A buyout earlier this year by senior company executives has triggered Swiss aircraft instrument maker Revue Thommen’s aggressive entry into the U.S. market, as the 152-year-old company seeks to lure buyers on the opposite side of the Atlantic with a mix of high-quality, low-cost avionics.   

“Eighty percent of the world market is in the U.S.,” said Rudolf Iten, Revue Thommen’s vice chairman and director of sales and marketing, in explaining the marketing shift. Before the buyout, the company’s shareholders and directors had preferred a more Eurocentric business model, according to Iten. Today, the company’s aerospace division employs 100 and has annual sales of $25 million, with about 22 percent of its revenue coming from the U.S. That figure is expected to increase as the company turns its attention to North America.

Revue Thommen manufactures a variety of electromechanical and electronic instruments, from altimeters and air-data computers to liquid-crystal flight displays. In the U.S., Thommen has found a market niche developing RVSM avionics in partnership with OEMs and modification centers for a variety of Learjets, Citations and turboprops.