Million Air Interlink, the franchise that's quickly become the
second largest FBO in the USA, is about to take the concept of
a crew car to a new altitude. Million Air CEO Roger Woolsey tells
Show News that the chain will begin providing crews on a break
with a Jaguar to cat around in, a service that will likely arrive
first at high density operations like Teterboro and Houston and
then spread to the 29 other Million Air locations. If not the
Jaguar, crews and passengers will be picked up in a new van with
a Million Air branding "wrap," a service Woolsey says
will become standard issue at each facility.
The trimmings are all part of a customer service overhaul Woolsey
initiated in May 2002-studying major companies like Nike, Coca-Cola
and Southwest Airlines for eight months and figuring out the secrets
of their successes. The effort led to a new branding strategy
for Million Air and a reborn appreciation for "the gentleman
out there pumping the fuel or the woman behind the desk,"
says Woolsey. "The most important person is the customer.
And who touches the customer the most? The people on the front
line."
The new mindset prompted the creation of Million Air's Legendary
Customer Service Training program for employees, which was rolled
out last January and will be completed by year's end, and places
a new focus on communication. The company now has an Intranet
site where employees at every location view the "Daily Takeoff,"
a news and information service that keeps everyone on the same
page. The new infrastructure also required Woolsey to hire an
Information Technology director, affectionately known as Million
Air's "IT cowboy."
Million Air's new found connectivity is also benefiting crews
and passengers. All 29 locations will soon be set up for wireless
Internet access. "Before, pilots would show up and ask for
a telephone to hook up their laptop" says Woolsey. "Today,
you walk into a Million Air, open up your laptop, turn it on and
a wireless card hooks you up to the Internet."
Though Woolsey is intent on expanding the overall reach of Million
Air, he's not shy about cutting his numbers along the way to boost
quality. In a sense, a franchise FBO is like a restaurant-even
one bad meal at one individual location can sour your opinion
of the entire chain.
"We feel we've not been excellent at consistency," Woolsey
says. "We want to fix that in a drastic way." The fix
in this case will be to "pull the flag,"-or remove the
Million Air brand-from several locations. Woolsey took the fifth
on exactly which locations would be terminated.
Again at this year's NBAA, Million Air is continuing its "valued customer"
program. This year's prize will be a two-year lease on a BMW Z4,
with the winner selected on Tuesday. Contestants were able to register
for the giveaway at any Million Air FBO throughout the year. Last
year, J. R. Mitchell, a corporate pilot with Jack Henry & Associates,
won a GSX-R 750 motorcycle.
