INAER, part of the Avincis Group, has sold its UK helicopter maintenance and component overhaul business to a management buy-out.  Led by Managing Director Marc-Anton Corominas, the business will continue in its current form under the name Heliwork Services Ltd in the same premises at Thruxton Airport.  The Heliwork name brings the operation round in a big loop, having started off with that name when set up at Thruxton by John Gordon-Stables in 1972.  The value and source of funding for the deal have not been disclosed.

In a telephone interview with HeliHub.com, Corominas said that INAER wanted to follow an operations-led business model, and the wholly-focused UK maintenance and overhaul organisation was thus not in line with their objectives.  Aside from the the change of ownership, the message is very much “business as usual”, with customers potentially able to leverage better payment terms than they had previously been offered.  Maintenance of Bell, Agusta and Robinson helicopters will continue as the mainstay, although other types including Enstroms are also covered.  The parting with INAER is an amicable one, with Corominas hoping that Heliwork Services will continue to do annuals on some of their Bell 407s – typically they have seen three each year fly up from Spain to Thruxton for this work.

Multiple changes of ownership and name have happened over the years of this Thruxton based operation, including RCR Aviation in the 1990s (and that company is still active in the sales market)), followed in March 2000 with it being bought by Aeromaritime from Malta, particularly for the overhaul shop when they sought to widen their range of capabilities. In May 2008 INAER acquired Aeromaritime (UK) Ltd and gave it its most recent name, INAER Maintenance UK Ltd.  In May 2011, INAER became part of World Helicopters, which changed its name in autumn 2012 to Avincis Group.

INAER Maintenance UK Ltd officially changed its name to Heliwork Services Ltd on 11th October according to Companies House records.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com