The business aircraft management market is fragmented and ripe for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), a panel of charter/management leaders said this morning at Corporate Jet Investor (CJI) Miami 2023. “There’s lots of room for growth in the aircraft management business,” noted Skyservice president and CEO Ben Murray. “But it’s still fragmented,” he added, meaning this segment is likely to continue seeing M&A activity in 2024.
While he is “not hunting” to buy other charter/management companies, Priester Aviation chairman and CEO Andy Priester said he is always on the lookout for family-owned companies whose principal is looking to exit. “We offer a family culture that aligns better with these aircraft management companies. For owners, it feels better than private equity or other [more corporate] options. It’s a better cultural fit.”
Airshare president and CEO John Owen likewise said his company is “not hunting” for acquisitions and was initially not even interested in buying the aircraft management arm of Wheels Up—a deal that actually closed last month and tripled Airshare’s managed fleet. “After we looked further at the individual management firms that Wheels Up bought, it became apparent that it was a good cultural fit,” he said. “It was unexpected, but it worked out. The integration is going very well because of the cultural fit.”
Despite the pace of M&A activity, Priester believes the aircraft management market will always be fragmented because there will always be “in-house pilots managing aircraft for owners—the bond between pilots and owners is a hard one to break.”