Some may remember the name Aerostar from the remote times of the cold war in Europe. The Romanian company, headquartered in Bacau, once specialized in MiG-21 maintenance but in the last decades it not only survived the political system change, but it has shifted from the military field to civil commercial aerostructures manufacturing activity and has become a modern civil MRO.
Many older pilots, especially those with military knowledge and background, will remember the name Aerostar, associating it with the activities on the other side of the iron curtain in Eastern Europe in the post WW II times. Many will associate those activities with the name MiG-21, MiG-21 Lancer conversions, and Yak-52. Most companies from the countries of the Warsaw Pact, especially those involved in the military aviation world, have literally disappeared after the Eastern Bloc fell apart, closing their doors for ever - not so for the Romanian Aerostar. The company not only survived the transition and kept going in the business field of previous times but also started new activities in the civil MRO field logging year after year of growth. How has Aerostar done this? Well, this was the driving question when I recently visited the company.
Let's start with some history. Romania’s biggest aerospace company, was founded in 1953, and changed names several times before becoming Aerostar. It has been a subsidiary of the Ministry of Armed Forces and provided repair and maintenance services for all aircraft types used by the Romanian military. The company developed the IAR-93 twin-engine, tactical ground-attack and reconnaissance aircraft, carried upgrade programs for the MiG-21/29 and which were developed by Aerostar in cooperation with Israeli Elbit Systems. Aerostar performed 110 upgrades of the Russian fighter for the Romanian Air Force between 1995 and 2003. The project ended 15 years ago, but 25 MiG-21s are still in active service in Romania and five of them require extensive overhaul every year. The support of the Romanian MiG-21 and of those operated by other nations is still an important part of Aerostar's business mix. Besides this, Aerostar has produced three versions, over 1,800, of Yak-52 radial piston-engine-powered aircraft and has also manufactured a sport aviation aircraft called Festival.
Aerostar was privatized in February 2000. Aerostar PAS IAROM owns 71.09 percent of shares, the S.I.F Moldova (financial investment company) owns 11.13 percent, and others 17.77 percent.
Aerostar has successfully shaken off the dust of past times, reinvented itself in the past 20 years to be a reliable second tier of the aerospace supply chain with customers like GKN Aerospace and Airbus unit Premium Aerotec.
The Defense Activities
Aerostar's defense activity was strong during the country’s political and economic transition and is considerable today; actually, Aerostar plans to increase its defense business. Currently, defense accounts for between 17 to 20 percent of Aerostar's business, and according to Grigore Filip, president and general director, the aim is to get to around 25 percent.
The MiG Lancer program was launched in 1990 and at the time it had a lifetime expectancy of 10 years – but next year it will be 25 years in service since the prototype flew. Aerostar is proud that during this time period it succeeded in providing MRO and all services and integrated logistics support so that the Romanian Air Force pilots were able to perform their missions.
Currently Aerostar's defense business includes mainly military MRO which consists of: MiG-21 Lancer and engines, rocket launchers maintenance work for the Romanian Army, maintenance of radar systems and IFF systems, and maintenance of landing gears for Puma helicopters and IAR-99 Soim trainers.
The question is now how Aerostar plans to increase its defense business when MRO for MiG-21s for the Romanian Air Force will cease in the next few years.
The first step will be the preparation of Aerostar to become the maintenance center for Romanian F-16s. By the end of 2018 at the government level, the procedure was completed for the designation of Aerostar as the F-16 maintenance center. Jointly with the Air Force and Lockheed Martin, Aerostar now wants to approve its capabilities as a basis for going forward.
There are 12 F-16s currently in the Romanian Air Force inventory; a long-term intention is to have around 36 aircraft. Romania will have more F-16s because the aircraft will replace the MiG-21s.
Behind the F-16 in a timescale is Aerostar's involvement in two missile programs: Patriot with Raytheon and HIMARS with Lockheed-Martin (high mobility artillery rocket system). The agreement with Raytheon is signed and Aerostar is preparing to enter into the supply chain of Raytheon some time in 2019.
Aerostar says that it will take a "few years" for Aerostar to be designated as the maintenance center for all these systems, but the time is working for them.
Aerostructures, Components and Manufacture of Assemblies
Aerostar today employs approximately 2,200 people, some 65 to 70 percent is derived from the commercial aviation sector, and is currently accounted for by the manufacture of aerostructures, landing gears, and hydraulic systems and commercial aviation MRO activities. Aerostar's presence in manufacturing of commercial parts is impressive, taking into consideration that it was almost nonexistent in this field some 15 years ago.
Aerostar is today an established manufacturer of aerostructures, components, and assemblies for the global supply chain as an EASA Part 21G subcontractor and/or under the approval of the main contractor. Among its customers are GKN Aerospace, Fokker Aerostructures, and Premium Aerotec.
Aerostructure parts are manufactured for the A320 family (wing shroud box under contract to GKN Aerospace, some 50 percent of all production for the different final assembly lines); Dassault Falcon 7X/8X (and planned) for the 5X business jets, Gulfstream business jets, and also for Bombardier.
The company is also the only Romanian manufacturer of landing gears and hydraulic components for all aircraft types made in Romania under license or under Aerostar’s own type certificate. Aerostar is also an approved supplier for Safran Landing Systems (formerly Messier-Bugatti-Dowty) of complete products including full mechanical and hydraulic assembly and testing.
Among the programs covered are landing gears for the Daher TBM familly, actuators for the Airbus A320, A330, and A350XWB, and Boeing 787, as well as kits of parts for the A310, Super Puma helicopter, and Dassault Falcon 7X.
Even without a large local supply chain, Aerostar is vertically integrated on the manufacturing side, as evident in the new production halls where it has focused on aluminum and other metals, investing in a series of special processes such as shot peening, heat treatment, and surface coating. In 2018 a new anodizing line, plus an automated paint facility were approved by customers and have begun production.
Commercial Aviation MRO
Aerostar holds Part-145 certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Romanian Civil Aviation Authority and has approvals for maintenance on the Boeing 737 Classic and New Generation, the Airbus A320 family, the BAe 146, Avro RJ regional jet, and the Rolls-Royce M250 turboshaft engine. It now also hold FAA Part-145 approval.
Under its Part 145 approvals Aerostar provides heavy maintenance including: A, B, C, and D checks; SSID/CPCP; AD/SB; major structural repairs; structural modifications; lap joint modifications; composite repairs; avionics upgrades; cockpit reconfiguration; interior refurbishment and cosmetics; painting of components and assemblies; and weighing.
Aerostar also supplies component maintenance for: wheels and brakes, doors/hatches, electrical, flight controls, hydraulics, structural, and seats.
Aerostar is particularly proud of its NDT (nondestructive testing) services, which can be performed on site or at a customer facility. Aerostar is an approved training center for basic and OIB training of technical aviation personnel.
Beside all the re-modeling and new hangars in Bacau, the company is building and intends to open a new civil MRO hangar at Iasi, located some 80 miles northeast. This growth isn't going to stop and Aerostar is looking for further expansion fields.
Aerostar has become one of the premier independent aviation MROs facilities in the eastern part of Europe, their customer base is wide and doesn’t rely on customers from that part of the world as Aerostar’s success is derived from customers from Western Europe, Africa, the Middle East, as well as customers from Russia and other former Soviet Union countries (CIS).
