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Former Olympians Lisa Curry-Kenny and Grant Kenny have taken a major plunge into the WA aviation market with the acquisition of Kununurra-based tourism and charter provider Slingair Heliwork.
Curry-Kenny Aviation Group has bought Slingair Heliwork’s 40-strong fleet of helicopters and fixed wing spread across the Kimberley for an undisclosed sum.
The Sunshine Coast-based Mr Kenny and Ms Curry-Kenny have built a similar sized fleet of aircraft on the eastern seaboard providing tourism and aviation training services.
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Slingair Heliwork owner and founder Kerry Slingsby, a veteran of Kimberley aviation, said his 24-year-old group had reached a point where it needed to expand to take advantage of opportunities in the booming region for tourism and charter operations.
Mr Slingsby, 60, said he and his wife Pat faced the choice of trying to take the company through the next phase of growth or allowing someone else to do the job.
He was excited by what the Queensland-based group would bring to Slingair Heliwork.
The Slingair Heliwork group operates under the Slingair name for fixed-wing aircraft and under the Heliwork WA brand for helicopters. It has an office in Derby and remote bases in the Bungle Bungle area and Mitchell Plateau. It employs about 85 people in peak season.
Mr Kenny could not be contacted yesterday, but said in a statement that Slingair Heliwork had earned a reputation for professional staff and firstrate aircraft.
“It is undoubtedly a valuable addition to the Curry-Kenny Aviation Group,” he said.
Since being the faces of ironman events and swimming respectively two decades ago, Mr Kenny and Ms Curry-Kenny have built an aviation, tourism and property development empire with a reported net value of about $30 million.
Ms Curry-Kenny is recovering from heart surgery in March in which she had a cardioverter-defibrillator implanted after suffering shortness of breath for a prolonged period.
Slingair Heliwork has won awards for its work in the WA tourism industry through its activities providing safaris and sight-seeing tours. It also provides remote charter services to the government and private sector.
Mr Slingsby, who would not discuss the figure paid by the Curry-Kenny group, said “we have done quite well out of it”.
He would be stepping aside from his role in the business, but may look at some other activity in the future. “It depends how long we can sit still for,” he said.
by NEALE PRIOR
SOURCE | TheWest.com.au
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