At the individual component level, our facilities located in Miami, Florida, Rio Rancho, New Mexico, and Millington, Tennessee collectively offer specialized component MRO capabilities and services covering hydraulics, composites, pneumatics, fuel systems, electro-mechanical assemblies, interiors, painting, flight controls, nacelles, and landing gear for passenger, cargo, and military aircraft applications.
Our TechOps segment leverages its robust engineering team to provide highly specialized technical support to our MRO facilities, as well as to develop advanced technical repairs, modifications and products, which we market under the tradename “Engineered Solutions.” This business unit includes the design, manufacture, and installation of new products, systems, and services that can enhance aircraft performance, safety, and service life at lower costs than traditionally expensive OEM products and services. Engineered Solutions also serves to lower the cost of Flight Equipment ownership with savings on MRO-related expenses, including compliance with mandatory and market-driven equipment upgrades. These cost-saving solutions are approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) under Supplemental Type Certificates (“STCs”), which provide us with the unique ability to perform these modifications. We use our FAA-approved Parts Manufacturing Authority (“PMA”) to integrate third party components in developing our STC solutions. We have also obtained approval from various foreign regulatory authorities to validate our STCs and PMA products for use by operators outside of the United States.
One example of our Engineered Solutions is our AerSafe® product line. We designed and received FAA approval to market AerSafe® as a solution for compliance with an FAA mandate to mitigate aircraft fuel tank flammability on Boeing and Airbus aircraft. AerSafe® has also been approved for installation on certain aircraft models that are regulated by the European Aviation Safety Agency (“EASA”) and the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil. Another example of our Engineered Solutions is our AerAware™ product, an industry-leading, next generation Enhanced Flight Vision System (“EFVS”) that has recently received approval by the FAA for the Boeing B737NG product line.
Competition
The aviation aftermarket is highly competitive with many participants, including Flight Equipment OEMs, MRO providers, airlines, aircraft and engine leasing companies, financial sponsors, USM sales organizations, and other independent manufacturers and service providers. The vast majority of participants compete within smaller subsets of our broader products and services offerings. Frequently, our competitors specialize in one or a limited number of areas within the following segments: aircraft MRO, engine MRO, Engineered Solutions, aircraft leasing, engine leasing, USM part sales, and asset management. Further, many component MRO providers specialize in a small subset of repairs related to specific components or materials, such as composites, pneumatics, hydraulics, electronics, landing gear, wheels and brakes, and auxiliary power units.
Consumers of aftermarket Flight Equipment products and services typically make buying decisions based on a variety of factors including quality, pricing, availability, provider reputation, technical specification, prior operating history, turnaround time, geographic location and financial terms.
Our Asset Management Solutions segment competitors include AAR Corp., AerCap, Delta Air Lines, Inc., GA Telesis, LLC, Kellstrom Aerospace, Heico Corporation, Willis Lease Finance Corp, Air Transport Services Group, LLC, Unical Aviation, Inc, Satair Group and Aviall, Inc, while competitors to our TechOps segment include AAR Corp., Aviation Technical Services, Inc., HAECO Americas, MRO Holdings, Inc., ST Engineering North America, Air Transport Services Group, LLC, Delta TechOps, TransDigm Group, MTU Aero Engines, Woodward, Inc., and Lufthansa Technik AG. Though our product and service offerings include certain aircraft and engine leasing activities, we do not view large pure-play aircraft and engine leasing companies as core competitors, as those companies are primarily centered around cost of capital and financial securitization products, and frequently choose to divest mid-life assets as they lack the technical and mechanical capabilities to deal with assets that have exited the OEM warranty periods.
Certain of our competitors have substantially greater marketing, financial, technical and infrastructure resources than we do, and may additionally provide complementary sales and services capabilities that we do not currently offer. As a result, certain of our competitors may be able to deliver a broader range of aftermarket Flight Equipment products and services at more attractive pricing. As such, we choose to target services and products where our synergic capabilities provide us a competitive advantage and allow us to be more responsive to the evolving needs of mid-life aircraft owners,