American Airlines' parent company AMR has put its AMR Combs fixed-base operation (FBO) network up for sale along with its AMR Services and TeleService Resources units. The company says it wants to focus on its core airline and Sabre computer reservations businesses.
AMR acquired the Combs Gates network of FBOs in 1989. The 14 locations in the USA, Mexico and Asia had 1997 revenues of $115 million, making AMR Combs one of the larger FBO chains.
AMR Combs is one of three businesses making up a substantial part of the company's Global Services unit. All three are being sold separately, and AMR hopes to complete the transactions early in 1999.
"The three AMR Global Services companies are all enormously valuable and viable enterprises, with solid prospects for success," says AMR chairman Don Carty. "We are not selling them because they are unsuccessful, but because their activities are not part of our strategic focus on the airline group and the Sabre group."
The USFBO industry has been consolidating in recent years, with UK-owned Signature Flight Support emerging as the biggest player. Parties interested in buying AMR Combs could range from investment firms to business aircraft manufacturers.
Bombardier acquired AMR Combs' Learjet maintenance centres in the early 1990s, and launched its FlexJet fractional ownership scheme jointly with the FBO chain before taking over sole operation of the programme.
The companies' three AMR Global Service units together accounted for revenues last year of $451 million out of a total AMR turnover of $18.5 billion. Global Services pre-tax earnings came to $55 million, although this included units such as AMR Investment Services and AMR Airline Management Services, which are not involved in the sale.
AMR Services is the largest of the three units, with sales of $202 million last year providing a range of services including cargo, passenger and ramp handling services, as well as equipment maintenance, fueling and management services for over 200 airlines and airports worldwide. TeleService Resources provides call centre management services including telephone reservations for airlines in a business that generated sales of $134 million last year.
Source: Flight International
