Tiny Phoenix hopes to resurrect Aveos
Bidding to refurbish A320 plane touted as first step in taking over bankrupt firm
A minnow is vying to swallow a whale as Phoenix Aerospace Inc., a tiny Dorval aircraft maintenance firm about to be evicted from its airport site, is launching a bid to acquire Montreal’s insolvent Aveos Fleet Performance Inc.
But whether Aveos can rise again appears highly dubious under the tutelage of Phoenix Aerospace.
The firm employs fewer than 100 people, many of them part-time, has annual sales of between $1 million and $3 million – and does not have a land line phone number.
Phoenix said that as a first step, it’s bidding along with Air France to complete the refurbishment of an Air Canada A320 that has been in the Aveos hangar since the firm’s March 19 filing for protection from creditors.
The move would allow the hiring of dozens of the 1,800 former Aveos employees, company president Serge Prévost said.
The firm he founded in 2007 has major investors behind him, he said, but declined to name them.
He is considering taking over the mammoth Aveos plant next to Air Canada’s head office in St. Laurent. Phoenix was negotiating leasing a large plot of land next to that factory from its owner, Aéroports de Montréal. At the moment, Phoenix is sharing space with Air Creebec at Pierre Trudeau International Airport’s Stuart Graham Blvd. But they must soon vacate to accommodate the airport’s next expansion.
Prévost would not give any details about the project’s possible funders, whether private individuals or money managers, government agencies like Investissement Québec or union investment arms like the Fonds de soli- darité du Québec.
But he did say that “there is a whole bunch of subsidies available for deals like this. But I’m the promoter and leader on this project, I’m not the finance guy.”
He said he is also negotiating with the trustees in the Aveos bankruptcy filing, Toronto’s FTI Consulting, which does not comment on the issue.
One possibility, Prévost said, would be to acquire the Aveos plant and turn it into a paint and interior-finishing outfit. On the lot next to it, he is contemplating building another huge factory whose façade would measure 175 metres and that could accommodate three wide-body aircraft at one time.
Prévost said he has received approval from ADM and NAV Canada, which operates Can- ada’s civil air navigation service, for the tentative project.
“We received approval for the building we want to put up and the whole project is viable,” he said.
“Airport authorities will negotiate with us on the land when we put up $500,000.”
But ADM spokesperson Stéphanie Lepage said “we’re not aware of this project.”
Nav Canada spokesperson John Morris said he did not know the company and was not aware of the proposal either.
Prévost said his last employer before striking out on his own in 1994 was Bombardier Inc. But he said he is well-known in the industry, having worked “on all systems for all aircraft” for Air France, Jetsgo, Air Transat, Air Creebec, Nolinor, and Hydro-québec. Phoenix also shares space with Nolinor at its Mirabel plant.
Jean Poirier, a union leader with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers of Aveos and Air Canada, said that Prévost is a former foreman at Aveos.
Aveos was Canada’s largest aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul until filing for bankruptcy protection last month, laying off 2,600 employees across Canada, 1,800 of them in Montreal. The airline has sent its aircraft to various countries for heavy repairs since the aveos shut down.
Air Canada said “the airline has been undertaking a request for proposal process with respect to longer term maintenance work previously performed by Aveos.”