From luxury plane to hospital in 8 hours

Mike Pervan of Altitude. Photo supplied

Aircraft interior company Altitude hopes to corner an untapped part of the private plane market with a new system that can transform an aircraft from a luxury suite to a flying hospital in as little as eight hours.

The Air New Zealand subsidiary will launch its new product at a major private plane fair this week in Florida.

Altitude's general manager Mike Pervan said the new modular system could turn a Boeing 737 into a VIP suite with sofas, showers and space for a car, a business class cabin with lie flat seats and a boardroom or a medevac specialist plane with an operating theatre. Palletised units would be rolled into the aircraft through a side cargo door and rolled into position within the fixed cabin.

The company launched just over a year ago and has won work to provide cabin furniture for airlines including Air NZ, V Australia and Lufthansa and also the large private jet market, mainly in Asia.

Pervan said there appeared to be strong initial interest in the new product, to be shown off at the National Business Aircraft Association convention , one of the biggest private plane fairs in the world.

The multi-role 737 is fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks to almost treble its range to 14 hours of flying and a key market would be NGOs and governments which could not justify a head of state plane.

"It's a business jet at its core but it's also an operational plane and we can see the market for this and it's spectacular."

Pervan said a Seattle-based company had a similar module system but was offering only a basic economy class and business lounge configuration.

Altitude has bases in Christchurch and Auckland and in the past year staff numbers had grown from 20 to 70.

The company was being cagey on pricing for a modular fitout but it would start in the tens of millions of dollars and would take about a year.

"What we're also looking at offering are support services, not just fitting the interior, through Air New Zealand tech ops."

About 150 planes are on display at this week's fair, including a wide range of associated businesses such as Altitude which is taking a kapa haka group to boost its profile.

"We're the new boys on the block and we have to make a bit of a stir," he said.

Altitude launched publicly last September, the same week Lehman Brothers collapsed and sent the global economy, aviation generally and the private jet market in particular, into a tailspin.

There was some deep soul searching around the company's prospects, Pervan said.

Though there were some deferrals the lead times stretching up to a decade for aircraft fitouts meant Altitude was not too badly affected.

"One of the fundamentals was that airlines purchase new aircraft over the medium to long haul, fleet renewal is not something you decide in a month," he said.

It takes two or three years to decide on which aircraft and its interior and then fleet renewal can take five to six years.

"Yes we have had some deferrals of some orders but it's deferrals rather than cancellations."

For Air New Zealand it will make dozens of bar units, galleys and furniture for new 777-300s, the first of four being due for delivery late next year.

It has also built bar units for V Australia aircraft and has won a big contract to help fit out 20 Boeing 747-800s for Lufthansa.

Work in each aircraft can be worth tens of millions of dollars.

Altitude's creation is part of Air New Zealand's strategy of diversifying its business away from relying too heavily on airline revenue.

Altitude's main competition is based in the US and Europe but it was typically constrained by traditional means of meeting regulatory requirements.

Pervan said Altitude designs from scratch on computer rather than physically building physical test samples and breaking them.

Structural integrity is justified to regulators using computer modelling while traditional aircraft cabin makers are still using physical equipment.

The firm had used the expertise of its parent's treasury to hedge against damaging fluctuations in the New Zealand dollar.

"It's a challenge as an exporter. We just have to learn to live with its ups and downs rather than sit here and complain about it."

The other part of its business - fitting out private jets - was also holding up because Altitude targets work in large aircraft for a wide range of customers.

The market for traditional bizjets used by individuals or corporations including Lears and Gulfstream had been badly affected by the economic chaos.

Altitude targeted its work at private customers or governments who want customised 737s or A320s.

"There's been a bit of backing off - but it hasn't collapsed like the smaller bizjets.

"The governments and the corporations that own these things are a little bit above the storm."