NEW ORLEANS – Jay Taffet has founded FBO Capital, which offers FBO consulting services for start-up and established FBOs.
Called the “25-Point Plan for a Premium FBO,” Taffet’s consulting considers the entire portfolio of details associated with terminal presentation, service delivery, hospitality coordination and amenity development that makes the reception, hosting and coordination of aircrew and aircraft support truly special. According to Taffet, the core business of fuel uplifts and line services is always the primary focus of an FBO, but it’s the visual and interactive details of the FBO experience that facilitates customer recruitment and retention.
“I’ve spent years – almost 25 years, since first earning my private pilot license – thinking about the perfect FBO and, in the last decade, I have focused full-time on how an FBO is developed, operated and positioned to be the best in its market and in our industry. It’s all about the aircrew and aircraft and the perspective that fuel and line sales are the result of presentation, service and hospitality, thus, the second part of the equation in building and operating a premium FBO,” he said.
With success securing long-term ground leases and investment capital for new FBO development at two international airports and recent turn-around success stabilizing a struggling FBO and transitioning the operation from a trailer to a high-end, executive terminal, Taffet said he sees enormous opportunity in his system of FBO management, which he calls “Designed by Pilots for Pilots.”
“Combining a range of presentation, service and hospitality details, literally from the ramp to the restroom, this specialized, but cost-effective, approach to FBO management took the trailer-based GA business to NetJets Preferred FBO status within six months,” he said.
“I am a strong believer that FBO success is about creating a community of pilots – those that visited and liked you and those that will hear about you and be compelled to come try you. Especially in crowded airport markets, the survival of an FBO is all about a pilot-focused service and hospitality model that has thought through every detail of what is expected, appreciated and, ultimately, talked about. Aircrew and aircraft: Do right by them and business growth is inevitable,” says Taffet.
For more information: FBOCapital.com or 334-868-9232