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2014-06-01

CLEAR SKIES Middle East key growth area says Rockwell Collins chief

By: Sakha Pramod

In an exclusive interview, Rockwell Collins President and CEO shed light on some of the extraordinary technology already available in aviation and more that’s coming up. He views the Middle East as a pivotal growth region for both commercial and military products.

What are the main issues facing air space management and air traffic control in the Middle East?

Well, in the air space there are a couple of issues that are being worked on. First of all there is limited airspace because of the separation of military and commercial. The commercial aircraft can only fly limited amount of air space and the other challenge is number of aircraft that are coming in and taking off. And that is growing at a rapid pace. There are new aircraft coming on the market. So those are the two big challenges that create either delays or limitations in the number of take offs and landings. And obviously with the growth projected there need to be things done to improve that so that the bottom line does not that restrict aircraft take off and landing.

The Middle East region is one of the success stories for aviation industry. Does the success pose more challenges for air traffic control?

It does. The infrastructure with the new (Dubai) airport is great big step in providing the overall infrastructure but modernization of airspace needs to happen and technology is available to help improve the efficiency of aircraft coming and landing at the local airports.

To what extent can technology help solve problems relating to airspace constraints?

There is technology in aircraft, there is technology in ground systems. Technology can help but there needs to be policy and procedural changes to allow technology to be utilized. Today most modern aircraft have new technology to help improve the prediction and timing of when the airplanes are going to be at the airport as well as providing technology that allows them to be closer spaced. Today the spacing between aircraft is done pretty conservatively for safety reasons. With new technology you can get them closer spaced to get more aircraft in and out of the airport.

So some of the technology being utilized in digital communication between the pilot who controls is like you text, but it is more sophisticated text, so that the voice communication becomes limited. There is also a multi-constellation GPS to allow the aircraft to have better position information so they can be closer spaced for takeoff and landing. And then there is which is the display to look down or look through and that allows more situational awareness so they can land easier in fog or other low visibility conditions. Those are technologies in the aircraft there is going to be a need to also have the ability to have both commercial and military aircraft land in common space. But that is going to require that some of the military aircraft also incorporate this technology.

How can regional partnerships help create improved air traffic control and safety management?

The challenge with air traffic control and safety management is that it is a multi-region problem because aircraft are coming in from many regions. So if you optimize it for one region and if there is no collaboration the constraints just move to the other regions. So I think it is important particularly for this region to have a collaborative approach so that these technologies can be utilized.

You have been with Rockwell Collins for a long time, to be precise from 1987. What are your company’s recent initiatives in this region?

This region is very important for us. We focus on growing our business here. We are major suppliers to both Boeing and Airbus and as they sell these large commercial aircraft in this region they have a lot of Rockwell Collins avionics equipment providing regional growth for us. I think the next phase of our relationship of business build-up in the Middle East is the support of those products after they have been delivered - maintenance repair and overhaul and so on. I think this is a big opportunity because there is a lot of Rockwell equipment delivered to the region.

The controversy relating to the disappearance of a Malaysian airliner recently has raised the question of the constraints of technology. How do you view the incident?

First of all, we do not know what happened and we were not involved in the formal investigation. Until we know what happened I do not want to speculate on that. I will just say that there is tech available today on the aircraft so that we always know where the aircraft are. There is GPS technology, there is delink communication technologies. So I am confident once - hopefully - they find the black box, once they are able to determine what the cause of the situation is, technology will be able to ensure it does not happen again. I fully believe there is technology available today. It may not be implemented the way it should be implemented but certainly it is all available and this shall never happen again.

How has your company handled the challenges of environmental protection?

Part of what we do is provide flight management systems and the auto pilot system on aircraft and it is a great amount of investment from our company and other companies in the industry to create greater efficiency. This comes back to air traffic control constraints as well. What you want is the aircraft to fly directly into the airport and not fly around the airport waiting to land. We have been putting new GPS-based satellite-based procedures in the aircraft so they can fly much more efficiently. There’s also the working with manufacturing to ensure that the auto pilots are optimized for efficient engine operation. Of course, from a manufacturing perspective we are focussed on all the environment protection regulations. Our new facilities are fully-certified energy-efficient facilities. We have major recycling activities and all these go a long way for environment protection initiatives to move away from hazardous materials and all those things that make us a good environmentally-friendly company.

This is your first visit to UAE –are you familiar with expos like IDEX and the Dubai Airshow?

Yes, this is my first visit. Obviously we have resources for attending such expos. I can say that these activities have helped in raising awareness of some issues that we talked about such as efficiency initiatives and potential collaboration. This makes sure that everybody works together for a common goal. Forums like these are extremely important for keeping up momentum. There are complex issues that require a lot of different constituents and I think these events are valuable. I will be here for the next expo.

As a company you may be investing heavily and more and more in R & D. At the same time you may have to address the profit motives of investors. How do you strike a balance?

What we do in innovation is important. It allows us to stay ahead of our competitors and allows us to develop the new products that our customers want and then investment turns into profit. So we believe one of the hallmarks of our company is to continue to invest in R & D. We spend nearly 20 per cent of our revenues on R & D which is much higher than most of our peer companies. This year it was nearly under one billion dollars in R &D and for a company that is five billion dollars in revenue. So it is very, very important to us. The way we strike the balance is that we ensure that the R & D is positioning us in the market with products that have the right price, that have our customers satisfied with the right cost so that we achieve our financial objectives as well. Long-term business typically from the time we may win a programme to put avionics on 787 from the time it gets into service can be five- to seven years. So you have to invest in this business for the long run and manage the profitability with long-term investment. This is not a quarter-by quarter consumer business perspective.

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