Dunlop Aircraft Tyres secures three-year deal with Chinese airline

ERJ staff report (TP)

Birmingham, UK – Dunlop Aircraft Tyres (DAT) has secured a three-year deal with China Express Airlines (CEA) – the nation’s first privately-owned regional airline – to supply tires for its growing fleet of regional airliners.

Under the agreement, revealed at the UK's Farnborough Airshow in July, Dunlop will support CEA’s Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen aircraft.

CEA, based in Guiyang, operates nine of the 75-seat jets and the fleet will increase to 12 by the end of this year and to 30 by 2016.

“This is another significant export order that builds on our growing success in the Asia Pacific region,” said DAT chairman, Ian Edmondson.

“We will provide China Express Airlines with new tires that have been made at our factory in the UK. They will be then distributed from and retreaded at our joint venture facility in Jinjiang, China.

“By making use of our operation in Jinjiang, the airline will be able to return tires for retreading at a facility that is efficient and that is ideally located for quick and easy shipping to and from its hub airports.”

Dunlop, the world’s only specialist aircraft tire manufacturer and retreader, exports more than 80% of its UK-made products and in 2011 won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for its international sales success.

DAT also provides tires to LOT Polish Airlines, Air Canada, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Republic Airlines (US).

“Ten years ago, our tires were used by LOT Polish Airlines when the airline flew the first commercial Embraer 170 service from Warsaw to Vienna,” said Edmondson.

“We are proud that, since then, we have not only retained the airline’s business but that we have maintained our market-leading position on the aircraft and continue to support the world’s largest fleets.

“This has been achieved through delivering operators a competitive cost of ownership and strong after-sales support, including the successful introduction of new, radial nosewheel tires for the aircraft which offer increased landing life and reduced weight.”