AIRCRAFT WASHING
marketing side, we really started to gain
traction in the US market, together with
our US distributor, that of US Aviation
Services. We also opened our own US
subsidiary last year, Aerowash US. During
the rst quarter we will deliver four
washing systems to the US, and more will
follow.
“Again, in the Middle East and Asia,
we have been very active, with new
partnerships in several countries. e
growth in the aviation industry in those
regions also gives the sector a strong push
to become more e ective when it comes
to washing. We expect that Asia and the
Middle East will grow a lot during the
coming years.
“In Europe, we mainly focused on the
InterAirport show in Munich. It was a
great success, with a lot of interest shown
from all parts of the industry. Europe still
feels a bit slow compared with Asia and
US, however.
“On the technical side, we introduced a
new brush last year for ‘dry wash’ cleaning.
e ‘dry wash’ concept is also an emerging
trend that we believe will grow stronger
in the marketplace. e reason for this
is that it allows more exible washing
since no water is used, making it address
environmental concerns and the like.
“Naturally, our main focus has been on
the civil market. However, during 2019
we also started to see a lot of interest from
the military sector and at the moment we
have proposals out with several air forces
around the globe.
“ is is a new development for us,” he
says enthusiastically.
TOP-RANKING SOLUTION FOR THE MILITARY
A source within the 160th was able to comment on one particular military installation from
Riveer. “We had an existing indoor wash system that from the date of installation was
non-functional. After over two years of attempting to work through the installing vendor, we
broke ranks and asked Riveer to fi x it or replace it. Having surveyed the equipment they
told us they did not wish to attempt a repair, and that it would be more cost-effective to
replace the unit.
“The solution that Riveer offered was a modifi ed shipping container that was insulated
and outfi tted with two high effi ciency, on demand water heaters as well as the necessary
pumps, control panels, high capacity air compressor and utilities. This piece of equipment
was required in order to fully wash Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters for pre-deployment,
post-deployment, scheduled maintenance and, when scheduling allowed, to conduct
normal time driven wash events. In doing so we already knew that we wanted hot water
from two separate high volume, low pressure, water guns, as well as high volume foam
and rinse. The entire system needed to be self-contained and basically be plug and play,
with existing connections for utilities.
“From the of the funding to the time of installation was probably 60 days. The installation
was executed with a local contractor doing the utility connections with Riveer overseeing
the equipment emplacement. The system literally worked fl awlessly from the very fi rst
moment that power was applied. In turn, our soldiers conduct better washes because of the
state-of-the-art, reliable, equipment that was provided and because of that they conduct
better maintenance since they are working on cleaner aircraft.
“We take the “special” very seriously in our name of Special Operations: we demand the
best, most reliable equipment available. We have a no fail mission and we expect the same
of our equipment. Riveer has provided us, consistently and repeatedly, with the best
equipment available on the market.”
Another good year
Last year was another successful
period for ISS Ground Services, with
growth in revenues and new service
implementations.
“Austrian Airlines granted us a new
contract for Security and Passenger
Services in Terminal 3 and within three
months we had set up a completely new
service comprising luggage handling,
passenger guidance and travel document
checks,” says Sascha Niessl, Regional
Manager. “We hired more than 100
new sta members within a few weeks.
Furthermore, we also won the o ce
cleaning contract of Austrian Airlines
for all sites and areas, which we also
successfully started by April. Despite the
short setting-up time in both cases, we
met the expectations of our customers
and experienced a good transition with
these two services.
“We also implemented a centralised
The cleaning of individual
aviation-related components
could be a developing market
Duty Management Centre for all our
airport stations, which means we’re
dispatching all services on the apron from
one single point of contact in Vienna.
Whether it’s Stuttgart, Dusseldorf,
Frankfurt or Vienna, our customer has
one contact for all stations.
“We were also the rst company ever
to set up our own independent dish
washing centre for airline catering in
Frankfurt. In only 25 days we realised a
huge capital project: walls, oor, lighting,
air conditioning and all the washing
equipment had to be set up from scratch.
“Furthermore, our team had to run
the pre-existing operation without any
issues and move all the processes and
equipment during the same period.
All the sta members did an amazing
job in this project and guaranteed a
smooth changeover, as well as customer
satisfaction.” ghi
52 February 2020 Ground Handling International