Vincent Aviation in receivership from today.

[John Hill]

The headline says it all.:(

[mattyj]

The question that needs to be answered is;
What has ANCL achieved by doing this?

Sure Vinnies was in dire straights, but they could've kept going and possibly traded out of trouble. They had a couple of money making contracts. (That doesn't include Wairarapa which wouldn't have made much if any) but the 146 wasn't making money and needed to be cut loose. ANCL's court action won't get them any money, because there isn't any..just vindictive!

[c100driver]

Wellington-based aviation company Vincent Aviation, which has about 30 workers, has gone into receivership.

In a public notice released today, Stephen Tubbs from BDO was appointed receiver of the company, which was established in 1990 and is based at Wellington Airport.

The move comes after an application to liquidate the company was lodged last week lodged in the High Court by ANCL Investments.

Owner Peter Vincent said last week that the action taken by ANCL Investments was a "serious situation" for his company.

He blamed the collapse in May of Vincent Aviation Australia, based in Darwin but owned by Vincent Aviation in New Zealand.

The balance sheet from the Australian arm of the company showed its debts outweighed its assets by A$8.8 million (NZ$9.86m).

Vincent said the application to liquidate its New Zealand operations related to lease and maintenance provision payments for a BAe 146 aircraft, known as a Whisperjet.

"The problem is the income generated by that aircraft is caught up in the Australian receivership, but the costs in relation to that aircraft are coming back to the New Zealand entity," he said.

The Australian business, although a subsidiary, was much larger than the New Zealand operation and the level of cost that had come back was difficult for the smaller New Zealand business to withstand, Vincent said.

The company carries out flight operations, administration, engineering, planning and compliance, as well as charter flights.

It has two dedicated hangars at Wellington Airport to perform the engineering and maintenance on the company's fleet, and to provide servicing and maintenance for third-party aircraft.

About two weeks ago helicopter company Helipro, which has bases throughout the country including in Wellington and Palmerston North, was placed in receivership, potentially owing tens of millions of dollars.

- The Dominion Post

Looks like a problem with the business structure.

[BNEA320]

so Australian division income will be gobbled up by the Australian receivers ?
(their fees are horrendous)


Sounds like someone in Australian division should have sent funds to NZL division before receivers brought in in Australia.

[pineappledaz]

Wonder if this will impact on Life Flight

[mattyj]

Already has

[waren9]

thats a real shame for pete, his family and of course the staff. there are a lot of pilots now that owe that bloke a big thank you for the starts they got.

Sounds like someone in Australian division should have sent funds to NZL division before receivers brought in in Australia.

well, then you'd get posters suggesting absolute nonsense like this...:rolleyes:

sounds like Vincent OZ might have been a bit like Ansett, in that the Kiwis ripped as much out as they could before letting the Australian operation fall over.

i think the article puts that to bed.

[pianokeys]

A sad day for Aviation in New Zealand Peter and the team ran a good operation. Sorry to see it go.

[Skystar320]

So they took all the australian assets / money and to New Zealand to prop up their operation?

[BNEA320]

no that's what we thought, but it now looks like receivers of OZ operation have made themselves very handsome fees indeed.

[Mach E Avelli]

The Australian operation ripped more out of NZ than the reverse.

Pete V is one of the good guys in aviation. Unlike those a$$holes who ran Scareworld, who - even when they must have realised that they were bust, were leasing new aircraft, stiffing suppliers all over town, falsifying superannuation payments and attempting to force staff to relocate to Darwin - Vincent kept people on the payroll to the end. Anyone working there who could not see from the low aircraft utilisation that it was struggling had to be blind to the reality of running an aviation enterprise up against much bigger players.

Vincent did indeed give many a pilot a good career start and right up to the end of its Aussie operation was type rating newbies on the Saab. Any pilot feeling hard done by as a result of the sudden stop of either entity needs to get a grip and take it as a good lesson in risk and reward. Put it down as a good experience for as long as it lasted. If you find a better or more considerate employer, let me know.....

I hope he and his good wife can move on to something less stressful and more profitable after this setback.

[mattyj]

No way..he'll be back..he's an enthusiast and loves aeroplanes..unlike some of us that have already realised at half Petes age that aviation is a mugs game and we're just hoping to make retirement with a shirt on our back:yuk:

[pianokeys]

Mattyj you are right Pete is a top guy and always looked after his staff and operated a top class operation

[Offcut]

Yep, Pete is definitely one of the good guys. I owe my break to him. Greatly enjoyed my time there. He was always will to give a guy a go and put the effort into developing people. I hope he can find a way out of this.

[TBM-Legend]

Unfortunately PV couldn't count....being a "good guy" doesn't help the bottom line generally speaking...maybe invading Australia was not a good move for Vincent. I'm certainly aware that his charge-out rates for the 146 in Brisbane was very low...turnover doesn't equal profit...Good luck to those that tried.

[mattyj]

Unfortunately he had a few things against him. The GFC which hit NZ and Aus at different times in totally different ways..the "hockey stick" of b1900 maintenance costs, industrial relations in Australia (Vincent was always the lowest paid turbine job around!) and the Aussie regulatory environment (or should I call it the Aussie regulatory tangled thorn filled gully!)

[Mach E Avelli]

The charge out rate on the 146 was not very low. In fact if the utilisation had been 1000 hours a year it would have more than broken even while taking some of the overhead burden for NZ. There were several reasons why it was a losing proposition - other operators cutting prices below cost for similar sized equipment (therefore getting the work), taking on sectors far too short for that type of aircraft (because that's all the brokers could or would offer) - resulting in only about 400 hours utilisation in a year. That does not sustain any turbine powered aircraft in a competitive marketplace.
With 20:20 hindsight Brisbane was probably the wrong place to park an aircraft for mostly speculative work. It may have done better in Essendon, Busselton, Cairns, Townsville or who knows where else , just so long as any sectors flown would have been much longer.
They very nearly cracked a good contract with Rio which would have seen the 146 working out of Exmouth, but that fell over when Rio scaled back its Pilbara plans.
PV did not stay in the aviation business for 25 years by not being able to count.

[LPS500]

I see they are now in liquidation, not really sure what that means with regard to receivership. Seems that the interests of the creditors changes?

Vincent Aviation in liquidation | Stuff.co.nz (http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/10670106/Vincent-Aviation-in-liquidation)

[mattyj]

Here's a list;

Vincent, Helipro, NZ Aerial Mapping, GBA...all the nz big jet operators are absorbing excess Australian pilots, flat out (jetstarnz, Jetconnect, vanz..) there's a huge number of dropouts from NZ pilot ranks partly due to new medical costs

If you're not working for AirNZ..(not including Eagle which is also on shaky ground) aviation in new zealand has never been sicker IMHO

[GoDirect]

Very sad for Pete and all the staff, it has been a great and well run operation, one of the best. In reply to mattyj's post above, it's always been very difficult to keep going in NZ aviation and in some ways only the date has changed. Back in time a bit it was the likes of SPANZ, Air North, Air Central, Air Albatross, BellAir, Capital Air Services, James Air, Avcorp, Cityjet etc. Some of them run better than others, but very few if any of them ran as well as Vinnies. I'm sure that there are others that I can't recall too, then of course we had the big one with Ansett. Some people have worked for several of these operators in their time, and gone from one to the other as one bit the dust and another one started up. Undoubtedly there will be others try in the future too. I do hope that it all works out well for Pete and the staff, and that they will all be able to get suitable positions in the industry again very soon.

[BNEA320]

maybe Pete will start a new mean & lean operation with only 1 aircraft type.


He or someone close, must have now got a lot of "baggage" off his shoulders.


Masterton/AKL ?


CHC/WKA ?


There must be other routes that NZ don't want that would work with a suitably sized aircraft.


Why doesn't JQ do CHC/ZQN anymore ?


People flying nonstop from Australia to ZQN rather than via CHC now ?

[Steve Zissou]

I'm another pilot who got his flying break from Pete. Pete really was a top guy to work for. A lot of fun and cared about his staff. A real shame as he'd survived through some of the toughest times in the industry over the last quarter century. Hopefully he'll be back soon.

[Unregistered User]

What Steve said.

BTW: Your Groote Eylandt family (wives & children) want to know when you are coming home.......

[False economy]

Sad news....all the best to the pilots and staff. To all those needed a 'pep' up...keep your eye on the ball, there are good things to come maybe not tomorrow, but they will. I was in the same position 6 months ago with yours truly and its worked out fine. Good luck to all. Pete thanks for the start.