AAS Celebrate Their 40th Anniversary

March 1986 completes the fortieth year of operation of Australian Aircraft Sales, better known perhaps as AAS. Founded by John Conley in 1946 and registered as operating from offices at the Palace Hotel, Argent Street, Broken Hill NSW, this enterprise which was commenced with very meagre assets is now a multi-million dollar dealer in heavy transport aircraft that is respected and consulted by airline operators across the globe. The company now maintains offices in Washington D. C. and London, with a head office at Hangar 2, Sydney International Airport.

Looking back to September 1983, Australian Aviation profiled the operations of AAS in an article entitled ‘Available . . . the following aircraft’. If you are interested in the inner workings of an international aircraft sales giant and the fascinating aircraft that pass through its ‘fingers’, then I suggest that you check out that issue of the magazine, for the story that is related there is most definitely mandatory reading for devoted aircraft enthusiasts.

Just to enlighten you a little on the background of AAS, the founder, John Conley, is now Managing Director of the company. At 16 years of age he was flying aeroplanes that had come from War Surplus and soon after, he was doing the odd deal or two purchasing aircraft to become the sole owner, then re-selling them to new owners. AAS was initially started as a small, unambitious enterprise, but the type of work it did and the role it was destined to play in international aviation soon changed all that. There was a growing demand for airworthy airline aircraft, and this demand soon changed the direction of the fledgling AAS company. AAS later established itself as one of the leaders in the world aircraft sales community. ‘Flight International’ July 1974 edition pinpoints AAS as one of the top ten airliner-sales dealers worldwide.

I might just mention here that there are numerous brokers and sales agents in this business, but few real dealers, who actually buy the aircraft they deal in outright prior to resale. AAS always, without exception, purchases aircraft as sole owners and then continues on to negotiate resale. In the early days, with for example, a DC-6 or similar aircraft, a sale could be negotiated and driven to final completion in about five weeks. Now, with complicated crew training, tooling, engineering and other requirements, purchasing airlines need close to eleven months prior notice from AAS that certain aircraft are available.

At the time of writing, aircraft are being bought and sold, sometimes on an almost daily basis, up to the size of McDonnell Douglas DC-1Os. The total working capital available to AAS at short notice is clearly in the multi-millions of dollars. Obviously, this sort of finance is necessary to purchase the aircraft outright. Becoming the sole owner of the acquired aircraft allows AAS to negotiate a far better deal for both vendor and purchaser and allows access to airline resources which would perhaps not be the case otherwise.

Customers . . . yes, well AAS certainly has plenty of these, with a figure in the vicinity of 7,500 operators (airlines) on their books worldwide! Most of the regulars are big-name airlines, who deal with AAS knowing they can trust their judgement. Airlines such as Alitalia, Air New Zealand, Air Maldives, Austrian Airlines, Airborne Express Incorporated, Aviaco, Air Lanka, Air France, British Midlands, CP Air, Dan Air, FATC (Far Eastern Air Transport), Lufthansa, MEA, Air India, Merpati Airlines, Mandala Airlines, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, TAA, Thai International and Western Airlines being just a few of the ‘biggies’ who regularly deal with AAS!

That’s a pretty impressive list in anyone’s language, all customers of AAS. Australian Aircraft Sa/es have now dealt for 40 years beginning with Tiger Moths, Stinsons, Ansons and later Lockheed Hudsons and DC-3s up through the years to DC-6s, F27s, DC-9s, B727s, B737s, DC-8s, B707s, Comets, Viscounts and even Shorts Sunderland flying boats!

The next time you hear that an airliner is up for sale . . . enquire who is buying the aircraft for resale. Chances are it will be AAS, the giant of global aircraft sales based right here in Australia. Just some of the aircraft recently acquired and resold by AAS are 5 F27-600s sold to SAS (Scandinavian Airline System), 2 DC-8- 62s and 7 DC-9s to Airborne Express of the USA. In addition, Tunisia Aviation purchased Fokker F27-100 series from AAS. It may be of interest to you that AAS have to date bought thirty-three F27s and one hundred and four DC-3s!

AAS . . . now forty years in business and getting stronger by the day. Happy Birthday from ‘Australian Aviation’ AAS!

Aas 40th Anniversary Special