Maintenance providers and the maintenance departments of airlines and OEMs are among the target clients of UK-based records management specialist Waviatech, which in August gained a new controlling shareholder in the shape of AerData.
Based in the Netherlands, AerData markets a lease and asset management software package branded CMS. It embarked on what it termed a "strategic partnership" with Waviatech just over two years before it took a majority stake in the firm, which has a base near London Gatwick airport.
The transaction took the form of a share swap deal, with Waviatech founder Karl Scanlon joining the management team that owns 55% of AerData. Aircraft lessor AerCap holds 43% and transport finance specialist DVB 2%.
Waviatech's secure technical records for electronic asset management (Stream) product is intended to facilitate paperless management of scanned historical aircraft and engine documentation via a searchable digital archive, thereby safeguarding an asset's residual value - which can be destroyed if the documentation required by regulators goes missing. Alongside Stream, Waviatech provides various auxiliary services including scanning, processing and auditing of records and inspection of aircraft. Early in 2010, it won a contract to implement Stream for EasyJet.
As part of efforts to provide "a total solution for the information requirements of aircraft and engine asset managers, operators and lessors", AerData had previously acquired UK-based EFPAC from TES Aviation Group. EFPAC supplies software geared specifically towards managing powerplant assets and intended to provide capability for both technical monitoring and cost reporting.
The sales prospects of the newly expanded AerData offering may get a boost from new rules proposed last month by the International Accounting Standards Board. These would prohibit lessees from treating leases as "off-balance sheet" financing. In addition to killing off the operating lease (as opposed to the finance lease), this could incentivise diligent lease management - and raise the profile of products designed to facilitate that task.
Source: Flight International
