Horsham-based aviation business AJW is celebrating its 90th year and is recruiting staff now

Not many of us will give a moment’s thought to that as we are welcomed on board by the cabin crew at the start or end of our trip, but passenger safety depends on aircraft maintenance as well as the pilots and groundcrew.

Nestled in the West Sussex countryside is AJW, a privately owned, independent company with a 175,000 sq. ft. warehouse, campus-style office space and an aircraft battery repair shop. While there’s a high possibility that you haven’t heard of them, you are likely to have been in close proximity to a part that they have handled – a plane with AJW parts takes off somewhere in the world every 45 seconds.

The parts can be anything from the lightbulbs that you read by, to the cabin coffee makers, through to larger items like Captain’s chairs, aircraft wheels or inlet cowls (the rim around the fan blades). Aviation generally trades in Dollars and the parts range from the price of a coffee to the price of a three-bedroomed house.

Thousands of deliveries come and go each week from the Slinfold warehouse, to nearby Gatwick and beyond. The global operation is 24/7/365 and the most urgent of services, AOG (aircraft on ground) has a challenging 15 minutes turnaround time for the operatives. The parts that AJW supplies enables that grounded plane to get moving again, rather than sitting on the tarmac full of passengers anxious to be on their way.

As well as the provision of parts, AJW also has a maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Montreal, Canada where parts are fixed and tested. Unsurprisingly, there are very strict controls on aviation parts and the aircraft themselves. The certification on a part not only tracks every touchpoint on its journey through its useful life, but also goes right down to the location and date the metal was mined. It takes know how and experience to meet those Quality requirements and the West Sussex company turns 90 this year.

A brief history

Becky Newell from AJW said: " Anthony James Walter set off from Sussex to compete in a yacht race between California and Hawaii. He travelled by ship to New York and crossed the breadth of the United States by road, only to discover that the yacht race had been cancelled due to bad weather. His journey had taken 6 weeks in total.

"He was staying near Van Nuys airport, and as he watched the aircraft taking off and landing throughout the day, he decided that if he couldn't race, he would learn to fly. He took to the skies in a Piper Cub and, once qualified, decided to travel to the Piper HQ in Pennsylvania. He was granted an audience at the very top and asked if they would allow him to sell their 'planes back in England. He was rewarded for this personal touch as Piper not only granted him the distribution rights he requested, but for the whole of Europe.

"Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, A J Walter's airfield and business was taken over by the War Office and was an important part of the war effort for the duration. In early 1950s his property was returned and A J Walter was based at Gatwick Airport – back then nothing but a grass strip without a paved surface in sight.

"Shortly after, the current owner Christopher Whiteside's, grandfather, Douglas Goldstein, bought out the shares of A J Walter and the business came into the ownership of the Whiteside family."

AJW today

The pandemic affected most sectors to some extent, and aviation was hit especially hard by global travel restrictions and various lockdowns. AJW used the time to grow the digital offer and keep the partnerships going with the major airlines they serve as well as the small start ups with one or two planes.

Now is a time of growth and expansion and the company celebrated the return of its office staff to site on a hybrid basis to join the warehouse and logistics colleagues who worked there throughout the pandemic.

With the nearest town of Billingshurst a few miles away, the company has opted for a campus set up with a restaurant, gym, pool and ping pong tables, video gaming and post-work barbecues all on site. They are looking for local people to join their teams in the warehouse and support functions such as Technology and Procurement. See the website ajw-group.com for latest vacancies for you or somebody you know who might want to launch a global career in aviation from the West Sussex countryside.

Did you know?

- That the black box is actually orange? The bright colour makes it easier to find in the highly unlikely event of it being required. They are also known as Flight Recorders and are typically specified to withstand an impact of 3400 g and temperatures of over 1,000 °C (1,830 °F).

- That the PSI (pounds per square inch) of an aircraft tyre is around 6 times that of the average car tyre. The typical airliner tyre can handle a 38-ton load. It can meet the ground 500 times before needing a re-tread, a refresh it can take on seven times in its life.

- That there is an engine to start the engine! An APU, or auxiliary power unit, runs the electrical systems of the aircraft. The Boeing 727 in 1963 was the first jetliner to feature a gas turbine APU, allowing it to operate at smaller airports, independent from ground facilities. The APU can be identified on many modern airliners by an exhaust pipe at the aircraft's tail.

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