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EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS

8 FEBRUARY 2011

Leisure destinations top the poll as value-for-money is factored in

Overall FBO rankings 1 Malaga: Aerea – Aviacion General Y Ejecutiva

8.892

2 Guernsey: Aiglle Flight Support

8.593

3 Palma de Mallorca: Mallorcair

8.505

4 Stockholm (Bromma): Grafair Jet Center

7.977

5 Berlin (Schoenefeld): VIP Aviation 7.968 6 Southampton: Signature Flight Support

How the FBO Feedback system works In order to ensure that the voting system is fair and that every EBAN reader has the opportunity to vote for their favourite FBOs, each aircraft-operating reader was provided with a personalised web page as well as forms on our magazine mailing sheets, on which to cast votes. To be eligible for inclusion on the rankings table, each FBO had to accrue at least point seven of one per cent of the total votes cast, thereby minimising statistical aberrations. Although the high ranking handling agents deserve recognition for their excellent results, there were many FBOs which simply did not receive a high enough proportion of the votes to become eligible for inclusion. Qualified, aircraft-operating readers of EBAN from around Europe and the Middle East have once again been busy casting their votes to determine their favourite FBOs. This year for the first time we asked them to rank the facilities they have flown through recently by four different criteria; the usual facilities, service and staff, but now also by value-for-money. The average scores are shown in

7.750

7 Munich: Signature Flight Support 7.625

Signature Flight Support Corporation, placed sixth, seventh, seventeenth and twentieth, says it will build on its achievement as the world’s largest FBO operation and distribution network for business aviation services in 2011. “We have the considerable advantage of having 103 locations dedicated to providing world-class customer service and safe reliable flight support services through our Signature Service Promise,” the company says. Signature’s Munich facility (pictured) provides vip concierge services that include coordinating additional flight support services such as ground handling, fuel, catering, hotels, limousines and much more at airports throughout Germany.

the table (right) and represent a real shake up since 2010. Single location handlers have fared well, taking the top four places, but Europe’s largest chain Signature also received high scores for its Southampton and Munich facilities. There is a good geographical spread among the top-rated FBOs, but it is significant that the top three are all locations which might expect high levels of private/leisure traffic.

We report on some of the winners here, and in the following pages we detail the facilities on offer around the continent. We have included listings for all those which responded to our many requests for information, and we also offer basic information about every handler on our web site at www.handbook.aero. Between April 2010 and January this year our voters were able to rank

any number of FBOs – some again providing scores for over thirty! We’d like to express our thanks to all those who took part for creating such a revealing snapshot of the industry. We asked for a score out of nine for each of the four categories. To do well, an FBO must have good infrastructure, meet every customer need, have highly trained and motivated people and deliver good value.

8 Brussels National: Abelag Aviation

7.607

9 Paris (Le Bourget): Dassault Falcon Service

7.550

10 Vienna (Schwechat): Vienna Aircraft Handling

7.500

11 Zurich: ExecuJet Europe

7.375

12 Hamburg: Service People

7.202

13 London (Luton): Ocean Sky Jet Centre

7.156

14 Dusseldorf: Jet Aviation Dusseldorf

7.142

15 Farnborough: TAG Farnborough Airport

7.079

16 Geneva: Jet Aviation Geneva

7.045

17 Paris (Le Bourget): Signature Flight Support Terminal 1

6.984

18 Paris (Le Bourget): JetEx Flight Support

6.825

19 Paris (Le Bourget): Landmark Aviation

6.636

20 London (Luton): Signature Flight Support

6.635

21 Zurich: Jet Aviation Zurich

6.458

22 London (Luton): Harrods Aviation 6.200 23 Milan (Linate): Ali Trasporti Aerei ATA

6.083

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DISCOVER

NEW PARTNERS,

DESTINATIONS

AND ROUTES!

FBOs and business airports exhibiting from all over the world! www.BusinessAirportWorldExpo.com

EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS

FEBRUARY 2011 9

FBOs reap rewards of investing in service as clients become ever more demanding

Aiglle: celebrating a steady increase in business

Aerea hails rebirth of Malaga airport while Aiglle makes a stunning debut Aerea FBO, which this year celebrates its third anniversary as well as winning EBANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s FBO survey, believes that it has contributed to a rebirth of Malaga Airport. Yolanda Avalos, FBO manager, says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Malagaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business aviation facility is one of the most popular in Europe. Monthly figures show a good growth and confirm that it has managed to keep business strong during the adverse economic climate of recent years.â&#x20AC;? Avalos adds: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aerea has achieved a significant number of new customers with growth in all areas of business. Our priority is our customers and paying attention to every detail and requirement. This has encouraged several operators to base some of their fleet in Malaga, either during summer periods or on a permanent basis. Despite the current economic climate that exists in Europe and that especially in Spain, it seems that the worst is now over for business aviation. Growth has been significant in recent months.â&#x20AC;? Aerea operates the only FBO providing vip handling services at the GAT which was inaugurated in 2007. Avalos says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The staff are highly qualified and bilingual in English and Spanish as well as serving clients in German, French and Dutch.â&#x20AC;? Facilities include a vip room and a spacious 60 sq m crew lounge with all the facilities offering views of the general aviation aircraft parking areas. Aerea FBO has recently opened a business centre which includes offices and meeting rooms for use by the hour or at daily, monthly or annual rentals. Second-placed Guernsey-based FBO Aiglle Flight Support made one of the most successful ever debuts in the ranking, shooting into second place. Aiglleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s joint md Simon Fawcett says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m obviously delighted to see the hard work of our staff noted in such a prestigious award. We are a small, tightly knit team who do all that is humanly possible to make sure the small things come

With clients becoming ever more demanding, FBOs that invest in improved facilities and services have established themselves as the most popular with EBAN readers. These include Palma de Mallorca-based Mallorcair, the Stockholm Brommabased Grafair Jet Center, Dassault Falcon Service of Paris Le Bourget and Abelag Aviation in Brussels. After having gone out to tender in Palma last year, Mallorcair has this year been nominated as one of the two official FBOs able to operate out of the airport of Son San Juan in Palma. The former winners, who are this year placed third, have operated out of Palma for many years as a small business promoting a family atmosphere to please customers and dedicated entirely to general aviation handling. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Miguel Mudoy says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since our nomination as an official FBO, Mallorcair will invest and further improve our service to the private aviation sector. We will, over the next few months, be improving and amplifying our already ample location at the GAT.â&#x20AC;? He adds: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had already offered a wide range of amenities for passengers and crews such as vip lounges, television and wi-fi, rest rooms with shower and toilet facilities. We will also be adding a fully equipped conference room for meetings and the facilities will all be tastefully redecorated to the highest standards.â&#x20AC;?

Mallorcair staff: happy to be of service.

Mallorcairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workforce comprises 18 multi-lingual staff trained to offer a one-to-one personalised service. Mudoy says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Apart from all the usual ramp services, flight planning and maintenance, we can also coordinate all aspects of a visit to the island from limousine transport, hotel accommodation and hangarage to catering and luxury car rental service with a pick-up and drop off at the Mallorcair offices. We assist a wide range of aircraft from the smallest light aircraft and helicopters to ambulance flights and the larger aircraft such as Boeings and Airbuses.â&#x20AC;? He adds: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We do have a lot of

frequent business fliers who have over the years become friends and are part of our happy family. We appreciate their confidence in us as a small FBO.â&#x20AC;? The consistently popular Grafair Jet Center of Bromma says that clients have become more demanding but that it regards the required administration as just one of the necessities to keep clients happy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Leading fractional ownership companies are, more and more, starting to request reports after each flight with detailed information required ranging from de-icing and anti-icing to records of delays and regular movements. We have extended our services accordingly.â&#x20AC;?

King Air 90 Winglets Shipping Kits Now

Yolanda Avalos: new clients attracted.

Aerea handling services praised by readers.

together to deliver first class service for our customers.â&#x20AC;? Aiglle was formed when a consortium of the hangar customers took the business over following the death of the hangarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s founder in 2000. The business has 20,000 square feet of heated and de-humidified premium quality hangar space, with additional facilities of a pilotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lounge with wireless internet access and a large boardroom to host meetings of up to 20 people. Fawcett says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aiglleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s priority is on providing a warm, friendly and efficient service and this has allowed passenger numbers and customers to steadily increase over the past 12 years. It now offers facilities for a number of local owners and visiting aeroplanes looking after fixed wing, rotary and jet aircraft and has also been successful in winning contracts to support many regular flights and even medevac flights. Over 10,000 passengers now use Aiglle each year.â&#x20AC;?

Plus, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re standard on the new 90GTx Adding Winglets to your King Air 90 will deliver a range of tangible benefits, including improved speed, handling, and rate of climb. In fact, Hawker Beechcraft is installing BLR Winglets as standard equipment on all new 90GTx aircraft. Winglets are also available for King Air 200, 200GT, and 300 aircraft. Want to know how Winglets can benefit your operation? Contact BLR for performance details.

davemarone4810@BLRaerospace.com #-3BFSPTQBDF DPN t

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