By Ian McConnell

Business Editor

Scottish pilot training and aircraft maintenance business ACS Aviation has achieved record annual turnover on the back of significant investment and recruitment, and is targeting further expansion amid rising demand for qualified pilots.

Perth-based ACS said yesterday it had increased its staff numbers by 18 per cent over the past two years, recruiting flight instructors, aircraft engineers and airport employees to take its workforce to 55. All of its employees are based in Scotland.

ACS, which operates Perth Airport, has invested in four new aircraft to take its training fleet to 22-strong. It flagged plans to invest in electric aircraft.

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A further rise in staffing is planned, with the company currently recruiting for commercial flight instructors, airport staff and aircraft engineers to facilitate future growth.

Asked if ACS intended to increase its workforce and invest further, managing director Graeme Frater replied: “Yes. [We are] looking to add more aircraft and open new bases in Scotland and overseas. We are also looking to invest in electric aircraft over the next two to three years.”

He flagged the firm’s intention to “become one of the first UK pilot training schools to place an order for all-electric-powered training aircraft”.

ACS said its investment “comes as airlines across the world are having to deal with a raft of mandatory retirements and Covid-related early retirements, all of which are combining to drive demand for qualified pilots”.

The company is owned by Cloud Global Group, based at Glasgow Airport. A spokesman noted ACS’s three directors, Mr Frater, Craig McDonald, and Louise Ewart, owned Cloud Global.

ACS flagged its expectation that it would, as a result of increased activity, make pre-tax profits of £410,000 on record turnover of £2.9 million in the financial year ending next month. It expects turnover to increase by a further 17% to £3.4m in its 2022/23 financial year.

Mr Frater said 65% of ACS’s business was flight training, with 25% aircraft maintenance, and 10% airport revenue from landing fees and the sale of fuel. He added that the majority of customers on the flight-training side were “self-funded students training for a career in the airline industry”, although he noted ACS also had “a number of airline contracts”. He said these airlines used ACS's simulators and aircraft for crew training.

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ACS noted there had been a dip in pilot training at the start of the pandemic.

However, it added that it had seen pilot training numbers increase to 100 in the current financial year, with a further 30% rise projected in the 12 months to March 2023.

Mr Frater said Perth Airport has more than 40,000 movements per annum. He added that, at times during the pandemic, the airport had been the busiest in the UK with corporate traffic and business aviation, alongside flight-training movements.

Mr Frater said: “After almost two years of very significant turmoil for the global aviation industry, we have now reached a turning point. Reduced air travel has become a thing of the past, and forecasts point to a more normal future where the problem will actually be the opposite: not having enough aircraft and pilots to meet demand."

He added: "Our analysis of the market shows the UK and Europe’s commercial aviation industry will require more than 130,000 new pilots, and projects passenger traffic growing at a rate of 3.1% annually.

"As one of the UK’s leading flight schools, ACS is ideally placed to provide the facilities that will be required to help meet these increased demands.”