INTERVIEW WITH
ULRICH KREMER MANAGING DIRECTOR SCHLEICHER SEGELFLUGZEUGBAU – GERMANY By Bernard Eckey
The current worldwide economic downturn seems to impact heavily on the world’s aircraft manufacturers. Reports of mass redundancies are almost daily occurrences and it is fair to assume that glider manufacturers are not immune to slowing demand either. How are the major glider manufacturers coping with the new situation? This interview with Ulrich Kremer, translated from German by Bernard Eckey, was originally printed in Soaring Australia and is reprinted by SoaringNZ with permission.
Mr Kremer, Schleicher Segelflugzeugbau, as the world’s oldest glider manufacturer must have seen a few ups and downs in its history, but how serious is the current economic downturn and how is Schleicher coping with falling demand? You are right, the current recession seems to be the most severe I have personally experienced but so far there is still ‘business as usual’ for Schleicher due to a steady inflow of orders for our latest models. Although demand seems to have come back from the very high level of about 12 months ago, we cannot report a significant slowing of incoming orders. Our wide range of products ranging from a basic trainer all the way to top competition models has so far shielded us from the worst of this economic slowdown. I would also like to think that our efforts to build excellent working relationships with the worldwide gliding community have resulted in a very loyal customer base. Perhaps this policy has contributed to our satisfactory workload and a continuing inflow of new orders. Right now we have certainly no plans at all to slow down production. It is good to hear that at least one manufacturer is weathering the storm reasonably well but how do you see the situation in the medium to long term? That, of course, is the 64 (thousand) dollar question. No one really knows how long this recession is going to last and how severe it is going to be. However, I’m confident that our new models
22
June 2009
are attractive enough to ensure a secure future for our company and its workforce. Well before the current downturn appeared on the horizon we had started to invest heavily in new models and now our new designs are almost ready for production. Rather than stretching the cockpit of our ASH 25 and incorporating a few refinements we decided to start from scratch and develop the ASH 30 Mi. This totally new design will become our new Open Class flagship. Its long list of features and its projected performance difference to current Open Class gliders have already resulted in more than 40 firm orders. Now our customers are eagerly awaiting its market introduction. We are well on the way to starting series production and will deliver the first ASH 30 Mi to our customers later in 2009. Initially we will build one ASH 30 Mi per month but we will soon need to increase production to 1 ½ aircraft per month in order to satisfy the brisk demand. And then, of course, we have the new ASH 31 Mi. That was going to be my next question. What can you tell us about the ASH 31 Mi? The ASH 31 Mi made her maiden flight, taking off under her own power on 21 April – after we received this interview transcript. Uli Kremer was the pilot for that first flight and is reported to be very impressed with the agility of the glider. - Ed New aerodynamic research had shown us that our ASH 26 had quite a bit of untapped performance potential. But not only that, some of our customers also encouraged us to look past the