Irish aerospace firm Atlantic Aviation buys UK operation
SHANNON-based aerospace group Atlantic Aviation Group has acquired a former Flybe maintenance operation at Brize Norton in England.
The UK business employs 112 people and in 2014 secured a contract to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul services for the RAF’s fleet of Airbus A400M transport aircraft. There are more than 20 in the RAF fleet.
Atlantic Aviation Group chief executive Shane O’Neill said the acquisition will further enhance the company’s capability to service clients in the UK and Europe.
Atlantic Aviation’s clients already include Ryanair, DHL, ASL Airlines, TUI Group and Jet2. It also provides services to the world’s leading aircraft lessors, including Gecas, AerCap, Avolon and SMBC.
The acquisition of the former Flybe maintenance operation in Oxford marks the second acquisition by an Irish company of a former maintenance facility operated by the failed airline.
Last year, Conor McCarthy’s Dublin Aerospace bought a former Flybe maintenance operation at Exeter Airport. It rebranded it as Exeter Aerospace and expects to employ more than 250 people there within the next three to four years.
Atlantic Aviation Group is owned by businessman Patrick Jordan.
He sold his scaffolding company firm Easy Access to Siteserv in 2006 for up to €23m in cash and shares.
He bought Atlantic Aviation, formerly Transaero, out of examinership in 2015 for €1m and pledged €1.5m in working capital to the business.
Mr Jordan also owns 50pc of Eirtrade Aviation, a Dublin-based firm whose activities include aircraft disassembly. It took delivery last year of a former Air France A380 double-decker aircraft to disassemble.
The latest set of publicly available accounts for Atlantic Aviation show that it generated turnover of €33m in 2019 and a pre-tax profit of €2.7m.
Those figures compared to €29.9m and €1.2m respectively in the prior year.
Atlantic Aviation also announced yesterday that it has appointed Pfizer executive Eileen O’Riordan to its board as a non-executive director. Ms O’Riordan is currently a senior HR director with the pharma giant and has more than 22 years’ experience working in manufacturing facilities, and as an executive coach, mediator and change specialist.
Mr O’Neill has also been appointed to the board.