FBOs around the world

Opening up Chattanooga to the aerospace industry, a new aircraft maintenance center at Lovell Field is expected to draw about 200 private aircraft the first year, officials said Monday. "I think the East Coast will be a natural driver" for business, said Bob Rasberry, chief executive for West Star Aviation, which plans to invest $22.5 million into the air maintenance, repair and overhaul facility for corporate jets. West Star is buying a 40,000-square-foot hangar at the airport to begin operations by year's end, starting with about 50 workers with plans for up to 225 employees by the end of 2020, he said.

Van Nuys Airport along with Signature Flight Support held an open house to celebrate the grand opening of the new 1,528 square-foot U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility. Since the opening of the facility back on May 21, 2015, more than 75 international flights have been successfully cleared, providing direct benefits for business travelers.

Todd Anderson, Senior Vice President Real Estate & Development, today announced that the company has launched a series of upgrades at their Long Island MacArthur Airport complex where the Fixed Based Operator (FBO) supports the needs of general aviation at the bi-county region’s only commercial airport. The latest efforts bring to $1.1 million the amount invested into their Islip FBO location by the company.

A new FBO has just opened at the Riga International Airport called FBO RIGA. Leonid Gorodnitski, co-owner of FBO RIGA said: “Latvia has a huge potential for the development of business aviation due to the country’s geographical location. For example, one can easily reach Stockholm, Berlin, Moscow and other European and CIS business centers just within one hour and a half of flight from Riga. High quality service is provided here at competitive rates. Thus, we can offer more favourable terms of business aircraft handling than other European countries.”

Signature Flight Support is looking to take over Landmark Aviation in what would be perhaps the largest FBO take-over if it was approved by regulators and shareholders. You may remember Landmark Aviation themselves took over Ross Aviation just last year accounting for nearly 20 FBOs. If this Signature deal goes through, they would acquire nearly 70 FBOs, MROs and associated management and charter division making it by far the largest deal pending to go down. Bare in mind the Ross Aviation take-over was around 375-million. At the moment, Signature Flight Support operates 133 FBOs around the world. This is a 2.1 billion dollar deal Signature Flight Support's parent company BBA Aviation is in.

The Jet Center located at 12101 Crenshaw Boulevard, Hawthorne, California 90250 is expanding its storage capabilities with the addition of two new hangars. The new construction is expected to materialize as over 43,000 sq ft of new hangar space. When completed it will be able to house G650 category executive aircraft easily. They also received inputs from Hollywood as many stagings take place at this FBO.

ExecuJet Aviation Group Zurich FBO has gained the International Standard for Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH). This now has made them the first FBO in Switzerland to obtain this certificate. Basil Gamper, ExecuJet’s Zurich FBO manager said: “We are delighted our Zurich FBO has passed the IS-BAH audit, which not only shows the quality of our support services but also our commitment to using the most comprehensive assessments available across the board. This market-leading and standardised measure for handlers, FBOs and operators worldwide is a programme we strongly believe in and one we will be implementing in all our FBOs.”

Gama Aviation has opened a new base at Glasgow airport to support its contract with the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS). Ryan McGrath, regional manager Scotland, Gama Aviation said: “The contract with the Scottish Ambulance Service covers some of the most important missions we undertake as they can literally be a matter of life or death. Our investment in the new base will allow for a seamless incident response and patient transfer which is a bespoke service for Scotland. This highlights the advantage to our clients of pairing their own capabilities with our external aviation expertise to deliver a high quality, cost effective service.”

New York-based business aircraft charter, management and maintenance firm Talon Air has officially gone over to aircraft handling. Why? or better yet, how? The company just opened its first FBO at Long Island's Republic Airport. Overall that now tallies up to be the third service provider at that location. Talon Air has long had influence at the airport being there for more than 10 years. They just added a new 90,000-gallon fuel tank farm as it made the transition to full FBO status. “Our mission has always been to provide our customers with the highest level of convenience and service,” said Talon Air founder Adam Katz. “Becoming an FBO is a goal we have worked toward for many years, because it will lower costs, create greater access to our charter, maintenance and management services as well as increase the number of air travelers coming to and from Republic Airport.”

Sun Aviation of Vero Beach Florida has received its International Standard for Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH) certification. The company is the second US based FBO to receive the certificate. Pete Holman, director of Operations at Sun Jet Center said: “The receipt of the IS-BAH Certification represents nearly a year of hard work by the Sun Aviation team. This achievement is shared by the whole Sun Operations group and illustrates our culture of continued improvement and dedication to safety for our team, our customers and our community. We are honoured to be recognized as a leader in development and integration of industry best practices.”

TAG Aviation forms new alliance with Bromma Business Jet. Under the new alliance TAG Aviation Europe has become the exclusive sales agent for Bromma’s two Falcon 7X (registrations SE-DJL and SE-DJK). This new addition brings up to six Falcon 7X available for charter in Europe and makes TAG Aviation one of the largest operators of ultra-long range cabin aircraft in Europe.

Aerospace Center FBO breaks ground at the Toronto Pearson International Airport. The new location will eventually be the fourth service provider at Pearson when it is due to initially open in the Summer of 2016. Facilities are expected to comprise of 50,000 sq ft of passenger terminal and offices, and planned amenities include meeting, recreational, rest and working space for passengers and crew, along with an upper-level restaurant and event space with a deck overlooking the nearby runways. It will also offer a hangar and workshop complex of more than 200,000 sq ft, which can accommodate aircraft up to a BBJ, and will be home to both management companies and corporate flight departments. EPIC is anticipated to be the fuel provider for the new Aerospace Center FBO.

Another FBO opens in Europe for Weston Aviation. This is now the 5th FBO for them in the European region with the Cork chapter coming on stream. The new Business Aviation Center features hangar and office space capable of accommodating aircraft up to super mid-size jets.

Execujet Middle East is about to expand even further in the region as it celebrates 16 years of existence in this particular market. They are looking to expand their services in Dubai as well as set up a new FBO in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Additionally plans are in the pipeline for an MRO facility in Delhi, India. ExecuJet Middle East which is a facet of the Swiss-based ExecuJet has taken delivery of a couple jets this year and have two more to have handed over to them at the end of this year.

New FBO opens up in Silicon Valley. Well really it's Signature Flight Support's new FBO at the San Jose International Airport. The 29-acre site sprawls on approximately 18.5 acres of ramp space with 240,000 sq ft of hangar space. There is a 60,000-sq-ft building that can sleep a pair of Boeing 767s VIPs if necessary, just to give a scale of what is on offer. Now for passengers and crew members there is a 10,000-sq-ft executive terminal, featuring several lounge areas, quiet rooms and flight-planning facilities. Ample room for every one to be happy and relax in comfort. Below is a photo of a section of the facility.

TAG Farnborough Airport is continuing the improvement project begun in October, when it moved its headquarters offices out of the distinctive terminal building. As part of a £1 million ($1.5 million) refit, the company has established new “designer” lounges and opened a “fast track” entrance for customers to the airfield. It has also built a gym for crew and has a new snooze room. The improved terminal is “one million pounds well spent,” according to TAG Farnborough Airport CEO Brandon O’Reilly.

World-Way Aviation will debut its new FBO at Brazil’s Sorocaba Airport in February, the company announced last week. The $15 million facility, one of six service providers at the airport, will offer a hangar with a clear span of 252 feet and nearly 100,000 sq ft of space—enough room for nine Embraer Lineage 1000s—and 1.5 acres of ramp area. The FBO's 30,000-sq-ft terminal will have a dedicated VIP lounge, conference room, crew lounge, flight-planning room, crew rest suites, fitness center, observation balcony and concierge service. It will be the largest service provider facility in the country, as well as Brazil’s only member of the Air Elite network. (AIN)

With major events business jets usually associate. Government events and executive travel is almost a sure thing and that happened when the World Economic Forum (WEF) recently was held in Davos. Execujet is one operator that recorded over-the-top traffic. Basil Gamper, FBO manager at ExecuJet Zurich said: “The World Economic Forum is one of the busiest times of the year for business jets travelling to Switzerland; the Forum presents a full month’s work of traffic in a single week. This year, we handled 250 aircraft movements and 430,000 litres of fuel across our two FBOs. Our team met that demand while continuing to offer the highest standard of service that our VIP customers expect. Thanks to our size, we’re able to relocate experienced staff from other European bases to help at Zürich and Dübendorf.”

“Streamlining our services at both FBOs makes a fundamental difference to our customers. We were able to offer private limousines to Davos, seamless private helicopter transfers and lounge facilities as well as aircraft handling, fuel, catering, cleaning and towing services. We provide the high level of detail and assurance that is synonymous with the ExecuJet name,” continued Gamper.

Jet Aviation Zurich spent months preparing for the surge of VIP customers that arrived in Zurich to attend the 46th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting, held January 20-23, 2016 in Davos, Switzerland. The company served the majority of aircraft and passengers attending WEF, handling 612 movements and 1,830 passengers while supporting fuel sales of 1.5 million liters. As the most important gathering of the world’s esteemed, powerful and resourceful leaders in business, politics, education and innovation, the 46th annual WEF drew business aviation traffic from around the world, most of which converged on the Jet Aviation Zurich FBO last week. The company handled 612 movements, 1,830 passengers and 306 WEF aircraft, including a record number of ultra-large aircraft at Zurich International Airport and the Military Airport in Dubendorf.

“WEF represents Jet Aviation’s annual operational highlight during which we welcome and take care of a host of distinguished guests and aircraft arriving in Zurich,” says General Manager of Jet Aviation Zurich Monica Beusch. “Maintaining the highest service standards while dealing with these kinds of numbers in such a short timeframe requires total commitment and careful planning. We received high praise from a number of customers who depend on our personalized services and I am very proud of the team. I was particularly pleased by their professional cooperation with the Authorities and Security, which helped ensure seamless handling for our guests.”

ExecuJet is expected to make its expansion into the Indian market. It appears as they will be partnering with The Bird Group and are to help realize the build of an FBO and MRO facility in New Dehli at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. “This is a significant win for ExecuJet, as we have had India on our radar for many years,” said Mike Berry, vice president of ExecuJet Middle East. “The airport has awarded only two licenses to consolidate and improve its FBO and MRO services.” “We are delighted to be partnering with The Bird Group,” said ExecuJet CEO Gerrit Basson. “Headquartered in New Delhi, with over 40 years of experience in India and expertise in aviation services, it is the perfect partner for this expansion program.”