Thomas McQuade has been named President of Associated Aircraft Group (AAG), a Sikorsky Aircraft Company. He succeeds AAG Founder and President John C. Agor. McQuade’s appointment culminates a 12-year career with AAG, the Northeast’s leader in integrated executive helicopter services.
“The staff and management of AAG are pleased that the dynamic future of our company will be led by Tom,” said Agor, who founded AAG and served as its only other president. “Tom has been instrumental in AAG’s tremendous growth in recent years and his vision for the future assures that growth will continue.”
Agor, who recently was named to receive the 2010 Bell Helicopter Lifetime Achievement Award, began his aviation career as an Army Aviator. He served as an Aviation Maintenance Officer, Test Pilot and Company Commander in Germany, and in Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division. In 1989, he and two partners formed AAG, whose growth Agor guided with an unyielding commitment to safe operations, quality service and customer satisfaction.
The company was acquired by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in 1999.
McQuade joined AAG in 1997 following six years of assisting the company in program and systems installations on a consulting basis. He developed software programs designed to facilitate management of corporate aircraft departments, which was adopted by AAG for its corporate clients.
He was responsible for the acquisition and rehabilitation of AAG’s primary 50,000-square foot hangar and administrative headquarters and a second hangar at the company’s Dutchess County Airport headquarters.
AAG provides helicopter and fixed wing charter flights, fractional ownership of executive helicopters, and helicopter management and maintenance services from its New York and Philadelphia installations. It is the largest VIP charter helicopter company to own and operate its own Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 145 maintenance facility and is a Sikorsky Certified Repair Center. The company operates a fleet of ten Sikorsky S76® Executive Helicopters and employs more than 80 people, including 20 pilots.
Under McQuade’s leadership, AAG recently launched AAG Global, a network of international executive helicopter operators providing the industry’s highest level of safety, service and reliability.
Prior to joining AAG, McQuade, a New York native, was a successful business consultant serving companies throughout the Northeast. He serves on the Board of Directors and Vice Chair of the Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation (DCEDC), is on the Board of Directors of the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the corporation’s marketing council. He has three children, and lives in Hopewell Junction.