Investor 777 Buys AeroCRS to Build Tech Stack for Smaller Airlines
Photo Caption: One of the Boeing Max aircraft in the livery of the Australian budget carrier Bonza, flying over Bonny Hills, with Grants beach below, and Middle Brother mountain in the distance near Port Macquarie. Source: Flair.
Skift Take
Investment firm 777 Partners hasn't only bought 68 Boeing 737 Max jets for its budget airlines. It has also been rolling up software vendors, competing with other airline tech providers.
777 Partners, an investment firm with $6 billion in assets, has been quietly buying airline software businesses that serve smaller airlines. The Miami firm has just acquired AeroCRS, a central reservation system used by about 90 passenger service and charter airlines, Skift has learned.
The companies didn't disclose the deal terms. Tel Aviv-based AeroCRS had raised about $400,000 in a seed round of venture funding. Kiwi.com had taken a minority stake in 2018 worth approximately $7 million (reported by HN, or Hospodářské noviny), which is now sold.
777's pilot customers for its software acquisitions include the upstart airlines it has significant stakes in. These include Australia’s newest budget airline Bonza, which unveiled its first routes in February; Canada's low-cost Flair; and planned low-cost carriers in Asia. The firm has ordered 68 Boeing 737 Max jets, with eight delivered.
777 has bought Air Black Box, which offers virtual interlining an
