The new owner of the Million Air fixed-base operation (FBO) franchise is raising the service standards that member locations are required to meet. The US chain also wants to expand into Canada, Europe and Mexico and is looking for "quality not quantity", says chief executive officer Roger Woolsey.
Parent company Million Air Interlink, which has 24 individually owned franchise locations in the USA, was acquired by Woolsey in April. "Million Air had good brand recognition, but was missing a consistent level of service," he says. "Over the next 18 months we plan to get to a consistent concierge-guest level of service modelled on the Ritz Carlton."
Woolsey wants to grow the chain to 60 franchise locations over the next five years, "not by selling, but by selecting". He admits there may be "one or two casualties" among the current chain as the company works to standardise and improve service. The parent company is spending heavily on training and hopes to recoup its investment through increased revenues generated by a better, larger chain of FBOs.
Internationally, the company is looking at locations in Europe, "a couple in Mexico" and in Canada. Million Air is also moving to secure agreements with the fuel suppliers and other vendors that leverage the buying power of the entire chain.
Source: Flight International