AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2024 - 38

BRIEFING
INDUSTRY /
More parts, more locations
Aircraft Spruce & Specialty focusing on logistics
BY KOLLIN STAGNITO
AIRCRAFT SPRUCE & SPECIALTY CO.,
headquartered in Corona, California, and
known for selling a variety of parts and
pilot supplies for experimental and certified
aircraft since 1965, has quietly been
experiencing a growth spurt.
In November 2023, Aircraft Spruce
(an AOPA Strategic Partner) moved its
Wasilla, Alaska, operation to a new, larger
facility in Palmer, Alaska. This May, the
company acquired the parts distribution
operations of Lyons, Wisconsin-based
Wag-Aero. In July, Aircraft Spruce
opened a new branch in Melbourne,
Australia. And in October, the company
moved its Fort Worth operation to a new,
expanded facility in Roanoke, Texas, near
Alliance Airport (AFW).
Rob Irwin, Aircraft Spruce's vice
president of marketing, explained the
facility growth was necessary to keep
up with customer demand-which is
a positive indication of the health of
general aviation. Aircraft Spruce's rapid
expansion has focused on the customer
experience, with a goal of U.S. customers
being able to receive orders within two
days at the lowest possible shipping cost
using strategically placed distribution
facilities. " If we have a big battery, like
a Concorde RG380, which probably
weighs 75 to 100 pounds, the further you
ship that, it gets pretty costly for us. So,
the closer we can have that battery sitting
there, it ends up as an advantage that we
can serve the customer better, but we can
also have less cost to do so, " said Irwin.
Referring to their previous Texas
facility, Irwin said, " We'd been definitely
noticing that the [Aircraft Spruce order
and logistics] system wanted us to
place orders, and we just couldn't do it
because we just didn't have the physical
inventory space to put it anywhere. So,
expanding that facility will give us a lot
of opportunity to properly have the right
items in that market. "
38
AOPA PILOT / December 2024
In Alaska, Aircraft Spruce at first had
slow growth after acquiring a Wasillabased
business in 2019, but " it seemed
like once we were able to kind of let our
system work and ship orders fast and get
the products up there they needed, it took
off and, again, we ran out of space, " Irwin
said. " [Australia] is kind of a totally new
venture for us, " he said. " We've never
done anything this ambitious before. "
Aircraft Spruce has been shipping parts
to Australia for years, " but the business
that we're doing now is more of the odds
and ends that these folks can't get locally, "
he said. " So, it's not your core parts like we
sell here, it's specialty items. There's just
no local supplier for them, so they have
to order from here. And when they have
a box coming down, they might throw in a
few other things, because they're already
paying shipping. We've realized that we
have an existing customer base. "
Aircraft Spruce is focused on
expanding its offerings, as demonstrated
by the acquisition of the Wag-Aero parts
business. " Another larger strategy is line
acquisition, " said Irwin. " We feel that
our value add is one-stop shop. And the
way to really do that is to make sure that
we're offering as much as we can from
these major manufacturers and smaller
manufacturers to our customers. "
With all this growth, Aircraft Spruce
hasn't forgotten about the " specialty " in
its name and continues to work with
entrepreneurs who pitch niche parts
for Aircraft Spruce to sell. " We carry
some very specialized products and
[our customers] know that we're not
just a distributor of Champion, Tempest,
Goodyear, Michelin-the big boys-and
that's all, " said Irwin. " If you don't want
that, don't come to us. I feel like that's
been something that we've been trying
to continue to do, and year over year
we've made some good strides on that. "
kollin.stagnito@aopa.org
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2024
