Take a look inside the tremendous year-on-year growth of Aerotron’s composites division
Aerotron is a leading provider of aircraft maintenance, repair and services for civil and military aircraft. Mark Westley, Group Managing Director, discusses the group’s capabilities and evolution.
“Since its establishment in 1973, Aerotron has developed into a global group of companies specializing in aircraft and engine leasing, manufacture, and parts repair and distribution across both the civil and military aerospace markets,” he opens.
Over the years, that broad capability has been strengthened through investment in complementary businesses. In 2019, the group’s composites division, Aerotron Composites Ltd (ACL), was formed to reinforce Aerotron’s supply chain solidification strategy. “A previous incarnation of ACL already had strong links with Aerotron’s customer base, meaning it could immediately support and build on an already substantial industry presence,” adds Andrew Leslie, Managing Director of ACL. “Since that initial investment and group consolidation, ACL has become a leading UK aerospace and defense composites manufacture and repair specialist, as well as an AS9100 and NADCAP certified partner to major OEMs and SMEs.”
At ACL, advanced design meets scalable production. Combining decades of engineering expertise with a sharp focus on design-for-manufacture, the company delivers lightweight, high-performance composite structures built for both maximum capability and efficient, repeatable production at scale. While ACL supplies a number of key areas, its primary focus is providing highly complex parts to the aerospace and defense industries, with a particular concentration on rotorcraft. Additionally, it supplies the specialized tooling that customers use to manufacture their own parts. Product development is another specialism of the ACL team. Given its manufacturing background, the team always designs with robust, reliable production methods in mind. Its latest development program is set to be announced shortly, and promises to showcase what large-scale composite manufacturing can truly achieve.
With significant growth predicted across the aerospace and defense sectors, ACL is actively preparing to meet increased demand through infrastructure investment, supply chain development and the addition of new capabilities. “We have been on a steep trajectory since we started in 2019. Maintaining a year-on-year average growth rate of almost 40 percent can be a lot to keep up with at times, but we have to remind ourselves that it is a good problem to have. We have managed it by investing heavily in both our infrastructure and our people. That strategy is accelerating right now, as we have just purchased new composite presses, are expanding to include MRO and fabrication capability and are increasing CNC capacity throughout 2026. At this point, the question is not where the next customer is coming from, but whose work gets into our facility first,” Andrew reflects.
Georgia campus
To support ACL and the wider group’s growth, Aerotron is currently developing a multi-phase aviation campus in Georgia. Mark explains what this will mean for the business. “Due to begin operations in the final quarter of 2026 are two new 70,000-square-foot facilities just outside Atlanta, designed to create an aviation hub serving both North and South America. One building will function as a storage and logistics hub, and the other as a state-of-the-art repair and overhaul facility for civil and military aircraft components. A further phase of construction is envisaged for 2028, comprising a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing complex specializing in composites and fabrication. This plant will be dedicated to replicating and complementing ACL’s UK capabilities, but designed specifically for the US market,” he enlightens.
Underpinning that growth is a non-negotiable commitment to quality and compliance. With strict industry standards and increasing regulatory pressures, maintaining the highest levels of quality assurance across the supply chain is not optional. ACL has undergone a complete transformation of its company culture to reflect that reality. “It is a continuous journey, and we strive to be a little better every single day. That is why we are incredibly proud that, as a direct result of all this hard work, we added the prestigious NADCAP accreditation to our existing AS9100 and AS9110 approvals. It proves that our team can compete at the absolute highest level,” Andrew emphasizes.
As we enter the second half of 2026, Aerotron’s momentum shows no sign of slowing. “We are continuing to invest heavily in our people, processes, systems and equipment to sustain our rapid growth,” says Andrew. “Our new composite presses have just arrived and the fit-out of our second building is moving at pace as our MRO, fabrication and CNC capabilities come online. On top of expanding infrastructure, we still have an almost completely full order book to deliver.”
Further down the line, Andrew envisions Aerotron taking on challenge after challenge from customers and partners alike, especially as it becomes increasingly well known within the industry. The group has a substantial growth plan it is fully on track to deliver. Having taken on what some in the sector perceive as a problematic composite supply chain, the goal is to remain the partner of choice for best-in-class composite development, manufacturing and repair. “In five years’ time, I believe we will have all of our new capabilities fully embedded and a team approaching 300 people,” he ends.
