Marshall Aviation Services (MAS), part of the UK’s Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group, is to establish a HondaJet dealership, including a sales and design office, at its Birmingham International Airport FBO in central England. MAS (Booth T131) has been appointed to provide sales, support, and distribution in Northern Europe for the new aircraft, which is making its European debut here at EBACE this week.

HondaJet sales, support, and distribution is to be shared among 32 dealer territories in Europe and 53 in the U.S., according to the Japanese manufacturer’s website. Europe is divided into three regions, with Belgium, Channel Islands, Ireland, Isle of Man, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Scandinavia, and the northern part of the UK comprising “Northern Europe.” The rest of the UK joins France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey as “Southern Europe,” while a third region to the east comprises about 18 further central and eastern European states. Other HondaJet sales regions are: Eastern Europe, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States; Middle East; Asia, Australia, and Oceania; Africa; Central America, South America, and Caribbean; and North America (comprising Canada, Mexico and the U.S.).

MAS is here also promoting its Bombardier Global Express maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capability alongside other activities that include aircraft management/charter and aircraft-purchase and -sales brokerage under respective FlairJet and JETability brands. Having recently signed a contract covering maintenance of a UK-based aircraft, MAS is “out in the marketplace for the first time to offer any level of support–base, line, or AOG,” business development vice president James Dillon-Godfray told AIN.

The company, which was established under a group strategy that aims to generate more than 50 percent of overall business from non-military sectors, also is highlighting a new paint shop that recently became operational at the group’s Cambridge base. While initial painting work has involved commercial aircraft contracts, Dillon-Godfray is hoping to attract aircraft such as Boeing Business Jets.

Aircraft painting capacity had been limited previously to machines such as Gulfstream 550s, but now Boeing 747-size aircraft can be accommodated. In addition, the 100,000-sq-ft European Hawker Beechcraft MRO facility MAS acquired two years ago at Broughton in North Wales can take Bombardier Challenger-size aircraft in its paint shop.

FBO Expansion

MAS is preparing to expand activity at its Birmingham FBO, on which it has taken a long lease defined only as “considerably more than 10 years” from the beginning of 2015, according to Dillon-Goldfray. The refurbished facility, which re-opened its doors in March, will undertake MRO and technical services on Global Express and Cessna Citation 500 and Hawker Beechcraft aircraft types (also supported by MAS at Cambridge).

The initiative brings competition to Birmingham, which previously offered only a single FBO. According to Dillon-Goldfray, up to seven business aircraft rotations per day are handled at the airport, where MAS has taken on new tenant companies: Jets4UDirect.com, a single-point aviation services company specializing in airline, helicopter and corporate-jet sales and brokerage, charters, ACMI, and consultancy; and aircraft-cleaning and polishing company Fly Bright.

Also based at Birmingham is local charter operator Cello Aviation, which flies a 46-seat BAe146 and an 82-place Avro RJ (leased until the end of the summer). It has bought a Boeing 737-400 (configured for 165 passengers), which that should arrive in June.

MAS is an established Beechcraft and Hawker authorized service center (ASC) for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and exclusive sales representative for Textron’s King Air, Baron and Bonanza aircraft in the UK, Ireland, and Scandinavia. It is now anticipating a significant new agreement to support the Cessna Citation XL fleet operated by NetJets Europe.

The Broughton site is also an ASC for the Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney Canada engines. The company was previously a Citation ASC before Cessna parent company Textron began to draw such activity back into its own domain, explained Dillon-Goldfray.

Recovery from the recession that accompanied the global financial crisis late in the last decade has been “very, very slow and is only now getting better,” said the MAS executive. Nevertheless, he is encouraged by a bright start to 2015, during which MAS has sold “seven brand-new King Airs in the UK alone,” including some to first-time buyers new to aviation.

In contrast, the market for used aircraft is “relatively slow,” with prices not having “recovered dramatically from the 2008 low point.” Asked about sales of Beech’s smaller designs, Dillon-Goldfray says that there is “no great amount of interest in piston singles.” Overall, he doesn't expect to see an increase in sales activity this year.

Oxford Airport-based FlairJet manages seven aircraft, of which five are available for charter. A Citation XLS and a Citation Bravo are owned by MAS, while three others–two Embraer Phenom 100s and a newly introduced Phenom 300–are managed on behalf of private third-party owners. (Initially based at Florence in Italy, the Phenom 300, said to be the only European charter example configured for nine passengers, will operate from Ibiza in the Balearic Islands for the summer.) A King Air 350i and a Cessna Citation Mustang are not available for charter.

Following the demise of an established agreement covering MRO and technical support for Madrid-based Suraviation's charter fleet of seven Cessna Citations, MAS continues to consider the Spanish market, confirms Dillon-Goldfray. He said that MRO requirements in the southern part of the country in particular are “not well catered for,” with little in the way of line or AOC support.

“A lot of chartered aircraft fly to the south coast of Spain, with throughput considerably higher in the summer, but there is little support if an aircraft goes ‘tech,” says Dillon-Goldfray. Initially, MAS foresees requirement for a single aircraft technician based in southern Spain, but available to serve the whole country, to work on Beech, Cessna, and Hawker aircraft. He believes a need could develop over time to support single-aisle commercial aircraft such as Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s.