Atlantic Aviation Sees Growth as FBO and Charter Company

Since the divestiture last year of its Wilmington, Del., maintenance facility to Dassault Falcon Jet, Atlantic Aviation has displayed renewed vigor for its FBO and aircraft management charter business.
Atlantic Aviation's new corporate face is as a subsidiary of Executive Air Support (EAS), a division of the Millionaire Interlink FBO franchise. Atlantic Aviation was owned by Legg Mason between Sept. 1997 and December last year.

"Our focus now is to let people know that Atlantic Aviation is still in business, and the majority of people you dealt with before the change in ownership are the same ones you'll deal with today," Atlantic Aviation senior vice president Doug Shaw told Show News.

As a subsidiary of EAS, Atlantic is part of an FBO chain that includes three other FBOs: in Farmingdale, N.Y., on Long Island; and in Bridgeport and Hartford, Conn. Atlantic owns five FBOs, with the main facility in Teterboro.

It was a matter of competitiveness that led Atlantic to divest the Wilmington shop.

"Being an independent maintenance and modification center we couldn't compete on the same scale with the OEMs," said Shaw. "The Midcoasts and Duncans are big enough to offset fluctuations in work. We were only one location."

Without the maintenance activities, Shaw says Atlantic Aviation can now "leverage growth in the FBO business.

"Our expertise is in running the FBO and the aircraft charter business," he continued. "We can focus on enhancing those businesses, putting us in a position to acquire other FBOs or charter management companies."

The company has about 20 business aircraft under charter management, mainly midsize and larger.

By Barry Rosenberg