September 12, 2007

Sabreliner to Extend Boeing Work Up to 10 Years

Sabreliner Corp. has been selected by The Boeing Company to continue repairing critical flight control components for the U. S. Air Force fleet of KC-135 aircraft used mainly for airborne refueling. The work is part of a Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM) contract recently awarded by the Air Force to Boeing. The Sabreliner portion is for one base year and nine one-year options, for a total of 10 years.

This subcontract has a potential value of more than $60 million, and will double the volume of flight control component work accomplished monthly at Sabreliner's Ste. Genevieve, Mo. operation, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary of providing sophisticated repairs to KC-135 and other military variants of the Boeing 707 aircraft.

Since 2002, Ste. Genevieve has been repairing components for the fleet as a Boeing subcontractor. The operation there features an innovative monorail system designed and installed by Sabreliner, which will be expanded to accommodate the growing business. The monorail assures easy and safe movement of the aircraft's horizontal stabilizer, which arrives by truck. It is lifted from the truck bed onto the monorail system and moved through paint stripping, inspection, repair, crating and loading onto a truck for transport without ever touching the shop floor.

The Ste. Genevieve operation is under the direction of Mark Weir, a former senior operations manager for Boeing's San Antonio facility.

"We have worked diligently to support Boeing and operators of the KC-135 and are proud to have earned the award of this new subcontract," said D. J. "Jim" Meier, Sabreliner vice president, government and subcontract services.

As part of other subcontracts, Sabreliner has extended its Ste. Genevieve work to include the repair of flight components used on the Navy E-6B fleet - another variant of the Boeing 707 - and the remanufacture of KC-135 components under the Air Force's Management of Items Subject to Repair.

The Boeing PDM process - based in San Antonio - involves disassembly, detailed inspection, repair, reassembly and return to service of the aircraft. It typically is required every five years for the KC-135, according to Boeing. Flight control components - such as the horizontal stabilizer, elevators and ailerons - are sent by truck to Ste. Genevieve for inspection and repair.

"Sabreliner is very pleased to continue as part of the Boeing team," said F. Holmes Lamoreux, Sabreliner chairman and chief executive officer. "We believe it is a positive reflection of the high quality work we have accomplished over the past five years. The KC-135 is a crucial part of the Air Force fleet, and all of us at Sabreliner take pride in the role we have played to keep the aircraft operating safely and productively."

The first KC-135 was completed in August of 1956 and delivered to the Air Force. There are 530 of the aircraft remaining in service, and they are expected to fly for another 40 years.