For our Perspectives series, we talk to experienced business aviation industry professionals who share with us their individual insights and offer a window into their world. This month's interviewee is Lawrence Binns, founder and CEO of Aviate Aviation, a new boutique private aviation company in Toronto, Canada that started helping clients across the globe in 2020.

“We have deep ties in the private aviation space, offering a wide range of comprehensive services, such as aircraft sales and acquisition, charter sales, legal advisory services and ground transportation in various countries, which allows us to facilitate a deal from start to finish. Unlike many aviation companies, we take a unique, boutique approach.

I have worked in the aviation industry now for about five years. Almost two years ago I met my business partner Sabur Quazi. He comes from the private equity business, so nothing to do with aviation. For him and I, it was a really great meeting of the minds; coming from two different backgrounds, it worked out very well. I have a great deal of long standing relationships when it comes to the private aviation business, in the US, Europe and worldwide. Sabur’s background turned out to be very helpful, because when it comes to working on deal structuring and negotiation, he is an expert with a deep connection in banking and family office network.

We got into the industry two years ago and decided we were going to look at getting into the private charter business as a starting point. That all quickly changed, as we realised that the best place to position Aviate Aviation was in the sales and acquisitions of private aircraft. Initially, we started working with flying schools, selling them Cessna 172 aircraft, in southeast Asia. We quickly learned that the key markets are in the super mids and heavy aircraft, over the last nine months, as we started receiving significant number of requests for these category of aircraft.

We have worked exclusively focused on pre-owned Gulfstream, Bombardier and Embraer aircraft (as an example) more than anything else. We wanted to do business in a very stand up, transparent fashion, so we had to figure out who would be the best to work with, so that we are representing our clients in a correct, professional way. We consider ourselves more of a boutique aviation company; we wanted to find a differentiator. We started to build relationships with a lot of very high net worth individuals and move within those circles on a day to day basis.

Aviate Aviation focuses our business in Europe and US, and has now branched into the Middle East. We have extensive relationships with all the main operators globally, and our goal is to leave no stone unturned. Our core business is now acquisitions and sales, and we look to save time for executives at management level, aircraft buyers and sellers. We also assist aircraft management companies with swifter completion of transactions.

The industry has changed so much in the past year, due to the pandemic and the changing world economy, and not to mention the lack of available aircraft on the market. However, Aviate Aviation has thrived in this economy, by finding high demand aircraft for its most exclusive clients. It has left us needing to be very creative and to work diligently, intelligently and harder than ever before. Not a day goes by where we aren’t awake in the middle of the night, answering emails and on conference calls. The aviation business is truly 24/7. Don't let anyone tell you any different!”