Boeing

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today named Air Cruisers, Honeywell and Thales as partners for GoldCare, the lifecycle support solution for the 787 Dreamliner.

"These three aviation industry leaders play an important role in helping provide the innovation that will make the 787 such a great performer," said Bob Avery, Boeing's vice president of 787 Services & Support. "By joining GoldCare, they have committed to an innovative new business strategy that will help customers reduce cost and enhance predictability as they acquire and operate their Dreamliner fleet."

GoldCare helps any airline become a lower-cost carrier. Under GoldCare, Boeing leads and integrates a global team to deliver maintenance, engineering and materials management tasks within a predictable per-flight-hour cost. With maintenance operations and logistics simplified, GoldCare customers can focus on their passengers -- all the while knowing that their airplane assets achieve maximum utilization and are maintained to the highest standards by Boeing through GoldCare partners.

Each of the new GoldCare partners will be responsible for ensuring the spare parts they provide for 787 GoldCare customers are available at guaranteed levels of availability, managing the maintenance of parts removed from aircraft and ensuring that equipment reliability is optimized.

"By participating in GoldCare, the customer can quickly and efficiently establish its maintenance and spares support structure at an identified cost and does not have to worry about budget variances and cost overruns in establishing and maintaining that support structure," said Lou Perdoni, vice president, Sales & Service, Air Cruisers Co. Air Cruisers, headquartered in Wall, New Jersey, is a member of the Zodiac Group and will provide evacuation systems for the 787.

Phoenix-based Honeywell Aerospace provides the navigation package, the Crew Information System/Management System (CIS/MS), external lighting and the flight control electronics for the 787.

"As a GoldCare partner, Honeywell provides a comprehensive service program that includes asset maintenance, tracking, and availability," said Adrian Paull, vice president of Customer & Product Support, Honeywell Aerospace. "We believe that this type of service fits well with our vision for providing a portfolio of offerings to meet our customers' changing requirements."

Thales, a leading international electronics and systems group based in Neuilly sur Seine, France, provides flight controls, in-flight entertainment, navigation and power conversion systems for the 787.

Boeing offers GoldCare as a strategic business choice for 787 customers, helping them leverage the game-changing innovation of the Dreamliner to reduce introduction and infrastructure costs, minimize financial and operational risk, improve operating costs and simplify maintenance.

Boeing has completed its first technical pilot program for GoldCare, signed its first Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul partner and, including Honeywell, Thales and Air Cruisers, partnered with six major equipment suppliers for systems on the aircraft. Further partnership agreements with suppliers are expected to be completed in 2006.