Pole Air

POLE POSITIONIN TO MEE T AVIATION MRO DEMANDS

Celebrating its 50th year of operation, Pole Air Aviation continues pushing ahead as an MRO specialist with a reputation for getting a job done. Peter Papadatos, Executive Vice President, Commercial and Strategy, offers Andy Probert an insight into the company’s global ambitions to continue flying high in a competitive sector.

Pole Air Aviation has evolved into a globally-recognised name in the repair and overhaul of aircraft com ponents and aircraft maintenance.

Beginning with the small-scale comple tion of instrument-type components for Canada’s utility aircraft fleets, today Pole Air Aviation specialises in components and instruments that span over 10,000 individual items. These cover military, commercial, and regional transport, pri vate and corporate aircraft.

In 2018, Pole Air created its aircraft maintenance division, with teams deployed worldwide, providing heavy maintenance, major repair and modifications.

“We have gradually increased our remit from instruments and component work to expand into more diverse services in the international market,” confirmed Peter Papadatos, Executive Vice President, Commercial and Strategy.

Pole Air’s customers include OEMs, airlines, maintenance providers and

international flight hours’ service providers primarily in North America, Europe and Africa.

“We enjoy a mix that ranges from com ponent work shipped into us. Mobile repair teams perform checks or aircraft recoveries all over the world. And as there’s also a significant amount of mili tary sector work, there’s a lot of distribu tion work involved.”

Most work is focused in the military sector for C130s / C27s / CL415s / 215s, while on the commercial side, they are experienced across many different types of aircraft.

The Montreal-based company is not only a fast and reliable source for engine mount isolator assemblies from the earlier Dash-8 and Q400 to ATR and EMBRAER aircraft, but also provides DC starter generator repair and overhauls.

Besides providing cabin equipment, Pole Air’s teams are adept at servicing brakes and wheels and offer repair solu tions ranging from legacy analogue prod ucts to the latest electrical components. They also offer expertise in hydraulics, pneumatics and fuel systems, electrical equipment, such as static inverters, and interior and exterior lighting.

Rising demand

Mr Papadatos said the company’s 60strong team was due for expansion to meet increased demands from the com mercial jet world as the sector recovers

post-pandemic and exceeds 2019 perfor mance levels.

He added: “The military side of the busi ness never really stopped, but the real boom has been in the business jet sector. We are getting so many demands from business jet clients we are struggling to keep up.

“Supply chain issues and recruiting people are the biggest challenges as we ramp up. They are the only limiters as to what we can do.”

However, he cautioned: “That creates another potential challenge. When you recruit new people, you have to figure out how to bring them up to speed and impart the company’s acquired knowledge, exper tise and experience.”

The company moved into new facilities two years ago, having outgrown its pre vious premises. Mr Papadatos revealed Pole Air’s ambitions to move into Tier 1 supplier levels were ongoing.

“We have enjoyed success with some operators coming to us for their various

POLE AIR AVIATION I PROFILE

needs. We are going directly into world air forces, major airlines, and plan to further enhance our presence in the business jet sector.”

He confirmed: “Our highly trained staff continue to be devoted to providing cus tomers with top quality products that are quickly turned around to minimise unwanted downtime for aircraft operators.”

While diversity was a key element to success, he warned: “I think the industry’s layoffs and then mass hirings have put off a lot of people re-joining the industry.”

Partnership approach

Mr Papadatos was keen to highlight the fact that Pole Air did not execute any layoffs during the pandemic.

“That decision has helped position ourselves in the industry,” he said. “Diversification has also served us well; we are looking to implement concrete actions around sustainability and be ready for the new technology phase.

“Sustainability is not just about what you are going to do to service an aircraft, but how you will industrialise internally to serve those markets. For example, what happens if an airline maker goes to direct hydrogen injection or introduces fuel cells in electrification.

“While we need be ready for these new technologies, we need to position Pole Air on how we can be sustainable in our different operations. We can do that now while keeping a long-term outlook on the technology front.”

Pole Air’s three-year business plan, noted Mr Papadatos, was constantly evolving. He intimated that ideally, the

company wants to anchor itself with crit ical partners in military, commercial and business jet markets.

“On the commercial side, we have won a significant contract with Jazz Aviation and that has spurred interest from other airlines and carriers. On the military side, we want to get in and start servicing sig nificant air forces.”

Recently Pole Air signed an agreement with Satair, a leading global provider of innovative aftermarket services and solutions in the civil aerospace industry. This onboarded Pole Air as an approved third-party seller to Satair’s marketplace for component distribution and MRO ser vices for aircraft worldwide.

The agreement brings Pole Air’s tech nical know-how in aircraft component Repair and Overhaul to Satair’s e-com merce platform providing global reach and offers customers a significant selec tion of parts and services.

“It is one of many steps we are taking within our new digital strategy to promote accessibility and facilitate communica tions with customers worldwide,” said Mr Papadatos, adding that Pole Air’s ambitions always align with its clients’ future successes.

“Our relations are close, open and transparent, and that honesty leads us both to finding innovative solutions to move forward.

“There are a lot of repairs you can poten tially look at and offer up. Most clients pick them, others decline, but it takes effort. After all, we are a repair shop, and they are willing to listen and look at dif ferent solutions. That brings added value to relationships.”

He concluded: “While we know sus tainability has to be addressed and new tech is coming forward, my concern is that the new generations coming through may not understand where avia tion has come from and may lose some of the know-how we have imparted in making it both safe and efficient. If this is lost, the industry could take a long time to recover.” n