International airfreight generals sales agency group ECS has acquired one of Ireland’s largest and oldest established agents, International Airline Marketing (IAM).
Founded in Dublin, in 1989, by Sean McCool, father of current managing director, Ian McCool, IAM has grown from initially representing Air Canada to serving over 15 carriers and accounting for over a quarter of Ireland’s annual air cargo exports.
With the acquisition, ECS Group will increase its own market share in Ireland to 30%.
It has a main office close to Dublin city centre, and the company also has senior sales representatives in Cork and Belfast.
It added a trucking division in the mid-1990s and expanded into handling support and air cargo dangerous training in the early 2000s.
Ian McCool said: “Our rapidly changing air-cargo industry landscape demands a solid global presence and innovative and flexible service solutions. In ECS Group, IAM sees a partner with an international reputation as a market leader, and one that recognizes the importance of growing its global business via a network of well-established local market representative offices.
“We are proud to become part of a group that is forward-looking, technologically advanced, and known to be a highly supportive business partner that is committed to promoting sustainability in the industry.”
ECS Group executive chairman, Adrien Thominet, added: “IAM is the absolute leader in the Irish market, with more than 30 years of experience and an outstanding reputation. It is the perfect example of a family business that has remained true to its founding credo of service excellence and continuous improvement – one that very much aligns with our ECS Group philosophy. We share commercial synergies too, in the companies represented across our network, and similar business acumen. When two winners join forces, everyone wins – in this case, our joint customers.”
IAM will gain access to ECS Group’s in-house digital tools and revenue management solutions.