Oakenhurst’s History
From the outset, Oakenhurst has demonstrated a track record in superior quality and service. To find out more please read on…
The company was founded in Crawley by Peter Caudell and Paul Trice who saw an opportunity in the aircraft industry for the sale, lease and exchange of aircraft spares and equipment. The company was born under the name – Oakenhurst Aircraft Trading.
The company opened an in-house repair management department to satisfy customer pressure for Oakenhurst to control the overhaul and repair of components, driving up quality and driving down costs. This was a direct response to the needs of their clients and enabled the company to continue their upward growth.
This year saw a major milestone in the Oakenhurst story. Peter Caudell getting more and more frustrated with the poor quality of service he was receiving from some MRO’s, decide to open the first Part 145 approved workshop, a Class 7 Cleanroom specialising in Gyro and Instrumentation components.
The new 145 approved workshop was proving a great success with customers and the natural progression was to open additional shops. The company moved to its current location in Rayleigh, Essex and added both Radio/Radar and Electrical workshops.
Charlie Parker, our current Managing Director joins the business as Electrical Workshop Manager. Dave Lund also comes on board as the Radio & Navigation Workshop Manager.
Oakenhurst also gained ISO approval this year.
Increasing demand from our customers to supply FAA release certificates finally became a reality as we were audited by the FAA and granted our FAA approval in November 1999.
During this period Oakenhurst continues to grow using our own internal Research and Development department to expand capability at an impressive rate. This leads to new workshops being opened, IFE and galley shops being completed and productive during this period.
In 2004 a further development to our impressive list of approvals saw Oakenhurst gain EASA part21G manufacturing approval, and with this we started to produce the Skycam cockpit surveillance system.
Spotting an opening in the marketplace the company opens a satellite station in the Ukraine; this site is covered by the Oakenhurst EASA 145 approval.
Oakenhurst are now recognised as the leading service and repair facility in the Ukraine for oxygen, emergency slides, galley equipment, avionics and electrical generation.
Charlie Parker was asked by Peter Caudell, the founder, to assume the role of MD.
During this period Oakenhurst were recognised by their customers and nominated for the prestigious award of Best Component MRO, received at the ATEM ceremony. This impressive feat was repeated on three further occasions 2009, 2010 and 2011.
In 2011 to meet the needs of our customers we were audited and awarded approval by the Canadian CAA – our TCCA certificate.
Oakenhurst became the European agent for Spokane Industries selling defueling rigs to airlines and aircraft MRO companies, this is a fantastic piece of equipment that reduces the time for aircraft fuel tank drain significantly, have a look here
This year saw another addition to our growing facility when we opened the Battery Division. Here we invested in four intelligent charging test units with crown attachments and inbuilt printers. This division is constantly busy with new part numbers being added to the capability.
Having run the company with our own software since 1997, the workload and quantity of repairs received put us under great pressure to improve our system. After looking at several options we chose the one most suited our business model – Tracware. Now a year and a half on we are very pleased with the improvements it has made to our business.
Oakenhurst continues to invest and advance, driven by customer demand and the search for new niche markets in a challenging and forever changing industry.