December 28,
2008 Absolute
Aviation takes off Tom Sowa / The Spokesman-Review
Airline
passengers may grumble when they see airlines operating fewer flights than
they once did. For
Absolute Aviation, however, airlines’ penny-pinching mentality is all
good. That’s because airlines keep sending faulty strobe lights, power
units and other items to the small, FAA-approved aviation repair station on
Spokane’s West Plains. That
effort to control airline costs means Absolute Aviation has been steadily
adding workers to handle the load. About
a third of the repairs performed by Absolute Aviation are for
“unrepairable” items – non-working diodes, power supplies or coffee
makers that airlines used to replace rather than fix. Air
carriers now prefer repairing many of those problem units rather thanx spending more to replace them. Privately
held Absolute Aviation had 15 workers in late 2007. Today it employs 24, and
its principals see that growth continuing – a bright spot in a bumpy
economy. Aerospace
companies are not immune to layoffs. But firms such as Absolute Aviation
have found a niche and should not face the problems hitting many companies,
said Todd Woodard, director of marketing and public relations for Spokane
International Airport. “Because
of the focus by airlines to cut costs, Absolute Aviation is in a good niche
market. They’re in a good position to continue their growth,” said
Woodard, a member of the Inland Northwest Aerospace Consortium, an alliance
of 60 local businesses involved in aviation manufacturing or services. The
founders of Absolute Aviation, Randy Julin and Al Garr, know the firm is a
small fish in an immense pond. “There are hundreds of other repair
stations coming to the airlines every day” offering to fix components at
reasonable costs, said Julin, the company’s general manager. Their
business approach is to emphasize Absolute’s quick turnaround, lower costs
and reliable work record, Julin said. It
performs repairs for Delta, American, United and Allegiant airlines. When
they land a new customer, it’s a big deal. “You have to have something
special before they’ll make a change and add you as a vendor,” Julin
said. Out
of thousands of electrical, optical and mechanical systems on most aircraft,
Absolute Aviation has a tiny focus: electronic accessories, instruments and
some of the communications devices that use radio. The
list includes coffee makers, which on commercial aircraft usually run $5,000
or more to replace. Julin said Absolute often can repair a defective coffee
maker for about $2,500. Some
of its most frequent repair jobs involve high-voltage power supplies used on
commercial aircraft. They often cost about $12,000 to $15,000 to replace.
Absolute repairs them at a fraction of the cost, said Garr, the senior vice
president for sales and marketing. Beyond
offering reliable work at lower cost, Absolute focuses on getting to the
source of a chronic problem with airplane components. “What
we look for is not just fixing the (initial) equipment problem,” Julin
said. “We look to the root cause and go a step further.” When
they find the malfunctioning piece, it allows the airline to use that
equipment longer, Julin added. Over
the past year, the Spokane company has gained repair station approval by the
European Aviation Safety Agency, the European equivalent of the Federal
Aviation Administration. Absolute now is authorized to perform repairs for
European airlines such as Lufthansa, KLM, Monarch and British Airways. The
company recently hired a United Kingdom representative to attract more
business both in the British Isles and on the continent. As
airlines cut costs and better manage their inventories, one thing doesn’t
change, Julin said: “There is no reduction in detail and concern over
quality work.” Aviation
repair rules are strict and rigorously documented. “You don’t have
anyone even suggesting that you can have some systems operating at
half-optimum or below required levels,” he said. |
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