Axtmann Holding AG acquires majority stake of German operator Fly Alpha GmbH.

Thursday 9th July 2015

Two Nuremberg-based operators have come together as Axtmann Holding AG, parent company of general aviation and air ambulance specialist operator FAI rent-a-jet, has announced the purchase of a majority stake in Nuremberg-based operator Fly Alpha. The deal sees Axtmann Holding AG take a 51% stake in the company, with an option to complete a full purchase at a later time. Under the terms of the agreement Fly Alpha's Hawker Beechcraft Premier 1A, Beechcraft King Air 200 and Beechcraft King Air 300 will now be available for charter through FAI rent-a-jet, although they will continue to operate under Fly Alpha's AOC.

The transaction, which took place for an undisclosed amount, sees Fly Alpha retaining its name and brand for which it is well known. It will remain under the management of Marcus Kaiser, the Managing Director, and the existing team will maintain their roles.

Siegfried Axtmann, Chairman of FAI rent-a-jet, made the decision to purchase the majority stake having identified a need for aircraft that can fulfill short haul charter requests in the FAI rent-a-jet fleet. Fly Alpha has experience in air ambulance, special cargo, and charter flights so complements the activity of the FAI mid-to long-range aircraft, and has flown 700 hours in the last 12 months, the majority of which were flying customers within Germany, France and Italy.

"We have noticed that there is a lot of opportunity in Europe for the shorter two hour charter flights which we were not tapping into," said Axtmann of the motivation behind the deal, "our fleet is more suited to longer range flights so it made sense to add in smaller aircraft to maximise use of our resources. We identified Fly Alpha as we know them well and have always admired them as an operator. It was a good opportunity for us to work together more closely." As part of the larger group Fly Alpha now benefits from increased buying power and has access to the full maintenance facility offered by FAI rent-a-jet sister company FAI Technik.

The agreement underlines an increasing trend in Europe for larger operators to join with smaller fleets providing them with better marketing, sales and maintenance platforms so improving market access and profitability. "We anticipate this will be the first of a number of acquisitions we will make as the European sector continues to consolidate," adds Axtmann of the purchase.