Ocean Sky buys major Stake of 3 Alpha
 

UK business aviation services company Ocean Sky has taken a majority stake in German aircraft management and charter company Triple Alpha for an undisclosed sum.
The deal opens the lucrative German business aircraft market to Ocean Sky and brings to 32 the London-based company's managed fleet. Ocean Sky Aviation chief executive Kurosh Tehranchian says: "The deal will mean a company fleet unrivalled in its range: from the Citation Mustang very light jet through to the Airbus A319 Corporate Jetliner."
Ocean Sky says it will immediately inject €1.8 million ($2.56 million) into the business as working capital to strengthen its finances. Tehranchian says further acquisitions will follow. "The landscape for aircraft operators in Europe is going to change fundamentally, with consolidations and acquisitions creating a superleague of major players coming out of this recession. Ocean Sky will be one of them," he adds.
Triple Alpha co-founder Hans Pfeiffer agrees. "What we have done is recognise the changes ahead. It's a win-win for us to be with Ocean Sky," he says.
Erik Scheidt, company co-founder and joint general manager, says: "We are excited to be able to expand our operation even more rapidly and access areas where we do not already have a footprint. We are very strong in terms of operations. Ocean Sky is very active in its fixed-base operations and maintenance. This is what we need and could not have achieved on our own."
Triple Alpha will continue to trade under its current company name as part of the Ocean Sky Group. Both co-founders will remain with the company.

At last some good news from our industry, will make both brands very strong. Will be interesting to see if there is any displacement of Triple Alphas fleet to shake up the British operators

Good luck to both parties

I wonder what will happen to the Zurich sales office/staff ?

That Ocean Sky just keeps pulling rabbits out of the hat! Good luck to them on the next new adventure!

This could say a lot about the state of 3A or am I wrong?

Is that an advertising for Ocean Sky... !!

Is this the same Ocean Sky that have had 2 Challengers and a Global reposessed in the last 6 months?!

If I fall your going down with me :E

Not sure about repossessed. I heard they were offered better finance on new aircraft which would tie in with the surplus of aircraft and available money over the last year or so.

Flintstone is spot on - it was nothing more sinister than that :ok:

No idea - but it's not a repo to the best of my knowledge.

Who knows? Arse covering maybe?

Far easier to tell the market that than "We were too pig-headed to renegotiate the finance so lost a standing customer". Or maybe Bombardier were so desperate to shift abandoned stock they offered an unmatchable deal?

:confused:

G-INFO say all 3 are owned by TAG, JetNet says they're being advertised for sale by the bank. If they were offered better finance by the bank and if availability is as good as it is then why haven't they got said aircraft...or why didn't they just refinance the aircraft that they had?

The problem being that they weren't offered better finance by the original bank who refused to renegotiate so they (Ocean Sky) took advantage of a clause in their contract and handed them back. They then replaced the Challengers (I believe) with new aircraft.

Pay attention at the back ;)

Again - all spot on information.

analysis?
 

The bank is advertising the 604 the 605 and the Global 5000 for sale.

Banks dont like owning aircraft.....they have leases strutured to avoid risk.

Banks have good lawyers who ensure the lease is always in their favour.

Banks dont usually end up owning an aircraft and getting burned.

Assumption? - Oceansky must have got burned on this hand back deal.

I cant really believe oceansky just handed those 3 aircraft back and walked away with NO penalty?

If you tried doing that with your motor vehicle or your house im sure the finance company would be rubbing their hands with glee....
Im no financial whizzo but im sure handing back 3 jets to a bank who doesnt want them, in a dead market, has to HURT financially.....

Fact - Oceansky used to operate 3 challengers, now they just have 1. The Global 5000 having effectively been replaced by the G550 I would imagine.

So whatever way you look at it they have shrunk their Challenger fleet back to 1 unit. And my guess is the bank came out better than they did on that.....
Triple Alpha purchase? maybe they like the German CAA more than the UK CAA ;-) will we see the G reg oceansky aircraft adoption a D- in due course? who knows.....

Let's Summarize
 

Ocean Sky fleet status?

-G-OCSA s/n 9241 G5000 withdrawn and for sale
-OE-GJF CJ3 withdrawn late 2008
-formerly G-OCSC 604 s/n 5505 was sold last year on is flying as N664D
-formerly G-OCSD 604 s/n 5591 for sale as G-CGFD (TAG UK)
-formerly G-OCSF 605 s/n 5733 for sale as G-CGFF (TAG UK)

Actual fleet is
-G-EXRS s/n 9274 GLEX XRS (registered this summer)
-G-IGWT s/n 8078 CL850 (registered this summer)
-G-OCSE s/n 5710 CL605
-G-SADC s/n 4027 G450 (arrived this summer from Elit'Avia)
-G-EGNS sn/ 5167 G550, listed for sale
-A 7X and a Lear 60XR may join soon and, not sure about it, G-FNES, s/n 159 F900EX EASy, could be as well Ocean Sky's.

What did I miss?

Are all the aircraft that you've listed owned by Ocean Sky or managed by them and maybe the owners have put them up for sale ?

For sure the Gulfstreams are managed, and I don't know of any which is owned by Ocean Sky. That would be a dangerous business model.

CJ3 OE-GJF is still with them albeit now as G-TSJF.

OLY1B

I believe GOSCH CL604 is now with them too

ML

G-OSCH was a Cessna 421, de-registered back in 2007.

G-OCSH is still not in the CAA database.

G-TSJF
 

Believe this a managed, and possible charter, aircraft for owners Timor Sadorov (OS) and Jonathan Faiman (Ocado), hence the initials in the reg.

OS doesn't 'own' aircraft. Some owners allow theirs for charter (generally G-OS## regs) while the rest are managed. Thus banks should not be interested in OS as risk is with owners.

Oh I don't know, it's all about brand awareness and association isn't it? And after nearly 12 months, you're still talking about it, so it seems to have achieved it's goal! :ok:

Nearly right Monkey Lover typo there I think mate, it is in fact G-OCSH - Challenger 604 that was formally G-STCC. In work at Manchester at the moment, goes onto the fleet to be used for AOC charter in the next few days.

regards

The Doc

Also, Challenger 601 N25SB appears to be managed by OS as well.

Press Release - OS Update
 

This may help:

Ocean Sky explores field as new FBOs shape up in Spain
By: Charles Alcock
November 1, 2010

FBOs

Ocean Sky has its three new Spanish FBOs up and running in Ibiza, Menorca and Valencia and is planning to add more facilities in Spain. Meanwhile, the Italian element of the expansion plans it unveiled at the Ebace show in May has been delayed, but the company still hopes to open an FBO at an undisclosed airport in Italy next year.

The UK-based business aviation services group acquired the FBOs on the Mediterranean islands of Ibiza and Minorca and at Valencia on the mainland in May through its acquisition of Spain’s Aviation Handling Assistance. Since then it has completed a renovation of the facilities, which now share Ocean Sky branding, and it has retrained staff with a view to ensuring continuity of service through its growing network.

Ocean Sky CEO Stephen Grimes told AIN that it is actively engaged in discussions about a possible partnership with another company in one or two other locations. “Spain is quiet and has been hit quite badly [by the economic downturn], but this brings opportunities to consolidate,” he said, referring to serious problems in what is one of Europe’s weakest economies.

“When Ocean Sky took over the three [Spanish] FBOs, they were not being run efficiently or marketing themselves well outside Spain,” added marketing director Natalie Raper. “We have now built them on our UK model and they are fully joined up with the network.” The new FBOs are now benefiting from receiving traffic generated by Ocean Sky’s aircraft charter and management activities.

Also in May, Ocean Sky acquired Open Sky Italy, which is being run by Rossano De Luca as the UK group’s Italian subsidiary, concentrating for the time being on charter brokering and aircraft management. However, Ocean Sky walked away from a letter of intent-backed deal to buy an FBO called Euroloa in Bologna because it was not happy with the terms being offered. Grimes insisted that, despite significant local obstacles in terms of bureaucracy, Italy remains a key part of Ocean Sky’s growth strategy and it will pursue other opportunities there, including the anticipated FBO acquisition at “a major international airport in early 2011.
“[This] has been an exciting year,” said Grimes. “We have grown and expanded and made progress, but we have also been dealing with legacy issues from previous owners. There have been some things to correct, which has taken some management attention, but it has increased the understanding and support from shareholders, who have a strong commitment as we have been building a stable platform,” he added. Ocean Sky is owned by Belgian businessman Jean-Francois Cordemans and a Luxembourg-based investment fund.

In recent weeks Ocean Sky appointed Capt. Don Sigournay as its new director of flight operations. Other recent appointments include Lenny Gray to head its new aircraft interiors business; Gareth Cadwell as general manager for charter; and Richard Stock to run the aircraft management division.

Earlier in the year the company had expected to expand its managed fleet from 30 aircraft to 40, but it is now on track to end up with just under 50.

It has also been building its maintenance business at London Luton Airport, where it recently bought a hangar from Monarch Airlines.

In addition, it is working with Bombardier to have Luton designated an approved service center for the Canadian airframer, to match the capability it has at its Manchester base.

The company is also set to open a new sales office in Dubai.

Not much mention of the charter fleet types and numbers. Any updates out there?

So, if that's the case, I guess the Russian is still 'in charge'. :\

G-OSCH
 

A bit late, but G-OSCH was also G-SALI, and I have worked on both.
Jetset41

Out of interest, does anyone know what the hiring situation is like for non type-rated pilots? The website says to e-mail enquiries to them (which I have done), but is that an indication that they might be hiring, or does the website always say that???

[Standing by for opinions on whether or not I want to work there from posters who have not actually answered my question....!]

WN
----------

Ocean Sky alone ?
 

Just heard that 3A (TRIPLE ALPHA Luftfahrt GmbH - Business Jets | Jet Charter | Private Jet Charter | Executive Jet) ceased operations.
Any confirmation ?

Taken from Ecacnav, quite a strong small/midsize fleet compared with Ocean Sky long range fleet !

CL30 DBUBI
G150 DCGEP
G150 DCKDM
C650 DCREY
C25B DCURA
C650 DCWII
C525 DIAOA
C525 DICOL
C510 DIEGO
C25A DIGIT
C525 DIHHN
C25A DIHRA
C525 DIKOP
C525 DIRKE
C525 DIRMA
C510 DISIO

yeah, they are tits up...

http://www.pprune.org/biz-jets-ag-fl...ml#post6559860

They are not in the LBAs list of approved operators any more.

My guess is that not many are so damn unhappy about this...

Not counting employees though.

.....tha's an awful lot of C525's straight onto the market.....anyone know where any are ending up ??

F/O

Jetopa,

I wonder what you mean by your comment?

As far as I know 3A was one of the few serious operators around - compared to an otherwise in general biz jet market full of bull**** companies cutting corners everywhere, pretending safety comes first - but really has no god damn clue.

3A actually appeared to have a decent approach to a safe operation - but I suppose that is not in fashion these days - only wish the customers knew this!

Fly safely

Well, depending on Citation model, between 5 and 30% of the global fleet is currently openly for sale. So my guess is that a lot of them will end up as spare parts..... Some might be private aircraft that were just managed by 3A and then I guess they move on to another management company.

As your profile claims, you are from utopia!

You did not fly for them, did you?

Klimax,

just try and have a chat with other operators whose customers they 'approached' - they won't be missed.

Would this be anything to do with someone handing out brochures and business cards to pax waiting in the FBO at Manchester?

I understand that handing out business cards at FBO's does not win any points. I was commenting on the operations. Brief experience within this part of the industry has left me generally unimpressed and with the perception that most operators are scruples and does not stand up to the job expected. There are many ways to operate an aircraft and being the cheapest one around is not the way to go.
Way to many aircraft owners have got no clue (unfortunately) what is going on when they trust their lives to an operator. I wish they did.
I only had very brief experiences with 3A - but the ones I had, they were solid and professional - operationally. Now I for one still appreciate to see this kind of operation around. Guess its not trendy these days.

Stay happy and safe :ok:

Klimax:

Yes, thanks Klimax...Now that the 3A operation has gone the skies will probably be a little more safer. :ooh:

The LBA's revocation was for a good reason and not just because of impending liquidation and cash flow issues - so if you ever fancy spending a little time checking with the LBA the number of MOR/busts/fines/illegal approaches they received and made for a particular portion of their fleet and specifically a certain fleet manager you will self-certify my comment above... ;)

Yes, its a pity that a small number spoil it for the rest but then there you go. However, good luck to the safe, conscientious guys who flew with 3A as i hope they all find good jobs. :ok: