Innova Aerospace, which created a multi-faceted group of aviation businesses over the past four years through the acquisitions of companies such as Sabreliner Aviation and Sierra Industries, quietly shut its doors late last year, apparently halting all work except for government and military contracts, several industry sources have confirmed.
Multiple calls to Innova at its San Antonio, Texas headquarters were not returned, with a voicemail referring callers to a Skyway Aviation Group. But an employee reached at Sabreliner said the military and government work is ongoing.
The privately held firm has not yet filed for bankruptcy. Competing maintenance, repair, and overhaul shops, however, have been hiring affected Innova maintenance technicians and craftsmen, and have even taken on stalled aircraft projects removed from the company’s properties, industry sources told AIN. Those sources also noted the company has left numerous vendors unpaid, as it has begun auctioning off its assets.
Innova’s operations had spanned from MRO, upgrade, engineering, and a range of other aircraft support and manufacturing services. The group began to assemble with the acquisition of Sabreliner in January 2014 by Innovative Capital Holdings of Naples, Florida. Sabreliner, which provided support and airframe life-extension programs for aging Sabreliner business jets along with a range of other civil and military fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, had a long history of financial troubles. The year before its acquisition, the Ste. Genevieve, Missouri firm had defaulted on loans.
In 2015, Innova added Uvalde, Texas-based Sierra Industries, which has worked on a number of aircraft upgrade programs and was involved in test-flying Safran’s new Silvercrest engine. Also joining the growing group that year were Skyway Aviation Group and Composite Helicopters, rounding out a range of aviation services.