FBO Insight: Use Three Legs to Build a Strong Customer Experience Platform

FBO Insight: Use Three Legs to Build a Strong Customer Experience Platform

The last element in building equity in your FBO enterprise is developing a consistent customer service experience. 

Think of a three legged stool where each leg represents a primary component that helps support the entire customer experience platform. The three legs must work in concert with each other. If one leg fails, the stool will collapse, causing a breakdown in delivering the best possible customer service experience.

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FBO Insight: Protect Your FBO with a “Durable Airport Minimum Standards” Document

FBO Insight: Protect Your FBO with a “Durable Airport Minimum Standards” Document

Building equity in your FBO business can often take years. It’s an investment in both time and resources.

That’s why FBO owners and operators need to make sure their equity position is protected and made durable through a strong Airport Minimum Standards document.

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FBO Insight: A Global Look at EASA’s Proposed Ground Handling Regulations

FBO Insight: A Global Look at EASA’s Proposed Ground Handling Regulations

The recent European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) proposed ground handling regulations have sparked interest amongst leaders in the U.S. FBO Industry and was a general topic of discussion by FBO owners and operators attending the annual NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers (S&D) Conference held March 12-14 in Ft. Worth, TX.

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FBO Insight: Use Financial Ratios to Help Improve Your Bottom Line

FBO Insight: Use Financial Ratios to Help Improve Your Bottom Line

A handy tool for FBOs to help manage profitability is to conduct a financial ratio analysis which will assist in spotting trends, both good and bad. This process will aid owners and operators to get a better grip on cash management and forecasting the effect that operations have on the bottom line.  

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FBO Success: Protecting Your Golden Eggs

FBO Success: Protecting Your Golden Eggs

Multi-Part Series on The 7 Immutable Elements of Building Equity in Your FBO Enterprise. Now that you have your three golden eggs nicely arranged, lease agreements for Hangar Space, Office Space and Tie-down Space, there’s one last section of the lease documents that should not be overlooked. It’s the rules and regulations section that offers you protection should one of the parties in your agreement defaults.  

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FBO Success: FBO Tie-Down Space, Another Golden Egg Opportunity

FBO Success:  FBO Tie-Down Space, Another Golden Egg Opportunity

If you want to maximize your ground lease return on investment, don’t overlook the value of your tie-down space. It’s an opportunity to add one more golden egg to your nest of income producers: Hangar Space, Office Space and Tie-down Space. We call it the trifecta of recurring income that will produce a passive source of revenue for months and years to come for your FBO.

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The FBO Office Lease Agreement, Another Golden Egg

The FBO Office Lease Agreement, Another Golden Egg

Don’t look now, but there are two golden eggs in your grassy nest next to your fuel farm. The first one is your hangar lease agreement which we discussed in the last blog post. The second golden egg represents your office lease agreements which also deserve your undivided attention. 

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Contract Fuel: The Rewards and Risks

Contract Fuel: The Rewards and Risks

When it comes to reviewing the contract fuel section of your fuel supplier agreement, please remember that there are two sides to every coin. On one side there are the rewards that need to be examined. On the other side, there are potential risks that need to be weighed.

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FBO Success: Negotiate Credit Card Processing Fees for a Better Fuel Supplier Agreement

FBO Success: Negotiate Credit Card Processing Fees for a Better Fuel Supplier Agreement

Multi-Part Series on The 7 Immutable Elements of Building Equity in Your FBO Enterprise
An often-overlooked element in developing a better fuel supplier agreement is the ability to negotiate favorable credit card processing fees. If you want to have a tangible impact on your bottom line, watching your credit card processing fees is a sure bet.

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FBO Success: The Finer Points of a Favorable Fuel Supplier Agreement Can Pay Dividends

FBO Success: The Finer Points of a Favorable Fuel Supplier Agreement Can Pay Dividends

Multi-Part Series on The 7 Immutable Elements of Building Equity in Your FBO Enterprise

Details, details, details. It’s often humdrum, but paying attention of the subtler points of a fuel supplier agreement can pay dividends in the long run.

For this blog post, we’ll discuss the finer points of a favorable fuel supplier agreement. This includes taxes (federal, state, local, LUST and flowage fees), in addition to quality control, training and marketing support.

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FBO Success: Unlock Potential Cost Savings in Your Fuel Supplier Agreement

FBO Success: Unlock Potential Cost Savings in Your Fuel Supplier Agreement

Multi-Part Series on The 7 Immutable Elements of Building Equity in Your FBO Enterprise

As we all know, running a successful FBO fueling operation comes down to dollars and cents. A penny saved per gallon here and there can mean better bottom line returns.

It’s really simple math. If you added a penny to the cost of every gallon sold annually, that’s $100 gross profit to the bottom line for every 10,000 gallons pumped. Not exactly chump change!

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FBO Success: A Multi-Part Series

FBO Success: A Multi-Part Series

Over the next several blog posts, we will do an in-depth dive into each of these elements, providing valuable insight to help you navigate your way towards operating a more successful FBO business. For this blog post, we start at the top: Obtaining a long-term airport lease with extension options. Your lease with the airport authority is the lifeblood of your business. Here are the critical components of your airport lease that we will look at:

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Reduce Fuel Spills by Mitigating Risk

Eliminating fuel spills in the FBO environment is virtually impossible; however, they can be reduced by mitigating the risk. Learn what FBO ownership and management can do, and review best practices to include in your SOPs.
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Ongoing DEF Fuel Contamination Problem Sparks Safety Alert from NTSB

In response to several incidents within a 19-month period, last week the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a Safety Alert warning providers of jet fuel to take measures to prevent diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) contamination.

In a related news release, the Safety Board says it wants fuel providers to keep all chemicals in labeled containers and to add a label to all DEF containers that reads, “NOT FOR AVIATION USE.”

We also recommend that FBOs use this NTSB poster in their operations. Post it in the line service area as well as where any chemical, fluid or lubricant is stored.

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Handling of Dangerous Goods: Be Aware

Operating an FBO certainly has its challenges, especially when a customer wants you to handle dangerous, hazardous, irregular or unusual goods. For the most part, we recommend that FBOs have a policy of not handling these types of goods or materials. However, all employees must have awareness training to identify what constitutes dangerous and hazardous goods and what to do if they encounter any.
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