Farnborough, UK-based Gama Aviation is to relocate its TAG Farnborough Airport and London Oxford Airport-based maintenance operations to Bournemouth International Airport, on the south coast of the UK. “Both our European Air and HQ Group functions will remain at Farnborough. It is only our Farnborough maintenance business [plus the jets business at Oxford Airport] that is moving to Bournemouth,” a company spokesperson told AIN.

The move will solve various capacity-related and practical issues while giving Gama Aviation one very large hangar (Hangar 12) on a long lease, with 135,000 sq ft of floor space, compared to the combined total of just over 70,000 ft sq at Oxford andFarnborough, and all “for about the same price.” Gama Aviation said its Europe Air division, and its other facilities in the UK (Aberdeen, Glasgow, Fairoaks, and Doncaster) and Jersey in the Channel Islands, will not be part of the restructuring.

In announcing the decision earlier today to the City of London (where Gama Aviation Plc is listed on the AIM exchange), the company stated the move would take place in the second half of 2018 and would “provide necessary capacity for expansion of the company's European ground business, which grew by 20 percent in 2017, while delivering immediate efficiency savings.” Consolidating its jet and turboprop maintenance activities at Bournemouth will mean one workforce in one location, and plenty of room for expansion and for aircraft parking.

Taking the hangar, which was originally built for the UK’s canceled Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft program and was more recently home to a private Boeing 747SP, has “at a stroke created an operational facility and provided a platform to take out all the [current] restraints. For example we have no hangar large enough to put a [Bombardier] Global in at Oxford.”

The company estimates that restructuring costs will amount to approximately $2 million, which will be funded out of operational cashflow, and “will be incurred largely in 2018 and treated as either exceptional items or capital expenditure, with no impact on underlying profitability of the group. The cash costs related to the restructuring will be offset by the end of the first half of 2019 through capital contributions by the new landlord and a rent-free period.”

“The transfer will deliver near-term efficiency savings and revenue synergies which are expected to more than offset the costs of additional space from 2019 onwards, while also laying the foundations for further growth," the company said.

Marwan Khalek, co-founder and group chief executive, said, “This investment in a large, secure and modern MRO facility removes the physical constraints on our [maintenance and support] business and is a powerful signal of our intent as we accelerate our growth strategy in Europe.”

Steve Rigby, chief operating officer, Rigby Group (owner of Bournemouth International Airport), said, "We are delighted to welcome Gama Aviation to Bournemouth International Airport. This move will create a major new facility for business aviation as a core component of the strategic development of the airport."