.8 rank- Textron Aviation’s ing for overall reliability, Textron Aviation (Citation) 7.9 7.7 0.2 Citations garnered the highest of any air- fourth place, the same craft in the survey. Bombardier (Learjet) 7.8 7.7 0.1 position as last year, with the same 7.7 over- Rotorcraft Textron Aviation all average rating. The rankings of the 7.4 7.2 0.2 (Premier, Beechjet 400/400A, Hawker 400XP) In fifth place in this rotorcraft manufacturers category were Tex- are not separated by newer Textron Aviation (Hawker) 6.9 7.2 -0.3 tron’s lighter jets at 7.0 and older airframes, but (down 0.4), followed of note were the category TURBOPROPS by the Hawkers at 6.7 rankings, with Bell Heli- www.ainonline.com (down 0.8). copter receiving top spots Mitsubishi (MU-2, Solitaire, Marquise) 9.3 9.1 0.2 in factory-owned service Turboprops centers (7.8), authorized Pilatus (PC-12) 7.6 7.6 0.0 The results in the tur- service centers (7.4), parts boprop categories are availability (7.2), cost of Beechcraft (King Air) 7.1 7.4 -0.3 the same as last year. parts (6.1), AOG response (Typically AIN doesn’t (7.6), warranty fulfillment ROTORCRAFT receive enough ratings (7.5), technical manuals to include the Daher (8.5) and maintenance Bell 7.5 7.9 -0.4 TBM series. These cat- tracking programs (7.2). egories could see some Airbus Helicopters Airbus Helicopters 7.2 7.5 -0.3 change when new turbo- was ranked at the top Sikorsky 6.5 6.3 0.2 props such as the Epic for warranty fulfillment E1000 and Textron sin- (tied with Bell at 7.5), Leonardo Helicopters (formerly AgustaWestland) 6.3 6.8 -0.5 gle-engine turboprop technical reps (8.5) and enter the market.) overall aircraft reliabil- * Listed in order of the 2016 overall average; ties are listed alphabetically; bold indicates highest number in each catergory. In first place in the ity (8.1). © 2016 AIN Publications. All Rights Reserved. For Reprints go to AIN’s PRODUCT SUPPORT SURVEY Part I: Aircraft what Nureddin calls a “virtu- ous cycle,” because customers appreciate nearby service and are then more likely to bring their maintenance to Bombar- dier or an affiliated facility. To that end, Bombardier added six service trucks in the U.S. and two in Europe dur- ing the past year. This model doesn’t work, yet, in China, where Bombardier has opened a new factory-owned service center in Tianjin, but that should change eventually.