Air Covers

Air Covers is a British design and engineering company. It was founded in 2006 and makes protective covers for aircraft, helicopters, boats and ships, and land vehicles and equipment. The company says it has more than 3,000 designs on file. It supplies customers in more than 50 countries, including defence agencies around the world.

Its aircraft covers include cockpit, engine, propeller, wing, tail, wheel and oleo covers. It also makes plugs, blanks and ground support equipment covers. The covers are made for civil and military use. They protect against UV, heat, salt corrosion, ice, sand and humidity.

The company uses 3D LiDAR scanning to model each asset to millimetre accuracy. It has more than 600 LiDAR scans of aircraft, boats and land vehicles on file. Air Covers has laser scanned aircraft since 2011, and for aircraft the scans show every configuration variant.

Each cover is designed in CAD, and the team can add colour and print options. Covers are cut on conveyor CNC tables and then hand assembled by skilled machinists. The work uses stitching, tape seaming and ultrasonic welding. The company sources its technical textiles from manufacturers around the world, then tests them in the lab and in the field.

Each cover ships with clear instructions and QR code links, and remote support is available. The company says its covers reduce maintenance costs and increase asset availability. Its marine covers protect equipment on deployed operations, in storage, between charters and on deck, in all sea states.

Air Covers holds AS9100 Rev D aerospace quality approval, which it says it has held since 2009. It is a named list supplier to Airbus, Leonardo, General Dynamics and Babcock. It has JOSCAR approval for BAE, Babcock, the UK Ministry of Defence, Rolls Royce, General Dynamics and Meggit.

The company won the Queen's Award for International Trade in 2020, and an Airbus award for design innovation in the supply chain. The site says its covers have been tested in the laboratory, offshore, in the Middle East and in the Arctic. Its gallery shows covers for helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, including the Airbus H135 and the Bell 429.

Services

• Aircraft covers
• Helicopter covers
• Marine covers
• Ground equipment covers
• 3D LiDAR scanning
• CAD design
• CNC cutting
• Custom cover manufacture
• Bespoke scanning service
• Remote support