A COMPANY has fought back from the brink of closure...with ambitions to become one of the world’s leading aircraft engineering firms.

Inflite Southend, based at the Aviation Way business park in the grounds of Southend Airport, made the dramatic decision to restructure the company last year - resulting in about 50 redundancies and the closure of one arm of their operation.

The future didn’t look bright at the time.

Commercial business manager Trevor Wood said “Inflite services based in Southend has always consisted of a number of component workshops and a hangar heavy maintenance facility.

“Last year the difficult decision was made to close the hangar and better utilize the space we have available to support the component side of the business.”

Because of the size of the hangar at the Southend facility, the company was restricted in what plane maintenance services it could offer - but the overhaul has helped secure a major new contract.

Mr Wood added: “It was too small for main commercial aircrafts but too big to do smaller planes so our maintenance requirement was getting less and less and that is why the decision was made to close the hangar.”

Heavy investment in the remaining branch of the business means Inflite now repairs aircraft components for aircraft operators all over the globe.

Mr Wood said: “Since last year we have continued to invest in the site and have added the Transport Canada Civil Aviation approval, which allows us to complete repairs directly for all Canadian operator’s aircraft components for all Aircraft types.

“We have invested in major improvements, reclassifying and moving our component workshops out of the boundaries of the airport so that we have a better infrastructure for receiving repairs and allowing the deliveries of larger components.

“We have recruited new staff in customer support roles and are currently recruiting new engineers.

After a difficult year, the company now has aspirations to be world leaders in their field.

Mr Wood added: “Whenever something like that happens, it does have an impact on the business but now we are seeing the business grow and grow.

“We are trying to turn ourselves into a worldwide component repair facility. There are very few companies out there that can provide the level of service we can.

“We are looking towards the future and the Inflite group are looking on how we invest in tomorrow’s engineering practices and look towards apprenticeships to help further develop the various sites.

“We are a local company relying on our local workforce to provide services worldwide. We are proud to be an employer in Southend and value the support from the community. We look forward to developing the site further and expanding the services we offer.”