GAS Aviation Serbia

The global aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) is a multi-billion-dollar industry growing at a robust rate year-on-year. Catching up on this growth trend now is the Southeast Europe Aviation MRO market. Although this MRO ecosystem is much smaller than its western counterpart, it is ramping up to new levels of capabilities today. The region’s MROs are agile and ambitious and are enthusiastically adopting new technologies to lay the groundwork for continued growth. Leading the way is Serbia’s GAS Aviation, one of the largest light aviation service providers in Southeast Europe. Thanks to its modern equipment and specialists with years of experience, GAS Aviation is now winning clients not just in the East but even in Western Europe and the Asia Pacific.

GAS Aviation specialises in engine overhaul and hot section inspection (HIS). While an HSI is usually done as a preventive and planned maintenance activity, aircraft sometimes need unscheduled inspections. For instance, if the battery is not in good condition when the engine starts up, it can result in an ‘overtemp’ (high inter-turbine temperature) situation, warranting an unscheduled HSI. This is a rare skill in the aviation MRO space, and GAS Aviation excels in it.

When it comes to engine overhaul, GAS Aviation exhibits unique expertise for certain types of U.S. aircraft engines, such as Lycoming, Continental, and Pratt & Whitney. At the same time, they also attend to the service needs of some of the old Russian engine like Dromader, which further highlights GAS Aviation’s competitive edge in the domain.

For Pratt & Whitney PT6 engine inspection, GAS Aviation uses some of its leading-edge testing devices.

For example, its tachometer indicator-generator test set is used to test indicators for voltage and calibration accuracy and to measure generators for starting voltage, speed, and output voltage under load conditions. Another device is the Turbine Temperature test set, used to inspect turbine temperature measuring systems on turboprop engines. Besides, GAS Aviation’s non-destructive testing (NDT) workshop is fully equipped with modern equipment that allows for magnetic particle inspection, fluorescent penetrant inspection, ultrasonic inspection, and eddy current inspection with high precision.

The company is equally competent in aircraft makeovers. “GAS Aviation essentially takes the aircraft from a graveyard and puts it back into the sky where it belongs,” says Ivana Ivosevic, logistics manager of Gas Aviation.

In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated supply chain crisis that hit the aviation industry, GAS Aviation started noticing a significant rise in counterfeit parts that are difficult to trace back to their origin. To identify the counterfeit parts, the company’s mechanics and quality manager started utilising their knowledge to set up internal guidelines and detailed training for the rest of the technical and logistics faction. Moreover, GAS Aviation was also addressing the supply shortage challenges in the aviation MRO space by maintaining a smooth relationship with reliable suppliers. These actions not just highlight GAS Aviation’s dedication towards their job but also their responsibility towards the entire aviation sector.

The company is also involved in various forms of aerial operations. GAS Aviation’s own fleet is fully equipped for aerial firefighting, aerial photography, as well as conducting rabies vaccination campaigns across Eastern Europe. GAS Aviation, in collaboration with other companies, supports zero-downtime aircraft maintenance for all the 10-15 aircraft responsible for the vaccine distribution in the region.

With such people and technology focus, GAS Aviation has been garnering acclaim from aviation companies worldwide, even without a dedicated website to steer clients. All of its clients come through word of mouth. While the company is building its website, it wants to continue living up to its MROjust- a-call-away reputation and remain a foresighted MRO in Southeastern Europe.