Behind Airbus and Dassault, there are two other major aircraft manufacturers in France: ATR and above all Daher which, this year, is celebrating its 160th anniversary at the Paris Air Show. But long before becoming an aircraft manufacturer, the company established itself in the sector through logistics.
Originally a company specializing in logistics
Founded in 1863 in Marseilles by Alphonse Barban, it initially devoted itself to maritime transport and the trading of foundry products. In 1898, it was taken over by Paul Daher, a young associate of Alphonse Barban, who transformed it into a family group now owned by the third generation. During the interwar period, Daher became the specialist in exceptional shipping – locomotives, wagons and carriages – to all the oceans of the globe. Its capacities then diversified during the major works of the postwar boom period, in particular for the development of nuclear power, then when the commercial aeronautics sector took off internationally with the creation of Airbus (it still ensures the delivery of aircraft sections under construction near Toulouse).
The 2000s correspond to a new change of size. In 1999, Daher bought the Lhotellier Montrichard group (aeronautical logistics) and above all, ten years later, took over the Company for the construction of tourist and business aircraft in Tarbes (Socata), which finally enabled it to become, not only a leading aircraft manufacturer, but also historical: the ancestor of the Socata is none other than Morane-Saulnier, a great name in French aviation since his aircraft first helped Roland Garros to cross the Mediterranean ( 1913), before equipping the Air Force during the two world wars. Always innovative, Morane-Saulnier also developed the very first business jet in 1954 (the MS.760 “Paris”). Then, in the 1970s, it specialized in piston passenger planes before joining forces with Mooney in the United States (in 1990), to launch the TBM, a turboprop business jet whose success has not been denied. “The latest version, the TBM 960, is an aircraft that has now found its market with strong demand”, assures Didier Kayat, the current CEO of Daher.
A policy of diversification and international orientation
Logistics, equipment, aircraft construction, subcontracting (on ranges Falcon of Dassault and on the models of Airbus) … With such a range of activities, the Daher group imposes itself today as a key player in the French aeronautical landscape but which has also been able to open up to the international market. On the eve of the Covid-19 crisis, it bought the American aircraft manufacturer Quest, producer of the Kodiak, a robust and all-terrain device. Better than many others, he got through the pandemic in survival mode and as soon as the signs of recovery arrived, he allowed himself the luxury of repaying his state-guaranteed loan in advance in order to continue his acquisition policy. “By investing as quickly as possible, we took advantage of the market’s recovery,” explains Didier Kayat. Daher has thus acquired a factory specializing in the assembly of large complex aerostructures, in Florida, which supplies Boeing and Gulfstream. In the process, he also joined a specialist in thermoplastics in the Netherlands, another in the transport of satellites in Toulouse. Finally, with the Ecopulse demonstrator, the aircraft manufacturer is working on decarbonization. “We are learning a lot about this program”, assures Didier Kayat. This aircraft, equipped with six electric motors in the wing, parked on the tarmac during Le Bourget. Like the latest symbol of a diversification carried out at a brisk pace, the true keystone of Daher’s longevity.