Saudi Air Navigation Services relies on Thales for Navigation Aids

As Gulf airlines become ever more attractive for business and tourist travel, and with the region’s growing importance as both a destination, and as a transit point for Europe to Asia routes, Saudi Arabia is striving to continue to offer safety and efficiency in airspace management whilst strengthening and maintaining a complex supply chain for their installed base of air traffic management equipment.

Because of the country’s meteorological conditions, which include frequent sandstorms, and a significant day time night time temperature shift, sophisticated equipment such as navigation aids, which are constantly exposed to the elements, require regular and responsive maintenance services. Thales is able to quickly and efficiently respond to all customer needs.

This challenge is the reason why Saudi Air Navigation Services (SANS), the organisation responsible for maintaining safety over Saudi Skies, has consistently chosen Thales to supply navigation aids at major airports. The Group proposed a holistic solution to ensure a robust and secure supply chain of spares. Through a Vendor Managed Inventory VMI programme, SANS will procure spares and repairs based on a predetermined price list and fixed delivery time. One of the key elements of the VMI is the reduction of turnaround time from several weeks to virtually zero.

The contract is for the support of SANS’s extensive installed base of Thales Navaids, including the ILS 420, CVOR 431, DVOR 432 and DME 415/435 installed across the Kingdom.