Brought to you by Skyservice Business Aviation
Skyservice and the power of focus

Skyservice has scaled up to grab a larger share of unprecedented growth in the business aviation sector. Developments include expanded MRO capacity, an increased FBO presence across North America and an exciting partnership with Fontainebleau in Florida. 

When you are at the top of your game, is there added room to improve and grow the business? That was the challenge facing Benjamin Murray, a veteran U.S. business aviation executive on his appointment as President of Skyservice in 2020 and then becoming President and CEO in March 2021. The economic impacts of Covid-19 were showing early signs of receding, but the border between Canada and the U.S. would not begin a gradual re-opening for another six months. 

Skyservice is one of Canada’s only fully integrated business aviation companies, offering a suite of quality, whole lifecycle of aircraft ownership services, including FBO, aircraft management and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), aircraft charter, and aircraft sales and acquisition. “During the pandemic we had two options,” Murray says. “Feel sorry for ourselves, or use the pause to reimagine what a business like Skyservice could look like as we pivot and emerge out of Covid.”

The company chose the latter, making Skyservice greater than the sum of its parts. It conducted a “deep dive” into each of the business lines, built energized management teams, invested in new technologies to scale up the platform to capture more of the pent-up demand that came with reopening the border, extended and renegotiated its FBO leases at airports across Canada, and launched an aggressive expansion and development strategy.

What emerged is centralized structure where Skyservice supplies essential shared services such as IT, HR, legal, financial administration and marketing to the business lines, freeing up each – FBO, Business Aviation and MRO – to focus exclusively on growing its own piece of the pie. “We work for the businesses,” Murray says, describing the umbrella brand. “We are a cost centre for the businesses, and they have to receive value from us every day.”

The results have been nothing short of spectacular, with unprecedented growth in all three businesses, an expanded footprint across North America, including a market presence in some of the hottest markets, and agility to take advantage of new business opportunities when presented. 

Murray attributes Skyservice’s post-Covid success to the power of focus. “We have seen our aircraft sales business blossom and can rival any standalone brokerage or consulting company across North America. Our charter business is growing as clients recognize the pedigree of our [managed] fleet,” he says. “We are meeting strong demand for scheduled and heavy maintenance in Canada and are getting customers back in the air quickly. Our FBO business is growing. Airport authorities see us as thought leaders and valuable partners in the future ecosystem of the airport.”

Skyservice was the first private aviation company to bring sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to Canada and to Seattle, Washington’s King County International Airport-Boeing Field (BFI) and is talking with airports about bringing the eco-friendly fuel to their markets. 

Growing a North American FBO network

Each of these businesses present an entry point into the full Skyservice experience, and illustrate how the performance of one business unit can underpin the success of others. Nowhere is this more evident than the most visible point of the operation; the FBO. 

In 2023, Skyservice won a request for proposal (RFP) to operate an FBO facility at Vancouver International Airport (YVR), replacing a 20-year incumbent. More often than not in a new tender, the operator is flying blind. “An RFP to operate an FBO is not an acquisition,” Murray explains. “You get a bit of information about fuel volume and square footage. No information about current tenants or employees.”

In early 2022, Skyservice opened Toronto South, its second private jet centre at Pearson

Skyservice’s new Toronto South facility includes a 90,000-square-foot hangar and a 20,000-square-foot FBO for managed aircraft clients.

Between being handed the keys to the Vancouver location at midnight April 1 and fuelling its first jet that morning, Skyservice had rebranded the facility, put fuel in the trucks, held onto almost all of the employees and achieved a near perfect customer retention rate. The Vancouver experience has been a positive one and Skyservice recently purchased the hangar adjacent to the FBO from London Aviation Centre. 

“We’re a lot smarter in how we approach acquisitions,” Murray says. “Including where we can serve our existing customers in a more meaningful way.” Skyservice entered into a partnership with Fontainebleau Aviation, a division of luxury property and resort owner Fontainebleau Development, to take a majority ownership stake in the operating FBO at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (OPF) and the FBO currently being developed by Fontainebleau at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL). Both locations are in the Top 20 business aviation markets in the U.S. and represent a “go get” for Skyservice customers. 

“Fontainebleau is an iconic brand that aligns perfectly with our values of service excellence, safety and exceptional amenities,” Murray says. “We are excited by what this partnership brings to our network, and what it will do to transform our business on the FBO side.” The partnership with Fontainebleau brings the number of U.S. properties to seven, including an FBO the company is developing at the exclusive Napa County Airport (APC), known as the Skyport to the Wine Country. Several airports are sole proprietor locations, making the brand more visible and relevant in the fast-growing U.S. market.

Driving new business
Skyservice manages one of the largest and newest non-owned aircraft fleets in the business aviation sector. Its business is driven by a healthy mix of corporate and high-net worth clients and charter customers who reach across all business units for support. The acquisition of an 80,000-square-foot heavy maintenance hangar, located on Percival Reid Road adjoined to Montréal’s Trudeau International Airport (YUL), has added capacity to perform nose-to-tail heavy aircraft maintenance and avionics upgrades for customers.

An emerging growth opportunity has been in à la carte services, including charter. “There are a lot of first-time charter clients who are sampling different types of aircraft to see what kind of airplane they like,” Murray says. “They are working with our aircraft consultant and sales and acquisition teams to purchase an airplane, based on their own trip profile.” 

To build the charter relationship, Skyservice will rollout a loyalty program in 2024, offering value-added benefits to exclusive customers. Interestingly, a large volume of charter business comes from within, as embedded clients charter from Skyservice when their own airplane is out for maintenance or they temporarily require added capacity.

Putting the customer in the right airplane and surrounding them with upscale amenities and award-winning service is part of the Skyservice experience. “Once you become an aircraft owner, Skyservice elevates the ownership experience by providing nose-to-tail, full-service support,” Murray adds. “We consistently aim higher and reach further for our clients.”