GippsAero Restarts G8 Airvan Manufacturing
Gippsland Aeronautics (better known as GippsAero) is resuming production of its Airvan aircraft after a five-year pause. The restart follows the company's founder, George Morgan and his family, buying the business back from India's Mahindra Aerospace.
"For aircraft manufacturers to cease production and then restart production is pretty much unheard of," said Chief Operating Officer David Morgan at a June 12 event at Latrobe Regional Airport (LTB) to mark the restart of aircraft production. "It's a huge effort and something we don't see in the industry today."
Morgan and his now deceased business partner, Peter Furlong, established Australia's only passenger aircraft manufacturing facility at the airport in regional Victoria, selling over 220 of the ten-passenger GA8 Airvans to customers in 43 countries around the world.
GippsAero designed the Airvan for use in remote areas performing tasks such as passenger services, freight, sightseeing, parachuting, observation, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and search and rescue operations. The aircraft has a reputation for reliability and ease of use.
Furlong and Morgan cashed out in 2009 when Mahindra acquired a 71% plus stake in the business in a reported AUD100 million deal. However, following years of poor sales and a skydiving incident, Mahindra stopped making the aircraft in 2020. The business then became dormant.
Since buying back the business in 2023, the Morgan family has re-employed over 40 people and restarted work making aircraft parts while planning a return to aircraft manufacturing. The company plans to build up the workforce to around 170 and have an aircraft leaving the factory every two weeks.
At this week's event, the first rivet was set into the keel of GA8 Airvan (msn 263), marking the official restart of production. GippsAero expects to have the aircraft in the air in 2026. It takes around 6,500 work hours to build each aircraft, and the aircraft retail for around AUD1.6 million dollars (USD1.05 million) each. The company is Australia's only certified aircraft manufacturer.
"In an environment where we are screaming out for manufacturing opportunities for the Valley, it was fantastic to be a part of the restart of the Airvan production line," said local MP Martin Cameron.
"We are proud to have GippsAero back in business doing what they do best. Congratulations to the Morgan family for being so bold and bringing the Airvan back to the production line right here in the Valley."
Before the Mahindra buyout, GippsAero had a reputation for focusing on employees, community, and the general aviation industry. It was an old school family company. While describing the buyback as amicable and praising Mahindra as good to work with when negotiating the deal, the Indian company brought an unduly corporate mindset to the factory, raised prices, messed with the design of the aircraft, and only managed to sell one plane while they controlled the business.
George Morgan says he and his family funded the buyback and the subsequent rebuilding of the business.
"These planes are built for the outback, humanitarian work, medivacs – anything you can think of, it gets used," he said.
Photos: GippsAero