Twenty-first century
During 2000, BBA Group conducted a major divestment, selling off its Mintex brake pad division in exchange for £389m.[11] Around this time, the company also diversified into the flight training sector, purchasing Oxford Aviation, then the largest professional pilot training organisation in Europe, for £55.4 million.[12] During the following year, BBA Group bought American business Aircraft Service International Group ('ASIG'), the acquisition of which reportedly doubled the firm's presence in the commercial ground handling market, for $25m.[13] During 2002, the group's chief executive Roy McGlone stated that management's strategy at that point was to focus on its FBO ventures and to dispose of non-core businesses.[14] As a sign of the company's changes, BBA Group was reclassified on the London Stock Exchange from the engineering sector to the transport sector.[4]
During 2006, BBA Group opted to demerge its materials technology division, which developed and manufactured nonwoven materials used in the hygiene and medical markets and in numerous industrial applications, and friction materials for train brakes: the demerged business was named Fiberweb plc.[15] That same year, Ontic, a legacy aerospace components supplier, was acquired; Oxford Aviation was sold during the following year.[16] BBA Group's name was changed to BBA Aviation in 2007 to mark its transformation to a focused aviation group.[5]
In 2008, BBA Aviation bought the assets of Hawker Beechcraft Services Inc's Line Service Operations in exchange for £65.4 million.[17][18] During 2011, it bought GE Aviation's fuel measurement business for £38.3m and a new services base at Bozeman in Montana, United States, for $10.5m.[19][20] In 2012, BBA Aviation purchased Dryden Air Services and PLH Aviation in Canada, securing a presence in the Canadian market.[21] During 2013, it acquired Maguire Aviation Group for $69 million.[22] That same year, BBA Aviation reportedly withdrew from talks with Dubai Aerospace Enterprise over acquiring aircraft maintenance provider StandardAero.
In 2015, BBA Aviation significantly increased the reach of the Signature Flight Support network through the acquisition of Landmark Aviation from The Carlyle Group for $2.1 billion; aviation periodical Flight International described the deal as being "the largest acquisition in the history of the business aviation services industry".[25][26] During 2017, its ASIG subsidiary was sold off for $202 million.[27] Early that same year, BBA Aviation and Gama Aviation agreed to merge their charter and management operations together, reportedly forming the largest aircraft management business in the United States as a result.[28] In 2018, BBA Aviation acquired fuel specialist EPIC Aviation;[29] that same year, it also bought Firstmark Corp, a provider of proprietary components and subsystems, which was incorporated into the Ontic portfolio.[30]
During late 2019, BBA Group decided to sell Ontic to CVC Capital Partners in exchange for $1.365 billion; the firm also announced a special dividend to shareholders totalling $835 million from the proceeds of the sale. To reflect its change in business focus, the company's board also elected to rename the group Signature Aviation to better align the firm with its most significant brand in its core market.[31][32]
In February 2021, Bill Gates–owned Cascade Investment, Blackstone Group, and private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners made a $4.7 billion offer to acquire Signature Aviation.[33] As a result of the acquisition, Cascade's stake increased from 19% to 30%.[33]
In August 2022, the company acquired the TAC Air division of The Arnold Companies. It was announced that fourteen TAC Air locations would be rebranded as Signature Aviation as part of the deal.[34]
