Landmark Aviation Is Born of Garrett
Piedmont Hawthorne
Landmark Aviation is the new name of the Garrett/Piedmont
Hawthorne/Associated FBO, maintenance and completions group that has searched
for an identity since being put together a year ago by the Carlyle Group
investment company.
The famous names of Garrett and Piedmont Hawthorne will
disappear under the new Landmark Aviation brand name, while Associated Air
Center, one of the world's top three VVIP aircraft completion companies, will
add "a Landmark Aviation company" to its tagline.
Landmark Aviation is the number one provider of services for
Honeywell's engines (fully one-third of the business aviation fleet in North
America fleet is powered by the TFE731, and the Garrett business claimed a 65%
share in that engine's MRO market).
The company is a leading independent provider of airframe
MRO services in engine retrofit programs and the development and installation
of RVSM and avionics upgrades.
It is also the second largest FBO in the United States, with
37 locations at major airports, and it is the world's number one
Raytheon/Beechcraft dealer, representing 15% of all aircraft sold through
Raytheon's distribution network. In addition, Landmark operates a charter fleet
of more than 70 aircraft.
"Landmark Aviation is the first integrated services provider
in North America covering all business aircraft services, from maintenance and
repair to sales, charter and management, an extensive FBO network," and
aircraft completions, says new CEO Roger Wolfe. The only other company to offer
all these services on a large scale is Jet Aviation, now also owned by an
investment company and also with a publicly stated goal of further growth.
Look for competition to heat up as Landmark Aviation begins
to create new product and service combinations from its portfolio of businesses,
and as Jet Aviation accesses a war chest of up to $600 million to which its
previous owners, the Hirschmann family, could no longer provide capital for
expansion in business aviation.
