Chapman Freeborn has increased its stake in Magma Aviation to a majority shareholding of 75 per cent to support the company’s long-term growth plans.
The charter company has held a minority share in Magma since its launch in 2010 to commercially and operationally manage dedicated wide-body aircraft, contracted on an exclusive basis for airline partners.
Magma will continue to operate as a stand-alone business, with the two founding shareholders, Ross Wilson and Tom Wrigley, retaining the remaining capital share and running the company as joint managing directors.
Chapman Freeborn chief executive officer, Russi Batliwala says: “We’re delighted to be increasing our stake in Magma – one of the cargo industry’s recent success stories.”
“Over the past seven years Magma has proved itself to be a highly-respected and dynamic supplier of all cargo capacity to niche destinations. We look forward to seeing its ongoing development as an independent company under the new structure.”
Wrigley adds: “We’re confident this new ownership structure will provide strong support for our future growth plans. We continue to be committed to providing flexible, cost-effective solutions to our customers and with their support we look forward to further expanding our route network and charter capabilities on a global basis.”
Magma operates a fleet of two Boeing 747-400Fs, operating regular flights to and from key African countries including Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Kenya and Togo with onward air and road connections across sub-Saharan Africa.
Its cargo operations centre is at Brussels Airport and Magma took delivery of its second 747-400F on 1 May from Air Atlanta Icelandic.
