FAA-Approved MRO Aviation Shop, 30-Year Miami Operation

$12.4M

Revenue

$2.0M

SDE

6.0x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is an established FAA-approved Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) aviation business operating out of Miami since 1993. Over more than three decades, it has built the regulatory approvals, certifications, and trained workforce required to service aircraft and components, a credentialed moat that competitors cannot replicate overnight. The business runs from a 40,000 square foot FAA-licensed facility on 2.5 acres, with a lean team of 10 employees, all trained and FAA approved.

MRO work sits at the essential-maintenance end of aviation. Aircraft must be inspected, repaired, and overhauled on regulatory schedules regardless of the economic cycle, which gives this business a demand profile closer to a maintenance obligation than a discretionary purchase. The company generates roughly $12.45 million in annual revenue with $1,957,200 in seller's discretionary cash flow and $1.24 million in EBITDA, a healthy margin profile for a specialized regulated service shop.

The asking price of $11,750,000 represents about 6x cash flow. Notably, it excludes both $4.7 million in inventory and $7.5 million in owned real estate, meaning a buyer should model the true all-in capital requirement well above the headline number if they intend to secure the facility and working parts stock. The seller is retiring and will stay on as needed to transfer the FAA relationships, certifications, and operational know-how that make this business run.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is genuinely strong for a specialized shop: $1.96M in cash flow on $12.45M revenue with $1.24M of EBITDA signals a business that converts work into cash at a healthy clip. The gap between SDE and EBITDA suggests meaningful owner compensation and add-backs to scrutinize, but the underlying margin on regulated technical work is attractive.
The moat is regulatory and real. FAA MRO approvals, certifications, and a fully FAA-trained 10-person team take years to build and cannot be reproduced by a well-funded new entrant quickly. That certification barrier is exactly the kind of boring, hard-to-replicate advantage that protects pricing and keeps customers sticky.
Aviation maintenance is demand-durable. Aircraft and components must be inspected and overhauled on FAA-mandated schedules in good times and bad, so revenue is driven by compliance requirements rather than discretionary spending. That makes this far more recession-resistant than most comparably priced SMBs.
The 30-plus year operating history since 1993 and the Miami location matter. Miami is a major hub for aviation, Latin American fleets, and cargo traffic, giving a credentialed local MRO a durable catchment of repeat and referral work that a new buyer inherits on day one.

How to improve it

Convert transactional repair work into contracted maintenance programs. Offer fleet operators and charter companies scheduled maintenance agreements with monthly or per-cycle billing to build a recurring revenue base rather than re-winning each job, which also smooths cash flow and raises the exit multiple.
Audit and re-price the shop labor rate and capability mix. With only 10 employees producing nearly $2M in cash flow, there may be room to add higher-margin component overhaul or specialized repair station authorizations that carry premium pricing over routine line maintenance.
Build a formal sales and business development function. The listing notes the business is fully owner-run with no mention of a dedicated sales team, so establishing outbound relationships with Miami-based carriers, cargo operators, and brokers could expand throughput against existing fixed facility capacity.
Optimize the $4.7M inventory position. That is a large parts and rotables stock sitting outside the asking price; implementing tighter inventory turns, consignment arrangements, or exchange programs could free working capital and reduce the all-in acquisition cost.
Reduce key-person and certification risk by cross-training and documenting. Secure and expand the FAA repair station certificate scope, formalize training pipelines, and document every regulatory procedure so the business does not depend on the retiring owner's individual relationships.
Pursue adjacent certifications and foreign approvals. Given worldwide competition and Miami's gateway role to Latin America, adding EASA or other national aviation authority approvals could open international fleets and expand the addressable customer base at relatively low incremental cost.
Negotiate the real estate separately but strategically. The owned 40,000 sq ft facility at $7.5M is excluded from the price; structure a long-term lease or sale-leaseback to control occupancy cost while deciding whether to tie up capital in the building.

Diligence notes

Scrutinize the SDE to EBITDA bridge. Cash flow is listed at $1.96M but EBITDA at $1.24M, a $717K gap that must be fully explained through owner salary, add-backs, and one-time items. Confirm which figure the 6x multiple is really being applied to and whether the add-backs are legitimate and transferable.
Verify the FAA repair station certificate scope, status, and transferability. The entire thesis rests on the certifications; confirm there are no outstanding FAA findings, airworthiness directives, enforcement actions, or lapses, and understand exactly how approvals convey in a change of ownership.
Analyze customer concentration and contract structure. With a single large fleet operator or cargo carrier potentially driving a big share of the $12.45M revenue, obtain a customer-level revenue breakdown and assess whether relationships are tied to the retiring owner personally.
Clarify the true all-in capital requirement. The $11.75M asking price excludes $4.7M of inventory and $7.5M of real estate, so model the real cost of a going-concern acquisition including working parts stock and either a facility purchase or lease, and stress test returns against the full outlay.
Assess workforce stability and labor supply. A 10-person, fully FAA-certified team is thin; confirm compensation, tenure, and retention risk, and understand how hard it is to recruit and certify replacement technicians in the Miami market if key staff depart with the owner.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →