Up & Away sees strong growth in its commercial airline business

Aircraft interior, exterior, valeting and detailing specialist Up & Away Aviation is seeing strong growth in its commercial airline activity.

According to the company, it is now regularly supporting three premier low-cost carriers and cleans and services airliners day and night across nine UK airports.

This sector of the company’s business has seen turnover increase from £2.5 million in 2019 (when commercial aviation activity was split off from its mainstay business aviation work) to £18 million this year.

“Covid significantly propelled this growth and steered us into more commercial work,” said Up & Away founding Managing Director Stefan Murphy.

The company’s HQ recently moved into bigger premises at the former CAE building at Oxford Airport. The company’s business aviation activity is centred on Oxford and Farnborough Airports and supplemented with bases at Manchester and the London airports of Luton, Stansted and Biggin Hill.

“The variation of work is vast – anything from a helicopter on a private lawn to a Gulfstream at Luton. The nature is ‘go now,’ and we are looking to recruit more detailers in line with our plans to move into France in 2023,” added Stefan Murphy.

The company has also invested in its green credentials by putting 17 electric ABT e-transport vans into service to date, making it the largest fleet operator of the type. Up & Away focused on cabin disinfection work during the pandemic, and says this activity has dropped off around 70% now, except among Middle East and US clients. The trend has moved on to full scale, thorough interior aircraft cleaning and polishing.

Up & Away’s newest customer is aircraft ground handling company Assured Aviation, which is supporting the relaunched Flybe at Birmingham Airport. It has subcontracted Up & Away for valeting and cleaning its Dash 8 aircraft.