Airport management in today’s economic and regulatory environment can be considered challenging at best. This is especially true for general aviation and smaller commercial service airports that do not have the benefit of significant airline revenue streams or the diversity of revenue opportunities realized by larger commercial service airports. In addition to the challenges of rising personnel and other operational costs, there are additional struggles in finding the appropriate low-cost (or no cost) marketing dynamic for the airport and surrounding community, while continuing to deal with troublesome tenants and tenant issues. There are further complications when the airport also serves as the fixed base operator, where revenues from the sale of fuel and other services comprise a major part of the airport’s revenue stream.
While the answer to the “personnel challenges” of many small airports is to hire young, inexperienced managers, allowing them to learn on the job while paying them lower wages than they would for more experienced personnel, the downside is that the airport usually misses out on the experience and knowledge of more senior staff. In other words, they get what you pay for! This often yields the necessity for the airport sponsor to hire consultants to assist in dealing with complex issues, or sometimes just to serve as an additional set of “eyes and ears” for the less experienced manager in charge. The result is often a higher net cost to the airport than if they had hired more competent management from the outset. ABS Aviation offers airport sponsors the best of all worlds.
ABS Aviation provides general aviation and commercial service airports with a team of professionals offering a diversity of knowledge and experience to handle all of the day-to-day challenges of airport management. Through our contract management alternative, we can provide an airport with a variety of alternatives from a single senior manager to a full staff of management, operational and administrative personnel to handle the day-to-day management of the airport. Employees can become the responsibility of ABS Aviation, thereby reducing not only the headaches of personnel issues, but typically reducing the overall cost to the sponsor. ABS Aviation handles all of the day-to-day activities of the airport to include marketing, dealing with tenant issues and the media, maintenance and operations, grant management and facilitation, and more. In addition to management oversight, costs are generally reduced through efficiencies and buying power offered by ABS Aviation.
With ABS Aviation responsible for the management of an airport, airport sponsors get the benefit of professional management, oversight and direction from our team of professionals with over 100 years of aviation management experience. We can provide short term management support in an emergency situation, or offer annually renewable or long-term contract scenarios to fit your specific requirements.
If the airport also serves as the FBO, we also provide a team of experienced FBO managers, marketing and training staff designed to create a professional, safe and welcoming environment to both based and transient pilots. Our vendor relationships typically significantly reduce the FBO’s operating cost, while our focus on customer service enhances revenues through increased sales of fuel and services.
