Helicopter Alliance on the acquisition trail to grow full-service offering

US subsidiary Ace Aeronautics also is expanding footprint to cope with higher order volumes.

Czech Republic-headquartered rotorcraft group Helicopter Alliance is lining up a slew of acquisitions as it looks to grow its full end-to-end service offering for customers.

Already the owner of US refurbished Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk specialist Ace Aeronautics, plus several Czech and Slovak training, maintenance and modification providers, Helicopter Alliance is looking to expand into adjacent spaces, says Jonathan Castorena, vice-president international business and sales.

While declining to reveal details, Castorena says its five acquisition targets are located in the USA and “include everything around aviation and helicopters” so the company “can offer the whole ecosystem to our customers”.

“We want to make sure we have the ecosystem, but we’re looking at the supply chain as well.

“As we get further into the build and the manufacturing of refurbished assets, having some ownership of the supply chain helps,” he says.

He is hopeful that up to three of the deals will close by year-end.

The expansion is being bankrolled by investment funds set up by owners the Strnad family.

In the meantime, Helicopter Alliance continues to pursue new orders for refurbished Black Hawks, either to military customers or for firefighting operations in the civil market.

“Where we’re seeing a lot of emphasis and increased interest [from militaries] is in Southeast Asia, in that region in particular, along with Latin America. Those two markets we think have potential for growing to the maximum potential in this Black Hawk market.”

While European sales are predominantly firefighting-focused “we do have some key strategic [defence] customers that we’re trying to close here in Europe”, he adds.

Castorena is confident that it will book 11 orders by the end of July, with more in the pipeline, potentially rising to a total of 40 by year-end, with customers in “the Europe-Middle East region” and also in Southeast Asia.

To cope with the expected influx of orders, Ace Aeronuatics – what Castorena describes as the group’s “golden nugget” – is expanding its site in Guntersville, Alabama, building an extra hangar that is nearing completion.

“We’re picking up capacity to be able to deliver 35 a year, with appetite to go beyond that,” he says, noting that the US Army divests older UH-60s through its BEST programme at a rate of 70-80 per year “and they could even increase that if needed.

“So if we could have the majority of the market share to capture that on an annual basis, we’d be very happy.”

Once the new hangar is up and running, “we need to look at what comes next”.

“What do we do? Do we do it through an acquisition or merger? Do we build another facility? Do we do something more regional? That’s what we’re contemplating at the moment.

“We want to capture as much [of the market] as possible, but also make sure that we’re not just flipping helicopters out the door; we want to make sure that we can support our customers for the long term and really be seen as a true OEM in this mindset.”

Castorena spoke to FlightGlobal at the recent Farnborough air show.