Indian MRO firm Air Works is placing greater focus on integrating software into its maintenance work following the acquisition of a stake in software specialist Acumen Aviation.
Speaking to Flightglobal, Air Works managing director Vivek Gour says the company’s latest partnership with Acumen allows it to provide “software as a service for the aviation sector.”
“We bought a large minority stake in Acumen of up to one-third, and could take the stake up to a majority shareholding within a year,” he adds.
He however declines to comment on the value of the transaction.
Gour cites previous complaints from lessors that data on maintenance work done by the MRO industry “was not good enough to boost the resale value of the aircraft”.
He also says that Air Works will soon be announcing a 50% stake acquisition of a US company that also deals with “software as a service, specifically for business aviation”.
“I expect the use of software in MRO to be even bigger than our MRO business in the next five to seven years.”
Gour adds that Air Works’ share acquisitions in companies like Acumen are “complementary to its MRO business” as it can now provide “more value-added services” such as the provision of maintenance data for the aircraft under its care.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
