Evening all! It’s been ages since we’ve had the time to put (virtual) pen to paper with an update on what we’ve been up to.
Apologies for that, but you’ll appreciate that being busy in the middle of a pandemic, when the rest of the aviation sector is taking an absolute mauling, is actually a good problem to have. Let’s hope that we’re over the worst of Covid and the aviation industry urgently gets the support that has been so terribly lacking and urgently needs. Trust us, we really don’t want to be seeing more airliners scrapped. It’s an odd situation for us. Much as the (slightly) expedited demise of the 747 in passenger service has transformed our business, we‘d much rather the Queen of the Skies was still reigning.
The ‘Jumbo’ has been the mainstay of our work this last year and will continue to be so for the next few months and beyond. It’s fair to say we substantially underestimated the demand and workload she‘d generate. Some of you reading this are still waiting for your pieces but you’ll be pleased to hear that we are getting towards the end of the backlog. Our plan is to catch up with all your messages and emails this week, hopefully with a clearer timetable for completions and delivery.
Some of the airframes have proven exceptionally difficult to work with. BA’s Victor Kilo, Victor Uniform and Victor Foxtrot were very reluctant to give up their paintwork. Our nuclear strength industrial stripper barely touched the surface meaning we had to remove their paint manually. This then doubles the time we spend polishing as we have to remove the inevitable scratches we put in!
The growth in our business means we’ve expanded the workforce too. Oscar and Becky have now joined us and the extra pairs of hands are making a big difference. We’ve also taken delivery of another shipping container to store our raw material and give us a ‘remote’ location for some of the hot and dirty work we do.
We have also managed to get out and about. We were delighted to support the charity Aerobility when we dressed the set for their recent ‘Armchair Airshow’ at Biggin Hill Airport. We’ve delivered and installed a number of 747 and some bespoke pieces and we’re busy preparing for a couple of events at Dunsfold, where the Landor 747, G-BNLY is preserved. It’s been fun to actually meet our clients in person (with all the relevant Covid protocols etc.) and we’re looking forward to seeing those of you who managed to get tickets for the sold out events at Dunsfold.
In the interim, a small batch of window pane clocks from G-CIVU will be up on the Members’ Area page shortly.
Next up in the workshop are CIVV, CIVD, CIVO, BYGE and CIVH (from Spain) should be arriving this week. We’ll drop those of you waiting for specific pieces a line when we’ve sorted these sections.
Finally, if you’re waiting for a message or invoice, please do bear with us, we are wading through slowly and do check your ‘Junk’ folder - we are still seeing some routed there….
Take care, we’ll be in touch….