Collins plays the name game

Goodbye Rockwell Collins – hello Collins Aerospace – that’s the message from the aviation giant after its acquisition was completed by United Technologies Corporation (UTC).

The announcement by UTC on November 26 said the acquisition was one of the largest in aerospace history, with Collins Aerospace now having a global presence of 70,000 employees across 300 sites and $23 billion in annual sales.

In fact, the completion was so close to the MEBAA show in Dubai, that its stand there was branded as Rockwell Collins, but with a Collins Aerospace banner.

Didier Perrin, director sales and marketing, Europe, Middle East and Africa, for Collins Aerospace, said: “MEBAA is an important show for us, both from a cockpit avionics and cabin perspective. We are an important player in the region for both large cabin and VVIP business aircraft and supply solutions for many different platforms.”

Perrin said the company was keen to showcase its Pro Line Fusion integrated cockpit after it was recently awarded supplemental type certification (STC) for the Bombardier Challenger 604 in a joint effort between Rockwell Collins, Nextant Aerospace and Bombardier.

The upgrade replaces factory-installed cathode ray tube (CRT) displays with three 14.1-inch widescreen displays with advanced graphics. It says its touch-interactive maps, with real-time on-board weather radar overlays and special-use airspace, all add to a significant gain in situational awareness.

“It provides a baseline of equipment for operating the Challenger 604 in modern global airspace with automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), optional future air navigation systems (FANS) compliance, satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) capability, global navigation satellite system (GNSS), localiser performance with vertical guidance (LPV) approaches, radius-to-fix (RF) legs, synthetic vision and much more,” said Perrin.

“As such, it open up a significant market for us in the Middle East,” he added, saying Pro Line Fusion is now available on 21 different platforms.

Collins Aerospace also expects Pro Line Fusion to be certified for the Cessna Citation CJ1+ and CJ2+ light business jets in 2019.

And, speaking of ADS-B, Perrin said he was keen to encourage owners to move forward with ensuring their aircraft are compliant with the upcoming mandates that will see ADS-B Out required on certain aircraft types in US airspace by December 31, 2019 and June 6, 2020 in Europe.

“We are urging operators to move quickly to ensure they are compliant, especially as the UAE will mandate ADS-B Out by January 1, 2020 too,” Perrin said.

Collins Aerospace also showcased an upgrade to its Pro Line 21 integrated cockpit, taking it to 21+. This brings ADS-B and FANS capabilities and has already been installed on a Bombardier Challenger 605 in the region.

Moving back from the cockpit, Collins Aerospace is also promoting its Venue cabin management solution. This now features high-definition displays, moving maps, news, games, movies, music, videoconferencing and much more.

“Venue has been a successful product for us in the large VIP market, with more than 1,100 installations completed,” Perrin said. “We have outfitted 10 VIP aircraft in the Middle East in the last 18 months alone.”

Collins Aerospace’s ARINCDirect arm is also able to supply Venue with an in-flight connectivity capability from nose to tail using Inmarsat’s Jet ConneX ultra-fast Ka-band satellite solution and/or Tailwind Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) television system.

Entertainment is also available via its Stage subscription solution, which streams licensed Hollywood movies and TV episodes, news, sports and weather feeds and personal content to passengers’ mobile devices.

“Stage means private and corporate jet VIPs have access to a wide range of entertainment options,” said Perrin. “The system can deliver more than 50 simultaneous streams per wireless access point (WAP), so each VIP can enjoy their own preferred media.”

The company also signed a contract with Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) in November 2017 to provide 3,000 hours of high-definition (HD) premium Arabic content, including dramas, comedies and lifestyle programming.

“This is a great opportunity for our customers in the Middle East to get the content they want, right at their fingertips,” Perrin concluded.