Tamarack Aerospace announces expansion into the U.K.

Tamarack Aerospace is hitting not one, but three milestones this year: logging 100 airplanes in its fleet, its 10-year anniversary, and significant growth — tripling its existing office space in Sandpoint and opening a third hanger, hiring more staff and opening a facility at London-Oxford Airport, United Kingdom.

“It’s really a great feeling to be adding to the team and seeing the business getting even more traction,” said Jacob Klinginsmith, president of Tamarack Aerospace. “We’re really pleased to make some progress even in a crazy year.”

These achievements are underscored by the company’s overcoming of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, following a technical problem with the ATLAS winglet forcing the planes to be grounded mid-last year. Fixing the problem quickly, Tamarack Aerospace continued to sell the winglets.

To compensate, the company offered a “supplemental clock” on part warranties, “as a confidence in our product,” and a gesture of thanks to customers “for sticking with us through that tough time.”

“Our customer base has been really supportive of Tamarack,” Klinginsmith said. “The performance speaks for itself, and our customers have really carried us forward, been advocates for us. It’s changed their life and they’re telling their friends about it.”

Early the following year, COVID-19 concerns escalated in Idaho, forcing some operations to change. Additionally, Tamarack Aerospace took on a Personal Protective Equipment partnership project with a local hospital.

Sales of the ATLAS winglet didn’t stop then, either. Further, the company offered free installation of the winglet part, a $42,000 value, Klinginsmith said, as an effort to “keep things moving.” The ATLAS winglet is designed to provide up to 33% fuel savings; a traditional winglet, Klinginsmith said, is at about 4% efficiency.

“When we face a challenge like a global pandemic, we need to be compassionate and watch what’s going on around,” said Klinginsmith. “But there’s always opportunities (to adapt), and that’s definitely our mindset. Sometimes that’s uncomfortable.”

New products, more growth are on the horizon

Klinginsmith is promising more growth in staffing, having hired four to the sales team and having available positions in engineering. And, though he can’t give details yet, Klinginmith is looking forward to new developments in research and development as well.

We can check back in a couple of months about that.

“One of the things we’re really focused on is offering a product that’s innovative and kind of outside the box; it’s really important we continue to offer better products, (and) sustainability elements,” Klinginsmith said. “It’s definitely in the front of our minds.”

With over 30 patents, Klinginsmith said, Tamarack Aerospace considers itself a tech company. The expansion in Sandpoint is to be able to do more R&D. The expansion in the United Kingdom is to expedite installation of the winglet, “which is very important for our customers.” The Tamarack European Installation Centre functions seven days a week to additionally reduce supply-chain lead times, as well as supplement sales and marketing efforts in the European region.

As the pandemic continues, Klinginsmith is seeing more private aviation happening.

“Rather than maybe buying larger aircraft, they’re considering upgrades like ours,” he said.

Pandemic challenges have slowed in the Sandpoint area, he added, and things are starting to open up. The U.K. area, however, is an “ever-changing situation,” having recently experienced a spike in COVID-19 cases, and has gone back to more stringent operation protocols.

“I really appreciate Idaho’s response, which is more regional,” Klinginsmith said.

“The other important piece is the team we have,” he added. “We take a lot of pride in the team we’ve assembled at Tamarack; that’s the core of our business and why we’ve been able to do so well. We’ve got a team that cares a lot about the product and our customers, and have pulled together to do some amazing things.”