Rodolphe Marchais, Chairman and CEO of

Sabena technics Created in 1968, Sabena technics is an independent MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) provider offering services to civil and military aircraft operators. History 1968: Founding of Touraine Air Transport by Michel Marchais The air trans ...

and CEO of TAT.

Biography

Rodolphe Marchais began his career in the Group in 1982. He has held different positions, starting in the Group as Paris Orly Hub Manager, then as Network Manager of TAT’s express parcel subsidiary, TAT Express. In 1986, he became CEO of

Chronopost Chronopost International, a member of the La Poste (France), La Poste group, provides express mail, express shipping and Delivery (commerce), delivery service both domestically (in France) and internationally. Domestic services comprise mostly n ...

, a start up joint venture between TAT and the French Post Office specialising in express mail. Chronopost became a very successful business with the powerful leverage of 12 000 offices of the French Post. By 1988, Rodolphe MARCHAIS was CEO of TAT Express and had achieved a good profitability of this business for TAT. In 1990, he became the CEO of TAT European Airlines, the biggest subsidiary of TAT Group and participated in convincing

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...

to become a shareholder of this company which was operating the first private French domestic and European network. In 1996, when TAT Group sold all its shareholding in the airline and express parcel businesses, Rodolphe MARCHAIS became President & CEO of TAT Group, replacing Michel MARCHAIS, his father and founder of the Group. From that moment on, with Rodolphe Marchais at its head, TAT Group focused on its leasing and aircraft maintenance activities, through its subsidiaries, TAT leasing and Sabena technics. In a decade, TAT Group increased its maintenance activity and took part in a concentration movement in a fragmented market: it acquired successively AOM Industries in 2000, Sabena technics (at the time maintenance subsidiary of the Belgian National Airline) in 2005 and

EADS Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

Sogerma Services as well as

Barfield in 2007, making his subsidiary, Sabena technics, the world’s third largest independent MRO. Today, Sabena technics has all the necessary skills and agreements to perform maintenance on a large range of narrow and wide-body aircraft (Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer, ATR,…) and has developed a very specific skill to perform maintenance in operational condition on different countries’ fleets, representing today 40% of its activity. TAT leasing, based in Ireland, pursued its development by investing in a regional aircraft fleet – essentially ATRs – which is placed in operational leasing through different operators worldwide. Thus, the company acquired more than 50 ATRs and also offers assistance services for sales, purchases, leasing as well as technical and financial database management. Since 2006, still under the leadership of Rodolphe Marchais, TAT Group undertook the construction of offices intended for leasing and developed a 50 000 m² real estate stock, added to 255 000 m² of technical facilities occupied by its subsidiary Sabena technics.

Notes and references

1956 births Living people {{France-business-bio-stub