BARA Customer Support
Customer Support
BAE SYSTEMS Regional Aircraft has at the core of its business the timely and cost –effective provision of a full range of customer support activities to serve its customer base of 160 operators. These operators have over 800 aircraft in service.

The provision of spares is a vital component of the business and to achieve this the company operates a state-of-the-art Spares Logistics Centre, located at Weybridge, Surrey. 


The facility occupies an area of 100,000 sq.feet, and provides a 24 hour a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year fully manned operation. Spares are housed in three separate areas:

  • a fully automated, computer-controlled, high density storage and retrieval facility for small parts. There are 26,300 trays and 1.2 million locations with picking cranes that travel at 2.3 m per sec to select the bar-coded parts;

  • a pallet racking section serviced by a semi-automatic wire-guided fork lift truck for heavier items;

  • A large open floor section with a remote controlled overhead crane for major aircraft parts such as elevators and ailerons.

A total of 26 million parts are stocked in the facility and the total spares inventory held by Regional Aircraft is worth £250 million, the bulk of it located at Weybridge. Every year some 450,000 individual spares transactions are carried out by Regional Aircraft.

According to the World Airline and Suppliers Guide (WASG), the target guideline for AOG (aircraft on ground) spares shipments should be four hours. Last year the average achieved time for AOG shipments from Regional Aircraft was 72 minutes, while critical spares shipments were achieved in 11 hours (WASG target 24 hours) and routine shipments were achieved in 24 hours (against no WASG target).

A major strategy of Regional Aircraft is to improve its throughput of spares transactions and this is being achieved with increased emphasis on Jetspares and MACRO ‘spares by the hour’ agreements. The agreements cover both the BAe 146/Avro RJ regional jetliner fleets and Jetstream 31/32/41 and ATP fleets respectively. They are individually customised support programmes, designed to allow an airline to concentrate on its operation while BAE SYSTEMS takes care of spares inventory, logistics and repairs for a fixed monthly rate.

Currently 190 BAe 146/Avro RJs are in the Jetspares programme, while the MACRO programme now encompasses 83 aircraft with 10 operators.

Regional Aircraft is also seeking to help its customers minimise inventory holdings and provide lower purchase costs by utilising BAE SYSTEMS bulk purchasing capability and supply chain management. An increased amount of spares selling on the Internet is also carried out and more spares representatives are being placed directly with customers.

Modifications business

A further important aspect of the total support given to Regional Aircraft customers is the provision of modification programmes to keep aircraft fully compliant and to enhance their values.

Some of these modifications are mandatory requirements such as Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning Systems (EGPWS) and reinforced cockpit door design and installations. Regional Aircraft’s total design engineering capability ensures that all modification requirements are comprehensively designed.

Other modifications arise as a result of customer requirements or as a result of investigations carried out in-house by Regional Aircraft where developments are identified that will enhance the performance of aircraft. Regional Aircraft has the capacity to take these requirements, design them and install them in customers’ aircraft through the provision of working parties.

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