Australia's GippsAero will start production of the first new GA8 Airvan in five years next month, marking the resumption of manufacturing of the iconic eight-seater after the exit of majority shareholder Mahindra.
Mahindra shut-down Airvan production in September 2020 and converted the company to a service and spares organisation only, eventually selling their holdings back to the Morgan family in late 2023.
GippsAero will lay down the first new Airvan keel at the Latrobe Valley factory on 12 June in a Laying of Keel ceremony, reviving the company that Australian Aviation Hall of Fame members George Morgan and Peter Furlong built in the 1980s.
"For GippsAero it means the continuation of an Australian company that has designed and certified aircraft that are now flying in 43 countries worldwide," GippsAero Customer Liaison Manager Marguerite Morgan told Australian Flying. "It is made in Australia. It is also a regional business that is providing employment locally.
"For the Morgan family it means regaining control of the company that we built, to be able to provide continuing support to every Airvan aircraft and Airvan owner/operator.
"It also allows us to pursue future models to continuously improve operational economics and performance."
After Indian conglomerate Mahindra bought into GippsAero in 2010, their controlling interest bought corporate thinking that burdened both the Airvan 8 and the Airvan 10 SETP.
It resulted in engineering changes and sell-price hikes that took the Airvan 8 too far away from its niche market and hampered the Airvan 10 to the point that only one production aircraft was ever rolled-out.
The Mahindra years ended in 2023 when the Morgan family–George, Marguerite, David and Sarah–were able to acquire Mahindra's controlling shares.
Since then, the family has been slowly re-establishing production at Latrobe Valley, repairing and refurbishing existing aircraft as a way to spark the factory back to production levels, as well as continuing to manufacture spare parts.
Although production will re-start in June, the first customer deliveries are not expected until next year.