The Flightcase Warehouse began 34 years ago when Steve Austin, the Director and founder of the company, was selling telecoms systems — a role he freely admits “he was really rubbish at.”
Travelling around with phones packed in cardboard boxes, Steve quickly realised there had to be a better solution. He designed a bespoke bag to safely carry the equipment, and it proved so successful that he resigned from telecoms altogether. That first bag soon evolved into the company’s very first flight case, designed specifically for the telecoms industry.
View our productsDue to the growing interest in the telecoms display case, Steve went on to build the first order of 30 entirely by hand. It’s now something of a running joke within the company just how bad those first cases were — but everyone has to start somewhere.
The real turning point came in the early 1990s, when Steve received a call from a member of UB40’s touring crew requesting custom touring cases. Around the same time, Flightcase Warehouse became the first company ever to build a monitor wall cinema flight case for Formula 1, working with the Williams team during the 1991–1992 seasons.
From there, the business grew from strength to strength. What started in a 250 sq ft rented, shared factory space in Birmingham has since expanded into a purpose-built 60,000 sq ft office, workshop, and warehouse facility in Tamworth.
With each move came more room to grow — and growth never meant losing sight of what mattered most. The family values that were present at the very beginning remain deeply rooted in the company today, running through every level of the business, from the directors and office staff to design, assembly, warehouse, and despatch teams.
