TAG Engineering at Farnborough is hoping to develop its services with a view to becoming a service centre for a major aircraft manufacturer.

“About 75 per cent of our work is for Hawker aircraft but we’ve got EASA approval for the Falcon 900, Gulfstream GIV and Bombardier aircraft,” said director of engineering Les Batty. “Those are the aircraft we aim to concentrate on; we would like to develop the bigger stuff, like Falcon 900 and CL604 maintenance, and that’s the next phase of the business.”

Explaining the driving forces behind the development plans, he said: “We have a combination of a good reputation and we’re very competitive on price; most of this business comes from referrals. As Farnborough becomes more popular, the amount of unscheduled maintenance work we do increases.”

However, the widely-publicised shortage of engineering staff could prove a hindrance. “The biggest factor that stops us taking the business further is the lack of available licensed engineers. It’s a huge problem at the moment, not only for us, but for the competition as well.”