Kelsian celebrates first year anniversary of operations in the USA by signing a new contract with Louisiana State University

Friday 05 July 2024

Kelsian Group Limited, announces it has signed a new contract with Louisiana State University (LSU).

The agreement between Louisiana State University, and All Aboard America! Holdings, Inc. (AAAHI) will see AAAHI’s locally operated Hotard Coaches provide transportation to the famous LSU Tigers football team, along with LSUs other leading athletic teams – including, baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, golf and gymnastics.

This new contract comes on the first anniversary of Kelsian acquiring AAAHI, which is now one of the three largest motorcoach operators in the USA, operating over 1,100 vehicles.

Acquired in June 2023, AAAHI marked Kelsian’s first entry into the large and attractive USA market. AAAHI is an established, highly regarded, customer-centric operator, and through 6 integrated brands, it operates from 16 locations across multiple states in the south and south-west of the USA. It has a diverse and loyal blue-chip customer base of over 2,000 customers focused on corporate, Government, education, industrial, and tourism sectors.

Since the acquisition AAAHI has won, renewed or extended ten key contracts, including five of its ten largest contracts, and Kelsian and AAAHI have worked to seamlessly integrate the two businesses. This has included the strengthening of AAAHI’s already strong management team with the appointment of longstanding Kelsian executive Graeme Legh as CEO.

Under Graeme’s leadership demand for AAAHI’s tailored transportation services continues to grow with the fleet’s total travelled miles increasing 7.4% to 32 million miles during the 12 months.

AAAHI has also been recognised by Metro Magazine at the American Bus Association Marketplace in Nashville, TN as the Innovative Operator of the Year, for its investments in safety, technology and EV.

Commenting on the anniversary, AAAHI CEO Graeme Legh said:

“From the outset, AAAHI and Kelsian shared a strong cultural alignment which has allowed us to expand expertise to optimise performance across both businesses, drive growth, promote safety and deliver the highest levels of service.

“AAAHI represents a highly scalable platform in a fragmented market and provides Kelsian with solid base to pursue growth opportunities. The acquisition demonstrates Kelsian’s ability to identify and integrate significant growth opportunities in different geographies and end-markets.

“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone at AAAHI and Kelsian with the successful integration and I look forward to working with our team to deliver continued growth in the US.”