Deploying almost 50 years of aerospace engineering and manufacturing expertise , Pexco has spent the last two years developing and fine-tuning the performance of AirShield for both A320 and B737 aircraft — cooperating with the likes of American Airlines , Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines to complete on-wing testing .
Pexco Aerospace is headquartered in Union Gap , Washington . The company has stood the test of time in the region since 1973 , as they were originally founded in Selah , Washington . Pexco has been in its current location for 25 years and formally became Pexco Aerospace in 2015 . There are about 100 employees at that location , and Page said most of their employees are long tenured . He feels that they are in a great location for the aerospace industry , being just over two hours south of Seattle .
One employee , new to Pexco but highly experienced in bringing aerospace products to market , is Boney Mathew , vice president of engineering and quality . Mathew is originally from India and worked in his family business , “ a rubber factory ,” that dealt in elastomers and plastics , he said . He came to the U . S . at age 19 and became educated in that area and then worked in the automotive industry . He has over 20 patents in the industry and has worked for many companies to bring “ blue sky ” products like AirShield to market .
He said , “ AirShield works to remove the number of bacteria in the air by more than 75 percent . When people sit on an airline it is important that they have a visual cue to feel safe . When they look up , they can see this unit and it can help them feel calm knowing their well-being is protected .”
He added that OEMs can white label AirShield to call it what they would like from a marketing perspective . For example , he said that Airbus has a campaign called “ Clean Space ,” an indicator of an airline working toward cleanliness .
AirShield is expected to be certified by the FAA in mid-2022 and installations will begin in Q1 2023 . Mathew said that the airlines they had already approached had a favorable reaction to AirShield and its passenger benefits .
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2022 ISSUE NO . 28 11