FBOs around the world

Signature Flight Support parent company BBA Aviation completed its acquisition of rival FBO chain Landmark Aviation on Friday, some four months after the deal was announced. The purchase has been listed to be worth around $2.065 billion dollars and includes Landmark’s 68 FBOs in North America and Europe and its MRO business.

NAS-ExecuJet has expanded its Royal Terminal FBO at King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh. Execujet has two FBOs at Riyadh Airport. In addition to the Royal Terminal used by government dignitaries and VVIPs, the company also has facilities in the airport’s Private Aviation Terminal. “This is an exciting development for NAS-ExecuJet and is in keeping with our plans for growth in the Kingdom.” said Nader Al Hakim, acting FBO manager, NAS-ExecuJet, “We will now be able to support significantly more flight movements at the Royal Terminal each year and look forward to welcoming our existing customers, as well as new customers, to the enhanced facility.” NAS-ExecuJet is a partnership between ExecuJet (Middle East) and National Air Services.

Gama Aviation recently added more territory to their portfolio with the acquisition of Aviation Beauport. The deal, which was conditionally announced on January 8, adds four light jets to Gama’s fleet. It also adds the island’s only FBO facility. Marwan Khalek, CEO of Gama Aviation said: “We are very happy to have finalised the acquisition. We would like to thank the Jersey Competition Authority and the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authorities for their oversight and approval of this deal. We are looking to grow the business and our presence in Jersey. It is an excellent strategic fit for the Group as the Channel Islands are an important economic centre matched by our operations in Hong Kong, Sharjah, Geneva, Teterboro, Chicago, West Palm Beach, Dallas, Las Vegas and those around the London area.”

In more news from Gama Aviation... they have recently gained the green-light for a new 350,000-suareq-feet expansion project at Sharjah International Airport, UAE. They had been doing work to make business aviation easier in the region and just in August last year they added more ramp space to cater to larger cabin executive aircraft. The new project was given the go-ahead by Sheikh Sultan III bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, who is the ruler of Sharjah. The project has been designed to address the growing needs of the Middle East business aviation market. Figures suggest this market to grow by approximately 7 percent annually over the next decade. The expansion project is expected to provide 108,000 square feet in new facilities, including two hangars, office space, an FBO terminal complete with a security area and passenger and pilot lounges. Once completed the project will also provide 226,000 square feet of apron and aircraft parking space.

Hawker Pacific has seen some growth recently and they recently highlighted it at the Singapore Airshow. “The Singapore Air Show is the perfect platform for Hawker Pacific to showcase our product and service offering in addition to continued investment in Asia Pacific.” said Alan Smith, CEO, Hawker Pacific, “With a third of Hawker Pacific’s overall results derived from our operations in Asia, we are committed to investing in the region to meet growing demand and continue to exceed customer expectations.” Hawker Pacific’s growth across Asia Pacific over the past year includes an 18% increase in movements through the company’s Shanghai Hongqiao FBO. Elsewhere the company saw a 12% rise in movements in Singapore, and a 10% increase across the Australian network.

Universal Aviation Mexico is one of the longest-running FBOs at Toluca Airport and was established in the early 1990s. “With our Toluca FBO being both a high-traffic destination and one of the cornerstone locations in our global network, it was important to make a significant reinvestment here with our long-time partner, Avemex, in order to provide the highest level of amenities and features for our clients,” said Adolfo Aragon, vice president, Latin American and Caribbean, Universal.

Bad weather caused some damage to the Abu Dhabi Air Expo as heavy rains and strong winds lashed the area. In this photo by Peter Shaw-Smith we can see some of the effect. No injuries were reported but one or two light aircraft were damaged in the process as the weather worsened on Wednesday.

Here is a quick clips to give you an idea of the weather that passed through the Abu Dhabi Air Expo.

Guangzhou, a major city in China is expected to have its first big FBO in the near future. Once completed in 2017, the FBO will join those in operation in the countries more established cities in Shanghai and Beijing. The new FBO is to be located at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and contruction is carded to start next month (May). It is expected that the new facility will cost around 62-million USD. A new 53,000 sq ft passenger terminal will be the largest of its type in China will be packed with top facilities. Some of the amenities and services billed are on-site customs, immigration and quarantine, slot and landing permit service, aircraft cleaning, fueling, VIP lounges and shuttle service inside or outside the airport, along with a 20,000-sq-m (215,000-sq-ft) hangar capable of accommodating ultra-long-range business jets. In the future, a second phase will see the addition of another hangar for maintenance use.

As it prepares for the early June opening of its temporary FBO at Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal, Calif., Desert Jet Center has broken ground on its permanent $5 million home. The FBO will be the third service provider at the airport. “Today is the culmination of a vision that began more than five years ago to bring a full-service aviation company to the city of Thermal, the County of Riverside and the [Coachella] valley,” noted Desert Jet president and founder Denise Wilson. The company already offers Part 145 maintenance and aircraft charter and management services at Thermal, and announced late last year that it will be entering the FBO arena there as well. (AIN)

Jet Aviation was awarded a 30-year lease for a 17-acre site by the City of Los Angeles to establish an FBO facility at Van Nuys Airport. In 2015, Jet Aviation won a competitive tender process and was selected by Los Angeles World Airports to operate a FBO facility at Van Nuys Airport. Jet Aviation will offer FBO services in an interim terminal once operational control has been granted by Los Angeles World Airports, which is expected in the next few months. Jet Aviation has also initiated planning for its long-term Van Nuys Airport FBO. The company will build a 10,000 square foot LEED Silver certified FBO terminal and two 40,000 square foot hangars and associated back shop and office space, all to be completed by the end of 2018. The full service FBO will offer domestic and international handling, complete line service, executive conference rooms, crew lounge, flight planning room, business center and 24/7 guarded entry to the airport and ramp.

A new FBO opens up in Mexico and this time it is under the Execujet branding. Now that the facility is opened to the bizjet world, Northern Mexico can benefit from high quality services. The new FBO is located at the Del Norte International Airport, Monterrey. Adrian Zambrano, vice president of ExecuJet Mexico, said: “Opening our Monterrey FBO is an exciting development for ExecuJet and as an extension to our existing office and hangar complex, we are delighted to now offer our customers full business aviation support in this part of the world. The FBO enhances our international capabilities and is a real milestone in our regional expansion plan.”

Execujet has also has expanded into the Caribbean now with presence in St. Maarten at the Princess Juliana International Airport. The previous FBO was TLC Aviation and Execujet acquired them recently leading them to now having their first facility in the Caribbean. “St. Maarten is the hub for the northeastern Caribbean region, with access to mainland U.S. and Europe,” said Mike Berry, president of Zurich-based Execujet’s aviation services, adding the area has long been on his company’s radar. “Princess Juliana International Airport serves as a key location for the neighboring islands and as such is ideally located to support the exclusive mega-yacht destinations of Anguilla, St. Barts and St. Kitts; the perfect complement to the private aviation market in the region.”

ChartRight opens FBO at Waterloo International Airport. Last year the company acquired a a 50,000 sq ft hangar and refurbished it. Of course included is a 5,000 sq ft lounge for passengers and crew. The hangar can house an aircraft as large as a B757 or several smaller jets of the Challenger size. Fuel is also available here thanks to a Jet-A farm with capacity of 120,000 LT.

Meridian is currently working on their newest FBO. The Meridian in Hayward California is due to open in September and work is going apace to ensure this happens. Guests can expect a 6,300-sq-ft FBO terminal and offices, a 30,000-sq-ft hangar as well as a 3.5-acre ramp.

Lider Aviação has been selected to be the FBO and handler of Olympic bizjet traffic at the Rio Tom Jobim International Airport during the Summer games. Official estimates are for 900 to 1,000 business jet operations at Rio Tom Jobim and Santos Dumont Airports on August 5, the opening day.

A temporary FBO has opened up in Alabama. It is temporary because the company has plans to build a permanent one at the same airport with completion in 2019. The temporary FBO for Platinum Air Center, a new FBO at Jack Edwards Airport (JKA) in Gulf Shores, Ala., started ops only this week. It is now one of three service providers at the airport. For the time, complex is being operated from a 3,500-sq-ft temporary modular facility. That complex features a pilot lounge, flight planning room and work stations with high-speed Wi-Fi—on the southeast side of the nearly 7,000-foot main Runway 9/27. A new fuel tank farm, holding 20,000 gallons of jet-A and 12,000 gallons of avgas supplied by World Fuels, has been installed. Meanwhile, construction of a $5 million permanent FBO terminal with an adjoining 22,400-sq-ft hangar, capable of sheltering ultra-long-range business jets, is scheduled to start early next year, with a mid-2019 expected completion date.

Landing fees at Teterboro Airport (KTEB) is set to go up from September 1. This would be the first time in seven years that a fee hike has taken place in this regard at this business aviation airport -largely regarded as the busiest of its type in the United States-. The airport manager, Renee Spann said that they want revenues to be more closely aligned with the capital and operating costs. So what the new fees are going to look like? Scheduled to take effect on September 1, the new fee schedule will hike costs for aircraft weighing less than 6,000 pounds to $21.25 from $17; aircraft weighing between 6,000 and 12,499 pounds will incur a fee of $31.25, up from $25. For aircraft weighing between 12,500 pounds and 79,999 pounds, fees will rise from $3.50 to $4.38 per 1,000 pounds, and for those exceeding 80,000 pounds they will jump from $6.50 to $8.15 per 1,000 pounds.

Signature Flight Support marked the reopening of its FBO at Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) a few days ago. It was really a refresh and slight expansion of the facilities there to bring it more in lines with some of the more modern facilities in the Signature Flight Support portfolio. There is also 190,000 sq ft of hangar space. The guest lobby was enlarged from 2,000 sq ft to 3,700 sq ft.

Hillsboro Aviation has opened its doors at the Oregon’s Portland-Hillsboro Airport with a new facility FBO. Only a few days ago on October 15th, the company had the grand opening and welcomed first visitors to the facilities. The facility was actually completed earlier in the year but the grand ceremony was a couple days ago. “Our goal is to create an extraordinary experience for customers,” said Max Lyons, president and CEO of Hillsboro Aviation, and this is reflected in the FBO’s warm, inviting Northwest outdoors theme: the passenger lounge has Douglas fir accents, sleek polished concrete floors, a large rough-hewn fireplace and local artwork.