With a proven track record as a leading maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and supply chain provider for fixed- and rotor-wing operators, Precision Aviation Group (PAG) is always looking to expand its products, capabilities and geographical locations — all with the aim of putting its customers first.
“The last few years have undoubtedly been hectic for the entire industry, but for us at PAG, it has also been an exciting time,” said David Mast, PAG’s president and CEO. “We emerged from the crisis stronger, and today, our customer focused teams, facilities, and diverse MRO capabilities are among the best in the world.”
PAG’s drive to better serve its customers was the catalyst behind its successful growth over the last number of years. PAG has significantly expanded its service capabilities, repair facilities, and inventories throughout its group of companies.
Its most recent acquisition of Pacific Turbine Group (PTB) in 2022 now brings PAG’s total number of repair stations to 20 worldwide. The acquisition expands PAG’s engine services division to include MRO services on the Pratt & Whitney PT6 and Honeywell TPE331 engines, and significantly expands its supply chain services business.
Including PTB, the company now has 23 locations, and over 700 employees globally.
“Our acquisition strategy has always been very focused,” Mast said. “We want to expand our repair capabilities, inventory, and locations to give our customers access to a greater suite of products and services.”
PAG is well positioned to continue its growth trajectory in the coming years. It plans to continue to heavily invest in existing business units, scaling up capabilities, inventory, and people to be ready to provide immediate service and ensure its customers remain mission ready.
“We are renovating our largest facility located in Atlanta, Georgia,” Mast said. “We have been at that facility for 25 years, and our growth — due to customer demand and the addition of new capabilities — requires an expansion of the repair station’s footprint. This will ensure that we can continue to accommodate future customer demands.”
PAG’s dedication to its customers is evident through its substantial investments in its business units. Over the last 24 months, PAG invested around $15 million in inventory to support existing platforms.
The company plans to continue expanding its sales team, technical capacity, and leadership team, in addition to enhancing its customers’ experience by expanding in-house service capabilities and adding geographic locations.
With 80% of its customer base being mission critical operators, PAG carries a heavy responsibility as a leading provider of products and value-added services to the global aerospace and defense industries.
To ensure PAG fulfills its commitment to customers, the company organizes its repair services within four key market segments: avionics, components, engines, and manufacturing/sub-assembly/DER.
This structure describes the company’s depth and breadth of product and service offerings, and defines PAG as the obvious choice for those looking for a full suite of MRO services for fixed- and rotor-wing platforms.
“We focus on defining PAG in these four specific market segments because it helps new and returning customers understand how we can help them beyond their immediate need for specific parts or services,” Mast said.
Customers who turn to PAG for their avionics, components, engine, or manufacturing/sub-assembly/DER services can expect a one-stop shop with a single point of contact. This person will handle all logistics between PAG’s companies, capabilities, and services needed to keep operators mission ready.
Others sell parts, we sell support
Certified by the FAA, EASA, Transport Canada, ANAC, and many other international aviation authorities, PAG’s global repair stations are strategically positioned to provide 24/7 customer support.
PAG brings the global presence and local support its customers expect with unparalleled assets, including:
20 repair stations and 23 locations worldwide;
700+ employees;
850,000 square feet (80,000 square meters) of operational facilities;
100,000+ repairs performed annually;
$130-million in ready-to-ship inventory;
Parts from 75 OEMs;
24/7 AOG emergency support.
PAG’s family of companies is dedicated to providing its customers with complete aircraft support from tip-to-tail.
AVIONICS services
Component failure that grounds an aircraft is a constant concern for fleet operators, but customers know they can rely on PAG to answer their call — day or night — and leverage the company’s broad capabilities and seasoned staff to get their aircraft airborne ASAP.
PAG offers a full suite of avionics services — from legacy products to current generation platforms for a wide range of commercial and military rotor- and fixed-wing aircraft.
Its extensive suite of avionics services includes: engine controls, flight control systems, navigation, communications, flight recorders, lighting systems, and weather radar.
Essentially, whatever avionics service an operator needs, PAG will be able to deliver it through its full-service avionics shops and dealerships that service various locations around the world.
In 2022, PAG added new capabilities to its growing suite of avionics services by acquiring Velocity Aerospace Group. Velocity’s EDN Aviation facility in Van Nuys, California, specializes in manufacturing and refurbishing high-quality aircraft cockpit panels, multilayer circuit board assemblies, cable and wiring harnesses, avionics enclosures, and cockpit sub-assemblies.
Meanwhile, through its facilities in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Burbank, California, Velocity offers MRO capability in avionics, electrical systems, fire protection, interior lights, water/waste assemblies, and more.
“Velocity’s workforce brings decades of technical experience and strong customer relationships into our portfolio and enables PAG to provide a much wider range of world-class products and services to our customers worldwide,” said Ketan Desai, PAG’s chief sales and marketing officer.
PAG’s expertise in avionics MRO services results in far more efficient and cost-effective support than that of its competitors, and at a fraction of the turnaround time.
While many traditional original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
might offer built-to-order service on spares, PAG’s strong relationships
with OEMs allow operators to make immediate purchases from
PAG’s $130-million rotable inventory.
COMPONENT services
Mission-critical aircraft operators and fleet managers rely on PAG as a world-leading rotor- and fixed-wing MRO service provider.
To serve PAG’s component services market segment, the company provides MRO support for starter generators, wheels, brakes, landing gear, hydraulics, pneumatics, instruments, and batteries.
Performing over 100,000 repairs for 6,500 customers in 90 countries every year, PAG is well established as a global leader in the MRO industry. With specialized repair capabilities, PAG can save customers thousands of dollars by repairing components in-house.
In 2021, PAG expanded its component services capabilities through the acquisition of Trace Aviation, which specializes in Beechcraft King Air/1900 landing gear and airframe component exchanges and overhauls for customers around the world and in every sector where King Airs operate. That strategic move expanded PAG’s footprint into Jackson, Mississippi, and into landing gear and airframe repair services.
“Adding landing gear repair bolstered our capabilities exponentially,” Desai said. “Every year, part of our focus is to expand the number of capabilities we have — because what you service today, may not be what you service tomorrow.”
The acquisition also helps lower customers’ cost on landing gear overhauls. With the rising costs to ship landing gear — not to mention the long wait for the gear to arrive — PAG is making significant investments to make landing gear repair services more accessible to customers by also adding this capability to its global repair stations.
In 2020, PAG expanded its international footprint through the acquisition of EFIX Aviation Support in Brazil, allowing PAG to offer unbeatable component services to a broad range of commercial, DoD, and general aviation customers in the South American market.
PAG’s investment in inventory, new capabilities, and technical training at EFIX has greatly enhanced the facility’s ability to improve turn times and customer costs in this market.
ENGINE services
When it comes to repairing and overhauling fixed- and rotor-wing engines or components, PAG offers a broad range of MRO and supply chain solutions supporting engines, modules, fuel controls, governors, bleed valves, nozzles, fuel heaters, turbine blades, compressors, and gear boxes.
Through the acquisition of Keystone Turbine Service (KTS) in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, PAG added unlimited in-house capabilities for overhauling the entire Rolls-Royce M250 and RR300 series of gas turbine engines, including modules, accessories, and components, as well as providing testing services.
PAG’s existing large customer base operating Rolls-Royce M250 and RR300 engines can now add engine repair to the long list of services already provided by PAG. This acquisition also gave PAG the ability to provide customers with Honeywell and Triumph accessories, components, spare parts, and field service support.
Acquiring Rolls-Royce’s second largest Authorized Maintenance Repair Overhaul Center (AMROC) is another example of listening to what customers need and want, and making business decisions and significant investments to bring those service capabilities in-house.
“Through the acquisition of Keystone, not only did we add a Rolls-Royce AMROC, but we also acquired a team that has been the recipient of the coveted Rolls-Royce ‘Best in Class’ award for two consecutive years,” Desai said.
In 2022, PAG acquired PTB Group, expanding its repair capabilities for the Pratt & Whitney PT6 and TPE331 engine lines. PTB also leases engines and airframes, and provides aviation supply chain services.
PAG has now acquired the following entities from PTB: Pacific Turbine
USA Group (aka Prime Turbines) with locations in Texas, Arizona, Florida, and Pennsylvania; Pacific Turbine Brisbane and Pacific Turbine Leasing,
both in Brisbane, Australia; and International Air Parts located in
Sydney, Australia.
MANUFACTURING/SUB-ASSEMBLY/DER services
Customers will tell you what they want, suppliers just have to listen and take action. PAG listened and committed extensive resources to an entire market segment, determined to ensure that its customers’ needs were met.
The manufacturing/sub-assembly/DER segment led PAG to acquire new facilities that allowed it to add key in-house repair functions, create DER repair processes independently where repair specifications or manuals were not available, and make parts enhancements that benefit aircraft operators at lower costs than outside suppliers could provide.
The acquisition of Ontario, Canada, based Precision Rewind Services (PRS) provides MRO services for over 1,000 different armatures, stators, rotors, round wire, solenoids, and coils.
In addition, the acquisition of Camarillo, California based Precision Display Repairs (PDR) is one of only two facilities in North America that can repair aircraft LCD displays. Where historically the customer would have to purchase a new LCD display, PAG is now able to repair them using its proprietary processes.
EDN Aviation, a 2022 acquisition in Van Nuys, California, specializes in manufacturing and refurbishing high-quality aircraft cockpit panels, multilayer circuit board assemblies, cable and wiring harnesses, avionics enclosures, and cockpit sub-assemblies.
These manufacturing/sub-assembly/DER services result in many advantages for the customer, including impressive cost savings. For example, the unique capabilities and extensive reverse engineering processes used by the PDR Camarillo facility can yield, in some cases, $10,000 to $15,000 in savings for a single LCD repair.
“Through internal development and acquisitions, PAG has added over 1,200 specific DER repairs,” Mast said. “We know there are hundreds of ‘problem parts’ for us to capture to further enhance our customers’ experience. Our engineers are constantly working on projects that will yield our customers better turnaround times and increased savings on parts costs.”
Superior Support For Mission Critical Operators
Mission critical helicopter operators know the importance of keeping their aircraft in the air — and so does the experienced and trusted team at PAG.
“We’re driven to go above and beyond to serve our customers because we see the direct benefit of the solutions that we’re able to give to them,” said Jordan Webber, vice president of PAG Component Services.
A major part of PAG’s work is focusing on mission critical operators, such as law enforcement, emergency medical services (EMS), and search-and-rescue (SAR) helicopters. While all customers who call on PAG for support are treated with superior service, “these mission critical operators hold a special place with us in the company,” Webber said.
For EMS and SAR operators in particular, there’s a direct and life-threatening consequence the longer their aircraft is grounded. This is the driver behind PAG’s passion for helping its operators stay mission ready, day-in and day-out.
“When we’re able to pull together support in an AOG situation and get that aircraft back online, it gives us personal satisfaction knowing the operator can now help rescue that patient or fight that wildfire,” Webber said.
Joining PAG in late 2011, Webber manages a vast geographical region for the company, which continues to expand around the world. This includes PAG’s Australian base — now an FAA and EASA-certified repair station with a sales and logistics function.
Webber was also involved in establishing the company’s Singapore location in 2016, as well as managing its Vancouver, Canada, facility since 2018.
As a former director of sales at PAG Australia, Webber is well versed in understanding customers’ needs — a knowledge he has used to help shape the products and services PAG now offers to its operators.
“From day one when I came here, it has always been heavily customer focused — what can we do each day to make the customer experience better?” Webber said. “When customers have a requirement, we’ve got people on standby to mobilize and do what
needs to be done — so whether that’s going in at midnight to collect a part and meet a courier, or drive it to the customer directly. “We have passionate sales teams that go over and above without being asked to. It’s their natural instinct.”
As PAG expanded significantly over the years — in capabilities, products, and geographical regions — its customer service team has only strengthened with each new business acquisition.
“We’ve been fortunate at every single location to have some very long-term salespeople, whether that be Keystone Turbine or Trace Aviation, or now PTB Group,” Webber said. “We’ve had people who have 10, 20, or 30 years with the company and have been on the customer facing side the entire time.”
Not only does that long tenure bring experience and knowledge to the company, but it has also resulted in a strong connection that PAG has uniquely formed with its customers.
“The relationships they establish go beyond professional. Our people almost become part of our customers’ families and their organizations as well,” he said.
This personalized relationship with the customer has propelled PAG above his competitors in being able to learn what operators need, invest in the inventory to ensure parts availability, and grow its capabilities to provide an all-service support center.
While other competitors have been hesitant to invest in these areas during times of crisis, PAG has taken a leadership role in putting the business of its customers first.
The company’s recent acquisition of PTB Group in 2022, coupled by its acquisition of Keystone Turbine Services in 2021, is a prime example. Those expansions brought a number of new engine service capabilities to PAG, offering customers a one-stop shop for all their MRO requirements.
“The PTB Group acquisition — with the company being so focused on the Pratt & Whitney PT6 — unlocked a huge market potential for us,” Webber said. “These were customers we were already servicing in other areas, and now we’re able to tell them we can look after their engine service as well.”
Another focus for PAG has been its used serviceable material (USM) market, where the company has creatively repurposed its inventory items to offer a unique solution for customers in need of parts.
This has allowed the company and its customers to navigate around some of the post-COVID issues affecting the aviation industry, such as raw material shortages and parts obsolescence. As a result, PAG can continue to deliver parts in a timely manner, while helping to drive down costs for the operator.
“We have competitors in each market segment, but our point of differentiation is our ability to offer tip-to-tail solutions for the entire aircraft,” Webber said. “We take the time to build a relationship with our customers, and they know they can rely on us to do everything for them.”
