Air Partner acquires emergency planning and incident response company
Professional services provider Air Partner has acquired Kenyon International Emergency Services. The purchase sees 24 full-time consultants become part of Air Partner, while the firm gains access toa broader roster of more than 2,000 part-time specialists.
Founded in 1961, Air Partner is a global aviation services group focused on providing worldwide solutions to industry, commerce, governments and private individuals. The group has two divisions: Air Partner Charter, comprising the firm’s group charter, private jets, freight and specialist services offerings; and Air Partner Safety & Security (formerly known as Consulting & Training), which comprises Baines Simmons, Redline Assured Security and its managed services offerings.
With the aviation industry having been grounded for much of 2020, it might have been assumed consultancies linked to the sector would have found trading tough. However, according to a new release from the firm, it continues to trade strongly despite the travel restrictions and the general uncertainty arising from the Covid-19 pandemic. For the first half of the financial year, leading to 31 July 2021, the company is now expected to have delivered an underlying profit before tax of not less than £3.7 million. This has been boosted by a strong recovery in our Private Jets division. The UK has even exceeded pre-Covid levels over the summer months.
Amid this strong performance, Air Partner has determined that the time is right to bolster its safety offering with a new acquisition. Kenyon International Emergency Services is a world leading emergency planning and incident response company. While it brings with it a diverse, loyal and high-quality customer base across multiple sectors and geographies, its purchase also increases Air Partner’s consulting and training activities.
Mark Briffa, CEO of Air Partner, said, "Kenyon International Emergency Services is an exceptional business and a true leader in the field of emergency planning and incident response… The experience, products and services we are able to harness across the Air Partner Group with the addition of Kenyon is unmatched.”
Kenyon employs 24 full-time staff and maintains an active roster of over 2,250 highly skilled consultants, part-time and on-call first responder staff across 59 countries. It’s reputation as an incident response specialist also meant it remained active internationally during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recent deployments have included an Air India Express accident in Kerala, India; Covid-19 related services for local authorities in the West Midlands and Essex, an evacuation reception centre for an oil & gas company following a Covid-19 outbreak in Algeria; and the completion of a three year deployment recovering personal effects from Grenfell Tower, London, the site of a tower block fire.
Robert A. Jensen, Chairman of Kenyon International Emergency Services, commented,“Kenyon was the world’s first emergency response provider and now, with experience built up over 115 years, it is a leader in its field, with best practice developed through multiple major deployments. Kenyon regards the sharing of knowledge as a priority and much of what is regarded as best practice in industry and government has arisen from this.”
By joining with the Air Partner Group, Kenyon hopes to expanding its emergency planning and incident response offering to meet the evolving needs of business and governments in a fast-changing global environment. The combined group will allow customers to further consolidate their incident planning, training and response operations into a more integrated system, and according to Jensen, will ultimately benefit those who we have always seen as the ultimate customer – “the companies, survivors, and families involved in these emergencies.”
