The Digitization Trap

Per Marthinsson stood on stage at CJI London and said something about charter that applies to every aviation business: when the right data flows across a platform, data becomes intelligent.

Part 135 operators, consulting firms, MROs - some sell for 2-3x EBITDA. Others get 5-6x+. The difference isn't service quality or client relationships. It's whether they built a platform or just kept good records.

Walk into any successful aviation business. Ask to see their operational intelligence.

Perfect records. Maintenance logs organized by tail number. Crew files by rating and currency. Customer projects sorted by year and aircraft type. Twenty years of operations documented with military precision.

Then ask a cross-sectional question.

"Show me every turbine hot section inspection you've done in 36 months, sorted by operator type and aircraft age, filtered for unexpected findings."

Watch them calculate. Three days? A week?

Marthinsson runs Avinode Group's revenue operations. He watches charter brokers compete daily. The smart ones stopped treating technology as a filing cabinet years ago. They built platforms that turn accumulated experience into predictive intelligence.

Aviation businesses captured the same data. Most just organized it better.

Boeing spent $175 million on ForeFlight. They didn't buy an app displaying weather and airport diagrams. They bought the platform capturing flight planning decisions from hundreds of thousands of pilots - the raw material for decision intelligence.

Aviation businesses that structured their knowledge this way don't look like operators anymore. They look like intelligence platforms that happen to run aircraft.

The ones treating operations as case files are competing on expertise. Their competitors compete on algorithmic advantage.

Aviation services M&A is bifurcating. Strategic buyers pay 5-7x EBITDA for businesses with platform characteristics: standardized data capture, queryable knowledge bases, systematic operational intelligence that transfers. Financial buyers offer 2.5-3.5x for businesses with strong relationships but undifferentiated service delivery.

Jetcraft completed 148 aircraft transactions last year using AI most clients never see. Their approach: AI runs in the background while humans manage relationships. Augmented decision-making creating competitive separation.

Aviation businesses worth premium multiples aren't automating people. They're building infrastructure that makes people more valuable.

Rolls-Royce evolved engine health monitoring from five parameters to 10,000. Not incremental improvement - a fundamental shift in what "monitoring" means. The competitive advantage isn't better engineers reading gauges. It's infrastructure turning continuous data streams into predictive intelligence.

Aviation operations face the same evolution. Businesses competing on expertise are playing yesterday's game. Businesses building intelligence platforms are creating tomorrow's defensible position.

Platform infrastructure takes 3-5 years to build properly. Knowledge capture systems, standardized methodologies, queryable databases - none of that happens in a succession sprint.

The operators who started this transformation five years ago are hitting acquisition markets now. They're establishing valuation benchmarks that make traditional businesses look systematically underpriced.

Succession windows close. When your competitive advantage is operator expertise and the market pays premiums for platform infrastructure, your multiple decays faster than your revenue grows.

Bombardier's George Tsopeis described real-time data sharing evolution at CJI: initially celebrated, now standard operating procedure every Tuesday. Today's competitive advantage becomes tomorrow's table stakes.

Your current intelligence infrastructure has a shelf life. The question isn't whether to build a platform. It's whether you have runway before your succession window closes.

You're running an aviation business and planning succession in 2-5 years. Strategic choice disguised as an operational decision.

Option one: Invest 3-5 years building platform infrastructure that might increase your valuation by 2-3x EBITDA multiple.

Risk: You're 58 and the build takes longer than your timeline.

Option two: Position for acquisition now while buyers still value operational expertise, accepting current multiples.

Risk: You're leaving $3-8M on the table by selling pre-platform.

Option three: Partner with a buyer who brings platform infrastructure to your operational expertise.

Risk: You're selling control to gain capability you might have built yourself.

Most operators frame this as build versus sell.

Different question: What does your business actually own that transfers value?

"Our people's expertise and customer relationships" - you're selling operator hours at scale. A 2.5-3.5x EBITDA business in current markets.

"Systematic intelligence infrastructure our people use to deliver superior outcomes" - you're selling a platform. A 5-7x EBITDA business.

"We're not sure" - you're probably in the first category.

The businesses that built platforms didn't do it for succession. They did it because platform infrastructure makes operations more effective.

Better service delivery. Faster customer onboarding. Reduced key person risk. Higher margins.

The succession premium was a byproduct.

Sophisticated buyers recognize this. They pay for infrastructure already proving value in current operations.

Business intelligence in operator heads and email archives? You're competing against businesses where intelligence lives in queryable systems.

Buyers see that difference immediately.

The valuation gap is measurable in current market comps.

I'm looking at aviation businesses through a platform lens because strategic buyers pay for it.

Over 35 years across commercial and military aviation operations plus management consulting to a variety of industries gives me operational credibility. The analysis driving my acquisition strategy comes from watching how platform infrastructure creates defensible value in service businesses.

ETL Advisory isn't buying operator expertise. We're identifying businesses that built intelligence infrastructure without realizing they built something worth acquiring.

Quick test: Can you answer complex cross-operational questions in minutes instead of days?

The market's already decided what platforms are worth versus what expertise is worth.

The multiple gap tells you everything.

Built platform infrastructure without realizing it? Reply directly.

-Travis

Travis Wright leads ETL Advisory, working with aviation and aerospace owners on exit strategies and acquisitions. After analyzing hundreds of transactions, one pattern is clear: The owners who win are the ones who face reality before reality faces them. Reach out at [email protected] to discuss your situation—especially if you're convinced your business isn't for sale.

DISCLAIMER: This newsletter provides general information and commentary on aviation M&A trends based on publicly available sources. It is not intended as financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. ETL Advisory makes no warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of information presented. Readers should consult their own professional advisors before making business decisions. © 2026 ETL Advisory. All rights reserved.