Verona, WI and Paris — September 12, 2019 — Contrail Aviation Support, LLC, a worldwide supplier of surplus and aftermarket commercial jet engine components as well as asset leasing and acquisitions, today announced the appointment of commercial aircraft marketing executive Mark Shaw, who has 35 years of industry experience, as Vice President of Regional Marketing - EMEA of Contrail Aviation Leasing, LLC. Contrail is a key business unit and revenue driver of the Air T, Inc. holding company (NASDAQ: AIRT), which provides Contrail with strong capital resources and support. In fiscal year 2019 ended March 31, Air T’s Commercial Aircraft, Engines and Parts Segment alone generated $94 million in revenue. Overall FY 2019 revenue for Air T, Inc. was $250 million.
In his new role, Shaw will be responsible for airline marketing, business development strategy and revenue-generation initiatives in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. These initiatives include targeting mid-life/end-of-life narrow-body A320/B737 family aircraft and associated engine assets for acquisition — either naked or with leases attached.
Throughout Shaw’s 35-year career, he has developed long-established and extensive contacts at the CEO, CFO, and Vice President-level with all major and second and third tier airlines. Shaw has domain expertise in commercial aircraft leasing, finance and maintenance spanning all the major markets worldwide, including Europe, the United States, Latin America, and the Middle East, managing and closing over $2 billion in aircraft and engine transactions.
Most recently, Shaw served as Marketing Director at Stratos (Monaco) where he was responsible for business development and key airline client relationships within Stratos’ commercial aircraft finance, advisory and aircraft sales/leasing activities.
Previously, Shaw was Vice President, Marketing at Aviation Capital Group (ACG) for 13 years where he was responsible for all commercial aircraft acquisition, leasing and trading activities in Europe and Latin America. Prior to ACG, Shaw held an executive leadership role as Vice President – Commercial Aircraft Marketing at PLM Transportation Equipment Corp. (San Francisco) where he was responsible for the management of aviation assets owned and managed by PLM and associated income funds.
Shaw has also held notable senior marketing roles at Shannon Aerospace (Shannon, Ireland), Electra Aviation (London), and Avmark International (London).
Contrail’s Kevin Milligan, VP of Corporate Development & Marketing, said: “Mark is well-known throughout our global industry. He joins Contrail with a wealth of experience. He has tremendous reach resulting from his long-established and broad-based contacts at all the major airlines and the top aircraft leasing and financial outlets — all of which make him an invaluable asset to the Contrail team. We’re very excited about his appointment, especially because he significantly and rapidly expands our global activities with a European presence, and can hit the ground running targeting meaningful revenue-generation activities.”
Shaw commented, “Contrail has established an impressive track record of business development and positive momentum as it enters its 20th year of operations. Its success has been achieved through deep industry knowledge and long-standing relationships combined with a flexible, creative and customer-focused approach to doing business — all characteristics that continue to be as important as ever in a constantly-changing competitive landscape.”
Continuing, “I am delighted and excited to be joining such an accomplished team and look forward to increasing Contrail’s global footprint. The company is well-positioned to continue expanding its role as a solutions-oriented, business partner to the world’s airlines and MROs through its asset acquisition, leasing and management strategies and as a renowned supplier of aftermarket engine components worldwide.”