Rushlift secures Virgin Atlantic deal

Rushlift Ltd has signed a contract to supply and maintain ground support equipment for Virgin Atlantic Airways.

The contract, worth up to GBP4 million (USD6.4 million) over seven years, involves Rushlift supplying Virgin a new fleet of ground support equipment used mainly in aircraft maintenance, both in the hangar and on standby at Heathrow Airport. The agreement will be extended to cover Virgin operations at Gatwick Airport.

Rushlift will provide full maintenance cover, including an immediate response if equipment fails and prevents an aircraft from departing.

The award of the contract complements Rushlift's recent acquisition of the American Airlines maintenance facility at Heathrow, giving it the ability to respond to airside emergencies.

Peter Cosgrove, chairman of Rushlift, says ground support equipment is vital to the safe and efficient running of an airline. "We are investing over GBP2 million (USD3.2 million) to replace equipment and help Virgin meet its own targets on improving the sustainability of its business and significantly reducing carbon emissions. This involves replacing old diesel engine equipment with either low-emission diesel equipment or electric vehicles."

Andy Currey, tooling and GSE manager at Virgin Atlantic Airways, says Rushlift was the only company that understood its needs and was able to fully comply with the tender requirements. "We were impressed by their fleet management system which will give us real time information on the status of our fleet and helps us to use our equipment more effectively. They have been easy to deal with throughout the process, responsive to our requests and flexible in their approach."

Virgin Atlantic operates a fleet of 41 aircraft on long-haul flights and recently inaugurated domestic services to Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. It flies to 35 destinations globally.

Rushlift is a UK company operating 150 engineers from a network of six depots. It provides long- and short-term hire of mechanical equipment and maintenance services, with over 8,000 items of equipment in service, ranging from materials handling equipment and ground support equipment to lorry loader cranes.