Gulfstream has named Murtaza Hassan as general manager of its St. Louis facility. He will oversee service centre operations, including safety, quality, customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. Hassan reports to Joseph Rivera, VP of service centre operations.

“We are pleased to welcome Murtaza back to the Gulfstream team,” says Derek Zimmerman, president, Gulfstream customer support. “As former director of operations for the Gulfstream Savannah service centre, he brings a tremendous amount of Gulfstream knowledge and experience to this position.”

Hassan has over 20 years of aviation maintenance experience. He returns to Gulfstream after having served as a director at Dassault. He also has extensive experience with Jet Aviation, serving as its director of maintenance and operations in Singapore, and previously working as the chief inspector for Flexjet's Part 135 operations and two Part 145 repair stations. Hassan also worked in operations management for Bombardier and Atlantic Aero.

In addition to his business aviation experience, he spent several years at an airline, where he held various positions in maintenance and training. He is a licensed airframe and power plant maintenance technician.

In other news, Gulfstream has opened a hub dedicated to worldwide aircraft parts distribution in Atlanta. Positioned within two miles of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport, the warehouse's location will allow parts to be delivered around the world more quickly and efficiently.

“Atlanta is the optimal choice for our newest warehouse,” says Zimmerman. “Hartsfield-Jackson typically offers more than 150 domestic and 70 international nonstop flights and has been named the most efficient airport in the world. By distributing parts directly from Atlanta, we can save shipping and delivery time in order to provide the most expedient service to our customers.”

The new warehouse maintains approximately $23 million in parts inventory. Gulfstream's partner in this operation is Crane Worldwide Logistics, which provides the warehouse space and handles logistics services. The Gulfstream parts network includes the main Customer Support Distribution Center in Savannah with additional distribution centres in Van Nuys, California; Teterboro, New Jersey; Amsterdam; Basel, Switzerland; Hong Kong; and Singapore. The OEM's global parts inventory totals more than $1.3 billion.