An aircraft engineering facility which opened at Birmingham Airport to great fanfare has collapsed less than three years later.
Around ten jobs are to go with the closure of Eurojet Aviation’s engineering arm at the airport, as the firm also announced it was close to completing a deal with a new partner for an amalgamated firm based in the city.
The facility opened in May 2011 as part of an ambitious £5 million expansion plan which it pledged would create 50 new jobs.
It saw the creation of a new 41,000 sq ft complex at the airport featuring a full-service fixed base operator (FBO) with hangars on site which could look after aeroplanes and private operators.
Over its 25-year history Eurojet Aviation has delivered a service to celebrities, public figures and corporate clients.
However, the firm, which is in talks with Birmingham-based insolvency firm Poppleton & Appleby, blamed the closure of its engineering business on high costs and a challenging trading environment.
A Eurojet spokesman said: “Regrettably we have been forced to bring our engineering operations at Birmingham to a close.
“The high operating costs associated with this division, coupled with an extremely challenging trading environment has unfortunately led to the unavoidable conclusion that this element of the business could not be sustained going forward.
“While we feel this decision was necessary to ensure the future success of the business, our thoughts are naturally with those directly affected.”
Eurojet Aviation specialises in private jet charter, aircraft acquisition and management and VIP aircraft handling while Eurojet Engineering dealt with aircraft maintenance.
The spokesman said it was in the final stages of completing a deal with “a significant new partner to amalgamate their commercial and operations activities”.
The new combined operation is to be based at Eurojet’s Business Aviation Centre at Birmingham Airport. The spokesman added a further announcement on the partnership agreement would be made shortly.
He said: “Negotiations are at an advanced stage with a significant new partner with a view to developing Eurojet’s business offering going forward. We are confident that these negotiations will result in a positive outcome and look forward to making a further announcement in due course.”
The Post reported in 2011 that Eurojet Aviation’s engineering plans included a maintenance facility, commercial operations centre and an aircraft sales suite.
The facility was due to become an official Cessna-authorised service centre with Eurojet additionally basing two of its managed Cessna Citation aircraft at the base.
Its opening followed a 20-year relationship between Eurojet and the Birmingham Airport and it was hailed by the firm’s founder and managing director, Graham Campbell, as “a world-class development”.
Speaking in 2011 Birmingham Airport’s chief executive Paul Kehoe said it represented “an important development in the establishment of an aircraft maintenance cluster”.
Eurojet was founded by Mr Campbell from Templepatrick in Northern Ireland in 1991 and had bases at Birmingham Airport, George Best Belfast City Airport and Belfast International Airport.
