BALDWIN CITY, KS – June 21, 2022 — McFarlane Aviation (“McFarlane”), a leading designer and manufacturer of aftermarket PMA parts for the general aviation industry announced the acquisition of Airforms, Inc (“Airforms”) today. This transaction is the first strategic add-on acquisition for McFarlane since acquired by Vance Street Capital III L.P. in October 2021.
Based in Wasilla, AK, Airforms has been designing, engineering, and manufacturing proprietary aftermarket PMA parts and components for the general aviation sector for nearly 25 years. “McFarlane has been an integral distribution partner for Airforms,” said Lee Budde, founder of Airforms. “They understand and know our products and our people, and it was important to me to find a partner who would help us grow while preserving the legacy of our business.”
McFarlane has been a long-standing distributor for Airforms, which is well-known for their engine baffle and Cessna Caravan product lines. “This acquisition is a natural extension for the McFarlane product line and our relationship with the Airforms team,” said Scott Still, CEO of McFarlane. “This will also allow us to further expand our engineering teams to develop new and exciting products for our customer base. We want to keep our customers flying.”
McFarlane designs, manufactures, and distributes more than 30,000 replacement parts and consumables for the general aviation market, specifically light single engine and turboprop aircraft. McFarlane’s proprietary portfolio of PMA parts consists of approximately 3,000 parts used across Cessna, Piper, Grumman, Beechcraft, Ag-Cat airplanes, and more. With over 50 years of experience, McFarlane reaches over 40,000 unique customers in the United States and internationally through their website and widely distributed catalog.
“We’re very excited to add Airforms to the McFarlane family; it provides a large number of new parts to our proprietary PMA catalog,” added Nicholas Janneck, Partner at Vance Street. “We will continue to grow McFarlane through organic initiatives and M&A in a highly fragmented market.”
Paul Hastings LLP acted as legal advisor to Vance Street.