AERTEC Solutions increased its sales by 30% in 2015 and boosted its international presence with cumulative projects in 26 countries

AERTEC Solutions, the international engineering and consultancy firm specialised in airports, the aeronautical industry and aerospace & defence, consolidated its projection in the international market with a significant quantitative and qualitative leap in 2015. The company closed the last financial year with a turnover figure of €22 million euros, a 30% year-on-year increase on the figure for 2014 (€17 million), thus ratifying the growth of its business in the industry over the past few years.

The consolidation of the company’s international turnover is striking. It reached €5.5 million, which already account for 25% of its total revenue, a percentage that is much higher in the airports division, where the share for this specific area exceeded 70%.

This growth and projection in foreign markets was backed in 2015 by the development of new projects in new countries, bringing the total to 26 countries spread out over five continents and the number of the company’s airport reference projects to over a hundred.

“A hundred airports is a symbolic figure which reveals the international vocation with which the company was founded almost two decades ago”, affirmed Antonio Gómez-Guillamón, the company’s CEO.

The aeronautical engineering and consultancy firm also increased its workforce to over 500 employees, 23% more than in 2014 (when it had 390 employees). Most of its employees are engineers and highly qualified professionals. This increase in the workforce was due to a rise in the project portfolios of the company’s three business areas: airports, aeronautical industry, and aerospace and defence systems.

In 2015, AERTEC Solutions likewise strengthened its commitment to innovating and developing its own in-house technology – another of its essential values –, along with the company’s internationalisation. It thus earmarked €1.5 million to R&D investments, thereby doubling the funds allocated to this item in the last two years. This commitment to innovation has borne fruit with the setting up of the Aerospace and Defence Systems Division, which has already begun to do work for several international clients.

The contracts the company was awarded in Latin America in the airports division are among the main milestones it achieved last year, such as the project to design a new airfield for Lima Airport in Peru, projects in Colombia for the new Rionegro Airport Master Plan in Medellín and the consultancy work to design the Cali Airport airfield improvement with a view to its safety certification. Furthermore, the company presented its unmanned aerial vehicle last year at the Paris Air Show and at the EXPONDEFENSA defence trade fair in Bogotá. It is named TARSIS and is aimed at the defence industry. It is a light high technology tactical RPAS designed for observation and surveillance applications. Lastly, in the area of the aeronautical industry, it is worth pointing out the start-up of sustained operations with Airbus UK’s Manufacturing Engineering Division in Broughton and the company’s participation as a partner in the Future of the Aircraft Factory (FoAF) programme, together with the industry’s leading industrial firms in the United Kingdom.

As far as the institutional area is concerned, AERTEC Solutions was awarded the Andalusia Medal for its excellence and track record when carrying out its business activities. It is an award the company’s founders have made extensive to the entire Andalusian aerospace industry, a key sector for the Andalusian economy’s future. Antonio Gómez-Guillamón stated that “AERTEC Solutions’ goals for 2016 will focus on fostering our aeronautical specialisation and the development of our in-house technology in the company’s three areas of know-how with a global scope. We have with the know how and the necessary capacity to continue growing in an aeronautical industry scenario where demand will continue to rise and drive forward sales in the coming years”.

The company’s strategy in the Airports Division is aimed at increasing its portfolio of international clients, focusing especially on Latin America and the Middle East. In the Aeronautical Industry Division, the goal is to increase the company’s presence in the countries where Airbus (AERTEC Solutions is an Airbus Tier 1 engineering services supplier) has a presence, especially in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. An effort will also be made in this area to complement manufacturing engineering services with in-house technology to help optimise production processes according to the new Factory of the Future or Factory 4.0 concept that is being developed around the world.

Lastly, the company will seek to consolidate its new technological developments in the Aerospace and Defence Systems Division with new on-board mission and guidance systems for its own internally designed unmanned aerial vehicles.