COVID-19 forced many businesses both large and small to rethink strategies that can carry them through during difficult times. Unfortunately, many businesses within the aviation industry were hit hard, and some are still working to recover from the disruption. A key factor to Greenwich AeroGroup’s success out of the turmoil was diversification.
Established in 2007, Greenwich AeroGroup is a holding company that was founded by Berkely Capital, LLC. Berkley Capital is the private equity investment subsidiary of W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB), a Fortune 500 property and casualty insurance company with an investment portfolio in excess of $15.0 billion.
Today, Greenwich AeroGroup owns and operates providers of general, commercial, government and military aviation services including maintenance, avionics, and interior refurbishments; fixed base operations; aircraft sales, charter, and management; manufacturing; component repair and overhaul and parts distribution. With diversification at the forefront, it began acquiring companies the year it was formed, with its first acquisition being Western Aircraft, in Boise, Idaho.
Western Aircraft, which began as MK Aviation, was founded in 1930 by Morrison Knudson to maintain its fleet of DC-3s supporting the Hoover Dam Project. In 1955, MK Aviation was appointed a full-service FAA Certified Repair Station and in 1985 it was renamed Western Aircraft. More than 65 years later, Western Aircraft continues to be a substantial leader in the aviation MRO industry in the northwest United States. It maintains a customer base from the United States and Canada and boasts an extensive history of working on diverse types of airframes including Citation, Embraer, Falcon, Gulfstream, Hawker, King Air, Pilatus, Piper and Quest aircraft. In addition, Western is the world’s largest aircraft sales dealer for Pilatus and one of the largest for Piper aircraft.
Greenwich AeroGroup’s vice chairman Jim Ziegler is very familiar with the sometimes-volatile world of aviation that can cause disruption even in well-laid plans. A recognized leader and veteran in the aviation industry, Jim’s nearly 40-year vocation reveals a proven track record of commitment and success with several of the industry’s top business aviation companies.
He joined Greenwich AeroGroup as President and Chief Executive Officer. His first call of duty was to seek out and secure businesses to add to the company’s portfolio
“We knew that we wanted to build Greenwich with diverse companies focused on adding value to customers, OEM partners and employees,” said Ziegler. “Additionally, those diverse companies also needed to be complementary to each other within our portfolio.”
So, in 2007, Greenwich acquired Atlantic Aero in Greensboro, North Carolina, which years later it sold to Landmark Aviation – however, it retained the manufacturing arm of the company which today is still located in Greensboro and is now known as a division of Summit Aviation. That division, Summit Aviation Mfg., specializes in legacy parts manufacturing, full-service assembly, detail components manufacturing, tooling and prototype and supplemental type certificate kits.
In 2008, Greenwich acquired Summit Aviation in Middletown, Delaware. Established in 1960, Summit Aviation’s customer base includes general aviation, corporate aviation, law enforcement, the U.S. government, and foreign military. It is a full-service MRO and FBO on its own 550-acre, private airport (KEVY). It is a factory-authorized service center for Bell Helicopter, Cessna, Raisbeck Engineering and Sikorsky. Additionally, it is a DoD-approved contractor.
At this point in Greenwich AeroGroup’s holdings, it now owns two maintenance and repair operations and is diverse in its offerings for both fixed-wing and rotor-wing owners and operators. The addition of manufacturing in North Carolina was a complement to the in-house manufacturing Summit supplied at its facility in Delaware.
A year after acquiring Summit, Greenwich AeroGroup purchased yet another company with disparate offerings - Banner Aerospace. It includes two companies that Greenwich still owns today, Professional Aircraft Accessories and Professional Aviation Associates.
Professional Aircraft Accessories is based on the Space Coast of Florida in Titusville. It thrives in a completely different market from its sister companies. It is an ISO 9001-2015-certified company and FAA/EASA Part 145 Repair Station specializing in the repair and overhaul of instrumentation, aircraft accessories, landing gear and airframe components for both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft for the commercial, military and business aviation markets. It has built its substantial reputation in the commercial and regional aircraft landing gear markets since its establishment in 1997. It also complements the needs of some of its sister companies through its business landing gear and component overhaul capabilities. Including that of the parts distribution company, Professional Aviation Associates.
Professional Aviation Associates was founded in 1985 by Doyle Griggs as a King Air parts distributor, and 38 years later it is among the largest independent suppliers of rotable airframe and avionics parts for Beechcraft King Air series, Beech 1900, C-12 and Embraer 120 aircraft. It is also a global distributor and certified FAA/TSP Parker Hannifin Stratoflex hose manufacturing facility.
While diversification has been a major focus for Greenwich since its inception, the company continues to invest in organic growth, enhanced profitability, and a real drive to improve the customer experience.
“If you look at all of our companies, you will see that each one of them has benefitted from organic growth,” said Ziegler. “Western Aircraft is a prime example. Their team has expanded their product and service offerings and seen tremendous growth over the last six years due to two major expansions of their physical footprint in Boise.”
Greenwich AeroGroup was one of the lucky ones to be able to successfully navigate its way through the unpredictable effects of COVID-19 and its aftermath, in part, because of its diverse portfolio of companies, however, no one knows what the future holds in terms of disruption. Ziegler believes it’s important to recognize the shortcomings of old practices and lay plans out that can help mitigate potential financial crises. “That’s the key to resiliency now and well into the future,” he said.