Gama Aviation (AIM: GMAA) is a British business aviation services company specializing in providing aviation support for individuals, corporations, and government agencies. The company has two service divisions: Air and Ground. It was founded in 1983 by Marwan Khalek and Stephen Wright, who currently hold the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Compliance Officer respectively. Sir Ralph Robins, who formerly served on the board for
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
, is the group's chairman.
Air division
Air services
Since 1983, the company's managed fleet has increased through organic growth and
mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
, including the reverse takeover of Hangar 8, the acquisition of Aviation Beauport, and most recently the merger of its US Air division with that of BBA Aviation.
Further specialist services were added with the addition of FlyerTech, the organic development of flight training services, and its own in-house pilot ground school.
The Scottish Air Ambulance Services (SAS) contract involves the provision of fixed-wing aircraft and
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
s in addition to the coordination and operational management of all flights.
This long-term contract resulted in the company investing in the development of new infrastructure at
Glasgow Airport
Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport () and formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, west of Glasgow city centre. In 2019 it handled 8.84 million passe ...
, with the creation of the SCOTSTAR facility.
In the USA, the company provides similar turnkey support for the private aviation membership club Wheels Up. The business currently provides all operational support, pilots and pilot training for a fleet of
King Air 350
The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The Model 200 and Model 300 series were originally marketed as the "Super King Air" family; the "Super" designation was dropped in 1996. ...
Gama Aviation conducts maintenance support for a variety of business aircraft types across its network of bases.
The company also provides fleet support. In the US, this extends to the aircraft of Wheels Up utilizing Textron Aviation's Citation XLS+ and the Beech King Air. In January 2017, the company's Europe Ground division announced a 15-aircraft fleet deal with Wijet to provide maintenance support across Europe for AOG, line and base maintenance.
As with the Air division, the company operates a number of contracts with organisations such as NHS Scotland, the Ministry of Defence, and primary contractors such as Atkins. These contracts have included updates to the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
primary trainer fleet and the Army Air Corps Gazelle fleet, amongst others.
Geographic development of the ground division
Gama Aviation has a network of bases in the US (Bedford HF, Bridgeport, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Palm Beach, St. Louis, Teterboro, Van Nuys, White Plains) and UK (Farnborough, Aberdeen, Fairoaks, Glasgow, Jersey, Kennington, Doncaster, Waddington, Oxford). There are also additional maintenance facilities in
Nice
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionSarjah, and most recently, Hong Kong.
Controversies
, Gama is facing a High Court claim brought against it by Dustin Dryden, CEO of Hangar8, for £6.1million. The counterclaim is a reaction to an allegation made against Dryden in November 2016, which alleged that Gama Aviation provided services and spare parts to Dryden, who failed to pay. Dryden claimed in response that the work was not performed properly and some of the spare parts had been pledged to another company.
Dryden claimed that, rather than a dispute over his conduct as director, there had been a "departure agreement" including a promise to sell his 5% stake in Gama and spend the proceeds with the company in order to help it hit second-half financial targets in 2015. Gama also attempted to impound one of Dryden's planes, which they claim Dryden unlawfully seized back. Dryden admitted to taking the jet back, but denied any legal wrongdoing.
Gama Aviation informed investors only after the suit was made public by newspapers, making an announcement to the London stock exchange. Its share price fell shortly afterwards. In response to the allegations made by Dryden, Gama Aviation announced that it would not comment while legal action was ongoing, but did release a background statement. Following this, Gama took out an injunction, forbidding newspapers from naming most of its clients. Dryden and Gama had settled the case in June 2018, with Dryden handing over cash and assets.
A further case was brought against Gama Aviation by
Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...
. The bank filed a High Court claim stating that Gama had not turned over a private jet that Credit Suisse was entitled to sell after Challenger-Mondel, who financed the purchase of the aircraft, defaulted on a loan. In addition to this, the millionaire Andre Serruys has also taken action, alleging that the company overbilled him and performed sub-standard technical upgrades while under the management and maintenance control of Hangar8.
, Gama is potentially exposed to $15.3million in damages from claimants.