Air Maestro and Spidertracks to merge

The merger is being supported by Arcadea Group, an investment firm that focuses on the software sector. In a statement, Arcadea said the merger ‘amplifies the strengths of the two businesses, creating a unified front in enhancing safety and operational efficiency in the aviation market’.

The merged businesses will work to develop a unified software platform capable of ‘leveraging the strengths of each company’s offerings’, as well as working to expand the suite of services offered to customers.

As part of the merger, Aleks Banas, currently CEO of Air Maestro, will take over the CEO role of the combined business. Meanwhile Steve Whitaker, Spidertracks’ Chief Product Officer (CPO) and Chief Operations Officer (COO), will become COO of the new business.

“The aviation industry is poorly served by a fragmented collection of sub-scale, legacy businesses,” commented Banas. “Most at some degree of scale are owned by short-term-oriented, financially focused private equity or venture capital firms that have no long-term vision for or staying power in this market. By combining Air Maestro and Spidertracks, we will immediately be one of the largest global players in the space, offering the most comprehensive and capable suite of solutions to the commercial aviation market.”

Whitaker added: “We’ve heard clearly from the market that they want fewer vendors with expanded capabilities and more modern technology. Our newly formed business will be the only vendor in the world that can truly provide an end-to-end safety, operations, tracking, flight data monitoring, flight operational quality assurance, and fleet management solution.”

Spidertracks recently announced that it will supply its Spider X hardware to Black Widow Helicopters as part of its UH-60 modernization program.