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2021-01-17

GAL: The Leader in Integrated Aviation Readiness Solutions

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, GAL is a leading regional provider of integrated aircraft sustainment solutions for military and civilian entities.

By Sakha
Working with the world’s largest original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) service providers, such as AAR, Airbus, Bell, Pratt & Whitney, Boeing and Leonardo, the company helps its clients achieve exceptional fleet readiness. GAL is part of the Mission Support cluster within EDGE, an advanced technology company for defence and beyond. Nation Shield spoke to Mohamed Al Khemairi, CEO of GAL, on the comprehensive aviation service and maintenance lifecycle solutions GAL provides.

What are GAL’s core areas of service?

GAL is a 100 per cent UAE-owned company founded in 2007. We have more than 5,000 employees and we support more than 500 aircraft, most of them in the military sector. We provide integrated aircraft sustainment solutions, specialised manpower and technical assistance, and we have agreements with all the original equipment manufacturers, major suppliers and all the major MRO centres that provide maintenance, repair and overhaul services.

Our core services are aircraft maintenance, technical services, logistic and supply chain services, command level advisory support, manpower outsourcing and augmentation solutions, specialised training, and technical support solutions.

We also provide modifications, upgrade, management, supply chain management and export compliance.

Who are your key partners and clients internationally and domestically?

We have a strong relationship and agreements with most of the major OEMs and MRO partners such as AAR, Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, GE, Sikorsky, and many different suppliers and OEMs. We work closely with SANAD AERO, and AMMROC. For typical MRO services, we work with some local companies, also when it comes to supply chain and training support. We have signed agreements with the Kenyan Ministry of Defence to provide them MRO services, specialised maintenance engineers and spare parts and repairs. We have signed an agreement with China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC), which will allow GAL to establish a warehouse in Abu Dhabi and be the hub for all the spare parts distribution of CATIC in the Middle East. We have contracts with the Joint Aviation Command (JAC), one to provide comprehensive maintenance support for its fleet, worth around 3.5 billion AED, and a contract to provide specialised manpower. A third contract is for providing day-to-day maintenance service and support. The partnership enables JAC to remain completely focused on the operations and deployment of the UAE’s aircraft, while GAL provides MRO services. With the UAE Presidential Guard Command, we have several contracts to provide specialised manpower and technical and consultancy support services. In addition, currently we are working towards expanding our global footprint and are seeking business opportunities in Romania, Pakistan, Philippines, and Ethiopia.

Do you support both military and civilian clients? If so, what is the client mix?

Our main client is the military, but we are seeking to break into the commercial sector. We are working with AMMROC, SANAD AERO, AAR and other companies here.

At present almost 95 per cent of our business is from the military sector and 5 per cent from the commercial sector. Today, we are working on bringing that 5 per cent up to 30 per cent, which we believe, will be our ideal business mix.

You provide maintenance, repair, overhaul, and support services. Does it cover all segments of aircraft?

Maintenance, repair and overhaul is our core business, but we noticed that there is a requirement for aircraft modification and upgrade because of the aging of the aircraft and to keep up with the latest technology. Therefore, today we are also focusing on aircraft modifications and upgrades. We are working on establishing a new flight training and flight-testing centre too. Besides this, we have partnerships with some specialised engineering companies. And we are also working with AMMROC, utilising its workshop facilities and the engineering capability available in the local market. GAL has highly skilled technical teams that are certified to perform a wide range of aircraft modifications and upgrade services and a good quality assurance system that will allow us to be one of the key players when it comes to aircraft modifications and upgrades.

GAL has around 5,000 employees from 71 different nationalities. Do you have any scheme to increase the representation of UAE nationals?

GAL is a multinational company; and we focus on highly skilled labour. We employ the most talented technicians and engineers both locally and internationally. Emiratis at GAL are over 27 per cent of the total workforce, and most of them are in the engineering and technical roles. We have a very strong Emiratisation programme and in the next two years, we will have more locals joining our workforce. We will enable them to be the authorised engineers working on our aircraft. So, 27 per cent is a good start for us.

Can you give some details about the aircraft modifications and upgrades that GAL offers?

Our technical teams are trained and certified to perform a range of aircraft modification and upgrade services. They work with customers, OEMs and systems providers and solutions partners to engineer, implement, integrate, and certify modified aircraft that deliver the highest performance. We have ISO 45001:2018 and ISO 14001:2015 certifications and are also certified by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Our solutions enable advanced technical support, command advisory, specialised training, maintenance consultancy, flight management system programme consulting and technical assistance. We also provide capability and facility enhancements, including intermediate maintenance, shop design and implementation, as well as ERP integration solutions.

How do you manage the supply chain and logistics connected with aviation maintenance?

We provide agile, end-to-end logistics and supply chain services as a stand-alone offering or as part of an integrated lifecycle solution. Working with OEMs, MRO service providers and regional suppliers across a dozen or more rotary wing and fixed-wing platforms gives us access to extensive engineering data, tooling and expertise to deliver exceptional service and technical support to aircraft owners and operators.

Supply chain is a key aspect here. Even if you have good technicians to do a great job when it comes to maintenance, supply chain and spare parts management are very important. We have a strong relationship with OEMs, MROs and major suppliers. They provide spare parts as needed and when needed for the price that we agreed. We are working closely with AAR as our strategic partner to improve our supply chain system and to introduce the new ERP that we are working on to speed up the process. We are in contact with some of the suppliers to see how blockchain, big data or data analytics can support us in predicting maintenance and demand forecasting for spare parts requirements.

What are GAL’s future plans?

We are committed to providing support to the UAE Armed Forces. That will always remain our main objective. Furthermore, we are looking forward to taking GAL to the commercial market and we have some promising strategic objectives to elevate GAL globally.

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