Aerospace company flying

ONE MORE THING:One of the biggest business successes of the recession has been Conor McCarthy's aircraft maintenance group, Dublin Aerospace.

Formed from the ashes of the closure of SR Technics, the company has grown from six people in 2009 to 245 currently.

“We are winning, but it’s an extremely tough battle,” founder McCarthy told an aviation policy conference in Dublin on Monday.

The company has four strings to its bow – training, landing gear, aircraft overhaul and auxiliary power unit work.

“All are trading extremely well,” he said.

McCarthy also outlined the remuneration structure in the company, which varies radically from that of SRT.

It involves a basic salary, a monthly team performance pay and a 20 per cent profit share, paid quarterly. There is no overtime and seasonal working and contract employment are features of the business.

“We have been profitable in the past nine quarters and have had 100 per cent customer retention,” he added.

McCarthy is now looking to get approval for component overhaul work.

It wasn’t all positivity from McCarthy, though.

“We’re not producing enough of the right skillsets in Ireland,” he said. “We find we have to train people starting from scratch.”

He suggested getting Fás or third level colleges involved in this area.

McCarthy would also like aircraft maintenance hangars to be zero-rated for commercial rates as is the case with agricultural buildings.

He adds that capital allowances should be “amplified” for maintenance infrastructure, à la Malaysia, where a rate of 160 per cent is available.