With Delaware’s favorable corporate tax policies, it’s little wonder that the state’s business aviation traffic stands in contrast to its small size. Sixty-five percent of all Fortune 500 companies and more than half of all U.S. publicly traded companies are incorporated in the First State.
At New Castle Airport (ILG), Wilmington’s dedicated general aviation gateway, FlyAdvanced has been providing aviation services since 2006 from a converted former corporate flight department hangar. Founded in 2001 as Aeroways, the one-airplane management operation took on more aircraft and eventually grew into a full-service FBO. The company was purchased in 2014 and rebranded FlyAdvanced, along with the company’s second FBO at Philadelphia-area Wings Field Airport.
Through its flagship location at ILG, the company provides customers with a one-stop-shop offering: aircraft management, charter, sales, rentals, flight training, and an FAA Part 145 maintenance station with a mobile repair team. Capable of handling anything from heavy jets down to pistons, it recently received HondaJet factory authorization. And as the company points out, there is no state sales tax on parts or labor. The complex also has an avionics shop and is a Garmin and Rockwell Collins dealer.
The company has been a CAA-preferred provider at ILG for more than a decade, and its 2,100-sq-ft terminal features a passenger lounge/waiting area, refreshment bar with coffee, fresh-baked cookies and popcorn, a business center/flight planning area, crew lounge, quiet room with massage recliners, showers, full kitchen, break room, crew car, onsite car rental, valet parking, and a pair of six-seat A/V-equipped conference rooms. Air Culinaire is the company’s preferred caterer, serving transient customers as well as its charter operations from a company-owned kitchen in nearby Philadelphia.
With a leasehold of more than seven acres, the location offers four heated 15,000-sq-ft hangars capable of sheltering aircraft up to a Bombardier Global 7500. They are home to 16 turbine-powered aircraft ranging from a pair of Dassault Falcon 900s down to a Daher TBM 700.
It is open from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. every day, with after-hours call-out at a fee. U.S. Customs is available 24/7 with advance notice and will clear aircraft on the ramp.
The FBO, one of three on the field, sees approximately 10 operations a day, and pumps approximately 750,000 gallons of fuel a year from its Shell-branded tank farm which can store 20,000 gallons of jet-A and 12,000 gallons of avgas. The company’s Safety 1st-trained line technicians, part of the Wilmington location’s 45 member staff, operate a pair of 5,000-gallon jet-A refuelers, and a 1,000-gallon avgas truck.
Business is steady throughout the year, according to Travis Baker, the FBO’s assistant manager, noting that due to his state’s tax incentives, corporate meetings generate a lot of its traffic. During the summer, NASCAR races at the nearby Dover International Speedway, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, as well as the Firefly Music Festival, serve as a slight bump for business.
When it comes to customer service, Baker said the FBO sticks to the tried and true philosophy. “We treat every aircraft, whether it’s a Cessna 172 or a G550, with the same level of service across the board,” he told AIN. “Especially for the little planes, because you never know if the guy stepping out of it could have three jets they want to bring to you.”
Baker recalled one event this summer where a group of six passengers showed up at the FBO for a vacation charter flight to the Bahamas through a third-party operator. Upon the aircraft’s arrival, it was determined to have a major mechanical issue, and the charter provider was notified to find a replacement aircraft. While they waited for its arrival, the FBO staff entertained the passengers, including ordering them hoagie sandwiches and beverages.
When the replacement aircraft arrived several hours later, it was quickly fueled and the luggage transferred, passengers boarded and ready for takeoff, before it, too, was stricken with a mechanical issue. The FBO has four similar 600-series Challengers based there, and its maintenance technicians who were very familiar with the type, inspected the aircraft to determine the problem, which was found to be a faulty baggage compartment door sensor. Drawing the appropriate part from the facility’s Challenger spare parts supply, they soom repaired the aircraft, allowing the customers to finally head off. Though frustrated over the loss of nearly a day’s vacation, Baker said, they were pleased with the care and attention they were shown at the FBO.
At Wings Field in Bluebell, Pennsylvania, FlyAdvanced has not only operated the lone FBO since 2011 but also earned the contract to manage the airport. It has a single 3,700-foot runway that serves aircraft from light jets and turboprops on down. The facility there is a Cirrus platinum service center and training center. In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, FlyAdvanced operates the largest Cirrus service center in the U.S., which deploys its own mobile repair team with a 38-foot aircraft-recovery trailer.
- Business Aviation