In the current depressed market for used aircraft sales, particularly at the lower end of business jets and helicopters, it is perhaps the upgrade market that provides the best opportunity for adding value to an older aircraft and providing an edge over a competitor in the charter market by offering something above the competition. The growth of new products appears to have slowed, with many fewer new avionic systems being debuted at the recent Aircraft Electronics Association convention in Washington. However, there are still many opportunities out there for installers, both in cabin systems, avionics and performance packages.

On the avionic front, glass cockpit EFIS upgrades seem to be progressing well for the turboprop and light jet market. Garmin's G1000 system on the venerable Beech 200 King Air adds massive additional capabilities as well as providing upwards of 100Kg in weight saving with installed prices from around US$300K. The G1000 system is also now available through Cessna-owned service centres for the CJ1 Citation Jet.

Universal Avionics 890R retrofit glass cockpit is gaining a significant market share and can be seen in many popular light jets as well as turboprops and simplifies the process by allowing connection to existing nav radios. The Garmin G600 is selling well as an affordable glass cockpit for the small class 3 aircraft and is also now available as the G500H for popular light VFR helicopters.

Aspen Avionics also has its EFD1000H certified on light helicopters and it is proving to be a very competitive low cost alternative to the Garmin system. All of the G500/600 and EFD1000 systems can be complemented by the new Garmin GTN series of touch-screen Nav/Com/GPS systems that benefit from Garmin's unique EASA AML STC approval and therefore reduce the certification effort.

All of these retrofit EFIS systems now offer synthetic vision options for improved situational awareness, so hopefully adding to safety and reducing the risk of CFIT accidents.

In the cabin, the primary growth area seems to be SwiftBroadband, with lower cost systems from Aircell, Cobham, Thrane & Thrane, etc offering systems starting at 200kbps for a relatively modest cost. Unfortunately, the additional benefit of wireless connectivity in the cabin faces the certification hurdle of an automatic STC for what could otherwise be a simpler and cheaper minor change.

Cabin entertainment and cabin management systems have seen massive changes with new systems such as Venue from Rockwell Collins, Ovation from Honeywell and a much cheaper but equally effective system from Flight Display Systems, all of which allow touch-screen control of aircraft systems, as well as allowing passengers to plug in their own iPad or iPod to import music or video into the aircraft system. Apps even allow control of the cabin functions from the iPad!

Aircraft performance change modifications are a much more limited market but do provide some significant benefits to operators. King Air operators can see considerable performance gains from engine upgrades such as Blackhawk or Silver Hawk. Coupled with BLR winglets and Raisbeck wing lockers, the capability of this workhorse can see considerable improvement.

For the future, we may see more engine upgrades such as already available on the Beech 400 and older Citations, to improve fuel efficiency and reduce noise.

Track down the top aircraft upgrades

Aircraft owners will always be on the look-out for engine, propeller and avionics upgrades, and the major manufacturers will be on show in Geneva once again. See contact details and news from each on our web guide to EBACE.