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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Building Recurring Revenue, An FBO’s Golden Egg

Building Recurring Revenue, An FBO’s Golden Egg

In today’s FBO operating environment, we’ve often heard the term “Gas and Grass” to describe the two most important elements of building a successful enterprise. For this blog post, we’ll call gas the golden goose and grass the golden egg.

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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: The 5 Secret Sauce Ingredients to Create a Customer Conscious Culture

FBO Success: The 5 Secret Sauce Ingredients to Create a Customer Conscious Culture

There are many ways to attract customers to your FBO, including advertising, social media, word of mouth and face-to-face encounters at trade shows. But once you get first-time customers on your ramp, how do you motivate them to return and become loyal; the kind of loyalty that generates a recommendation to other flight crews and business aircraft operators?

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Flat Fuel Sales Reported for FBO Industry in 2022

Flat Fuel Sales Reported for FBO Industry in 2022

The results of our Annual FBO Fuel Sales Survey indicate that on average, fuel sales were mostly flat for 2022. Although there were pockets of increased fuel sales, nearly 50 percent of FBOs surveyed reported either a decrease in sales or the same fuel sales levels for 2022 vs. 2021. By contrast, for 2021 only 28 percent reported a decrease or same fuel sales compared to the previous year. At the far end of the spectrum, 22 percent of FBOs surveyed indicated an increase in fuel sales of more than eight percent for 2022 compared to 40 percent in 2021, a banner year for fuel sales after the FBO industry regained its footing following the Covid-19 pandemic.

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FBOs Are Gearing Up for an All-Electric Future

FBOs Are Gearing Up for an All-Electric Future

The days of servicing aircraft with an all-electric fleet of ground support equipment may be here sooner than you think. Already, many FBOs are looking to reduce their carbon footprint with purchases of electric tugs, golf carts, lav carts, potable water carts, belt loaders and portable electric GPU’s. But the biggest item, the electric refueler, has been the last major piece of the puzzle, until now.

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Complete the 2023 FBO Industry Forecast and Fuel Sales Survey

Complete the 2023 FBO Industry Forecast and Fuel Sales Survey

As we turn the calendar page to 2023, it’s time for our Annual FBO Fuel Sales Survey. This is an opportunity for you to let us know how your fuel sales fared for 2022 compared to 2021 and help us predict what 2023 has in store for the industry.

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Establishing a Favorable Fuel Supplier Agreement is Arguably the Most Important Agreement an FBO Can Have With Any Vendor

Establishing a Favorable Fuel Supplier Agreement is Arguably the Most Important Agreement an FBO Can Have With Any Vendor

Establishing a favorable fuel supplier agreement is arguably the most important agreement an FBO can have with any vendor. Done properly, it can add real intrinsic value to your business and, quite possibly, make or break your bottom line.

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FBOs Brace for a Possible Industry-wide Slowdown

FBOs Brace for a Possible Industry-wide Slowdown

The robust increase in Jet-A fuel sales following the Covid-19 pandemic has seemed to hit a bit of a headwind as FBOs brace for a possible industry-wide slowdown. This is part of our takeaway from discovery discussions conducted at the Annual NBAA-BACE held October 18-20 in Orlando, FL.

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JetASAP Releases Q3 2022 Activity Report of Hourly Cost for On Demand Charter Operators vs. Jet Cards vs. Charter Brokers

Despite the findings noted by Private Jet Card Comparison, JetASAP clients experienced an average 9% decrease in hourly rates over the past 90 days from quotes they received directly from charter operators. This Q3 pricing data is based on 3,924 quotes received by flyers through the app.

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Your FBO’s Airport Lease: Improvements, Insurance, Environmental Liability

Your FBO’s Airport Lease: Improvements, Insurance, Environmental Liability

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

Fourth Installment on Airport Lease

For this blog post, we’ll continue our series called the 7 Immutable Elements of Building Equity in Your FBO Enterprise© with the fourth installment on our first element: Obtaining a Long-term airport lease.

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Your FBO’s Airport Lease: Payments, Maintenance and Termination

Your FBO’s Airport Lease: Payments, Maintenance and Termination

Multi-Part Series: The 7 Immutable Elements for Building Equity in Your FBO Enterprise ©
Third Installment on Airport Leases

For this blog post, we’ll continue our series called the 7 Immutable Elements of Building Equity in Your FBO Enterprise© as we dive deeper into the topic: Obtaining a long-term airport lease.

In our last post, we covered: Term and Option Years, Operating Rights and Assignment Sale Clause. Now we are ready to discuss the next three lease elements: Payments, Maintenance Responsibilities and Termination.

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