Air Works India Engineering (Air Works), India’s leading provider of Aviation Services, has made a strategic investment in Dubai based private aviation specialist, Empire Aviation Group FZCO (EAG). This move will help Air Works increase its footprint in the Middle East and provide world class aircraft management services to its customers in India. Air Works has funded this strategic investment through a mix of internal accruals and structured debt finance of 1.2 billion rupees ($22m) from KKR & Co. L.P. a leading global investment firm. Formed in Dubai in 2007, by the existing management team and co-founders of the company – Paras Dhamecha and Steve Hartley – EAG is a one-stop shop for integrated private aviation services offering aircraft sales, aircraft management, aircraft charter, and aircraft finance and insurance. Today, the company has more than 100 staff and operates one of the region’s largest managed fleets of business jets, with 20 aircraft under management, operating out of Dubai International Airport.
Commenting on the partnership, EAG co-founder and Executive Director, Paras Dhamecha said: “Since formation in 2007, EAG has successfully built a strong regional aviation business and grown revenues and profit every year. We have also recently been looking at the exciting potential of the Indian aviation market and opened our first branch office there in 2011. So, we warmly welcome this partnership with Air Works – one of the leading companies in India’s rapidly developing private aviation sector – which will help facilitate our entry into India and allow us to exploit more fully the Indian market opportunity by replicating the full portfolio of aviation services for India that we have successfully developed for the Middle East.”
