Montgomery expands into aviation & safety training sector

U.K., 21st January: Montgomery Group will invest in Halldale Group, a leading global media and events business serving the aviation training, simulation and safety community. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Established by CEO Andy Smith 30 years ago, Halldale Group’s flagship events include World Aviation Training Summit (WATS) in Orlando, Florida; European Aviation Training Summit (EATS) in Cascais Portugal, and Asia Pacific Aviation Training Summit (APATS) in Bangkok, Thailand in 2026. Halldale also manages business publications of Civil Aviation Training (CAT) and Military Simulation & Training (MS&T) Magazines, and also online communities.

Under the acquisition, Halldale will complement Montgomery’s existing global events and media businesses and facilitates its plan to develop new event formats with alternative revenue streams. It will also bring new sector expertise and further strengthens its presence in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Halldale will continue to operate under its existing brand, with its senior leadership team remaining in place.

Andy Smith, Founder and CEO of Halldale Group, said, “Halldale has always been built around serving a highly specialist global community and promoting best practices in training, creating meaningful connections across safety critical enterprises. Joining Montgomery Group gives our business the scale, expertise and long-term backing to accelerate its growth, invest further in its events and media brands, and continue delivering value to aviation, military and safety critical training operations worldwide.”