Our mission is to increase the profits of our Airline and MRO partners by assisting in the reduction of their aircraft battery maintenance costs. We do this by designing and building unique testing and charging equipment, and by providing the highest quality service at competitive pricing in our 145 operations.

How We Got Started

Everyone has heard the term “thinking outside the box,” and it’s this spirit of innovation that led Greg Pierce, President of Phoenix Aviation, to save Southwest Airlines millions of dollars.

Over a decade ago Greg Pierce was a maintenance professional for Southwest which has over 500 Boeing 737’s in its fleet. On each 737 is a series of egress emergency lights. These egress emergency lights are powered by battery packs installed within the aircrafts interior.

The Southwest Challenge
Southwest Airlines was experiencing an abnormally high rate of failures with their emergency egress batteries. Battery packs were being discarded as waste and hundreds of thousands of dollars were being lost each year. Greg was based in Phoenix and saw this challenge happening personally and had a plan to significantly reduce expenses AND turn time on repairs. He began his research into NiCad battery technology and concluded there was a better way to charge and store egress batteries.

First Greg developed a presentation on his findings and presented it to Southwest Airlines “Reliability Control Board.” This group found the merit in Greg’s proposal not only from the standpoint of increasing reliability, but saving the airline money. Greg was then awarded the funds necessary to create a specialized battery shop inside the Phoenix maintenance facilities.

The Results…
Prior to opening the dedicated battery shop in Phoenix, in 1998, SWA spent $1,330 per aircraft for egress battery replacement. In 1999, that figure dropped to $269 per aircraft. In 2000, the cost per aircraft dropped even further to $248. Over a three (3) year period, the battery shop that Greg and his team built had saved SWA $256,318. Over a ten (10) year period Southwest Airlines saved approximately $2,907,096!

In 2002, Greg was awarded by CEO Herb Kelleher, Southwest’s prestigious “Presidential Award” for his efforts. In 2006 Greg moved from Southwest into the private sector and started Phoenix Aviation with the objective of helping airlines and MRO’s all over the country save money on all their NiCad battery maintenance.