Justin Hemmes in talks to take over troubled Sydney Seaplanes
MULTI-MILLIONAIRE playboy Justin Hemmes, who has built a sprawling empire out of designer pub transformations, is in talks to swoop on the troubled joy flight company Sydney Seaplanes less than a year after the tragic crash that killed six people.
NSW
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JUSTIN Hemmes is circling a business makeover of a different kind.
The multi-millionaire playboy, who has built a sprawling empire out of designer pub transformations, is in talks to swoop on the troubled joy flight company Sydney Seaplanes less than a year after the tragic crash that killed six people.
Mr Hemmes, who owns an aircraft permanently berthed at the company’s Rose Bay headquarters, is understood to be in preliminary discussions with the company’s managing director Aaron Shaw about taking over the business. The company has suffered financially since the New Year’s Eve crash last year.
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Five British tourists and Sydney Seaplanes pilot Gareth Morgan were killed when a de Havilland DHC-2 float plane plummeted into the Hawkesbury River at Jerusalem Bay on December 31.
The full findings of an investigation into the crash are expected to be released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) in early 2019.
Mr Hemmes confirmed he has a longstanding association with Mr Shaw and uses the Rose Bay base on regular flights to both his Newport Arms Hotel in Newport, which also has several seaplane berths, and his estate at Glasshouse Rocks on the NSW South Coast.
“I have put the feelers out and I have been dealing with Aaron for a couple of years now,” Mr Hemmes said. “We use their facility for promoting the berths we have at Newport so we have an interest in the business in that sense, but at this stage it’s just very general chats with nothing too specific being discussed.”
Sydney Seaplanes was once reportedly valued at around $8 million. But it has suffered a significant drop in turnover since the tragedy, which killed retired British millionaire businessman Richard Cousins, 58, his two sons Edward, 23, and William, 25, his 48-year-old fiancee Emma Bowden and her 11-year-old daughter Heather Bowden-Page.
Mr Shaw, who started the scenic joy-flight business in 2007, confirmed he has been in “talks” with Mr Hemmes but a formal offer is yet to be made.
“Like any small business owner if you got the right offer then you would obviously seriously consider taking it,” he said. “I know Justin very well. He flies his plane from our base regularly. But as far as selling to him, no we’re not there yet.”
Mr Shaw said he, along with his entire staff, continued to be affected by the crash which he believes will be attributed to “pilot incapacitation” when the ATSB releases its findings.
Pilot incapacitation can be caused by insufficient oxygen, smoke or fumes, gastrointestinal problems, sleep or a bird strike.
“We’re hopeful that once the report comes out that (business) will return to a healthier level, but obviously it was a terrible tragedy and something that we think about every single day,” Mr Shaw said.