A Cheshire Oaks firm in the aviation business has had an up, up and away year.

Flight consolidator Aviate in World House on the Cheshire Oaks Business Park, established in 2009, has rung in the new year with ‘strong’ growth figures for 2017 forecasting revenue will increase by 55%.

The company attributes its success to a number of new innovations launched during the last 12 months including an exclusive rewards offering for tour operators.

Aviate also added 26 new airlines to its portfolio contributing to further growth.

To support its expansion, it has been on a recruitment drive increasing head count from 138 to 209. This saw the introduction of a new lead generation team in August bringing in 69 new clients in September and a further 78 in October.

The company is also supporting future talent in the industry with the introduction of an apprenticeship scheme.

It has taken on seven apprentices who have joined a number of departments including finance, IT, HR and customer services while working towards apprenticeship qualifications up to degree level.

This sees them combining on-the-job training to offer the new starters an alternative route into a career within the travel industry

Michael Edwards, managing director of Aviate, said: “2017 has been a great year for Aviate. We’ve had some really exciting developments, from a product and business perspective, which have enabled us to carve out a strong performance for the year.

“Our new products are starting to make an impact on the market and driving strong results for the business. October was our busiest month to date with 10,500 tickets issued versus 5,500 in October 2016.”

The 2017 success follows several years of increasing sales. In 2014 Aviate worked with 10 airlines generating £21.2m revenue.

In 2015/16 and 2016/17 revenue was at £38.7m and £60.7m respectively with the company now working with 50 main airlines and on schedule to generate £94m revenue in 2017/18. It says it continues to innovate and has a number of exciting product launches planned for 2018.

Sister company Calrom, an award winning technology provider, also had a successful year.