Kalistani Major History

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AeroKal to begin building commercial airlines once again
Higher fuel efficiency leads to extended range of transcontinental lines
Yoshimi, Suldanor
February 12, 4886


AeroKal nears completion of the new fleet of KA4X Transcontinental Airlines in December of Last year

The Kalistani Aircraft industry has been humming since the KALNAFERCO reauthorization was begun last July. Following delivery of the first sheet aluminum and steel compenents, AeroKal reopened its doors and all new machines, robotics and finishing processes began assembling aircraft.

"We've had to make nearly all these components in house," said AeroKal's Chief Operations Officer Justine Fishman. "AeroKal is essentially a vertical monopoly at this point, with everything from designing and engineering, to component delivery, to assembly being carried out right here on our Yoshimi campus." Within the last year and a half, AeroKal has become the largest employer in Yoshimi, and currently employs more than 10 percent of the workforce in the Yoshimi area.

"Hiring and training was carried out along with the nascent widgets production which makes all the little plastic and metal pieces necessary to actually piece together functioning and comfortable passenger liners," said Fishman. "Most of the work is automated, but we still employ hundreds of technicians who oversee the operation of the robots, and conduct visual QC for the parts. Our goal for our statistical process controls is a fail rate of less than .01 percent. If we ever hit more than .01 percent fail rate in a single production cycle, we will shut down the entire line, and figure out where the issue is located before we restart. These little widgets do everything from allowing a passenger to signal for an Attendant, to lock the seat back for comfort, and since all of this is built in house, we have the ability to not only maximize our quality control to the degree statistically possible, but also ensure excellent JIT production."

The plant also contains a Jet engine works, which not only produces but tests different jets. "We work here in conjunction with KALMILINCO, and we will be building their turboprops as well as our own. Since our fleet is designed initially to be no more than 10 individual planes to each country we fly to, we will also have plenty of time to design military jets. In return, we receive government subsidies for fuel efficiency, energy return, and reliability."

The most important and technically advanced part of the new AeroKal Factory in Yoshimi is the avionics plant. "We have recently began working again with the old company KalMD," declared Fishman, "to design a new generation of radar and HUD for our commercial pilots. Of course this will have military applications as well, but the civilian version will allow the plane's vitals to be displayed, along with navigation information, realtime weather information, and flight data like altimeter and pitch readings in a non-obtrusive way. The aim is to give Pilots as much information as they will need to successfully operate the vehicle without needing to look at a panel of dials." Fishman pointed out that the ubiquitous dash panel will remain on the flight deck as a backup, in case the HUD goes down for some reason.

"But the visiting public will likely never see all the inhouse shops," said Fishman, "but our assembly line is our pride and joy and we'll happily show this part off. It employs the most actual people, who physically assemble the aircraft, from start to finish, from the stamping of parts in the machine shop to the riveting and painting there about a quarter of a mile away. On the line there are no less than 150 different work classifications, all of whom play an essential role in the manufacture of these aircraft. They are aided by machines, but under no circumstances do machines do the work of assembly of these aircraft. They always have human hands on them, from start to finish, and of this we are extremely proud."

It is a long slow process to construct a completed aircraft. Each craft takes about 10 months to build, and more if there is a stoppage in the components plant. But at any given time, there is an aircraft in some phase of construction. Here, sheet metal is being stamped out, here the metal ribs of the craft are being cut and fitted, here the frame is taking shape, and down the line a way, the precision cut metal is being riveted onto the frame. Since the Plant opened and materials began being delivered, AeroKal has already manufactured 3 KA4201 aircraft. They have been delivered to KaliAir Hangars in Kaliburg, and have already made multiple flights to airports in Dovani, Keris and to other destinations in Seleya. "At the rate we are working, with 4 round the clock shifts, we shall satisfy Kalistan's commercial demand in about 4 years," said Fishman, "including reserve craft. And now that the Aluminum has been renationalized and is being delivered regularly, the price of the aircraft has gone through the floor, allowing us to pass on some of the savings to our customers and the rest to our workers in the form of dividends, benefits and amenities."

AeroKal shows tremendous potential for growth once the domestic demand is satisfied. "We would eventually like to market our Transcontinental Line to other nations," said Fishman, "Especially given the superior quality we create here as well as our lower price point. I believe we can compete even with established firms overseas, and look forward to the opportunity to sell abroad in just a few years."