Business & GA

Signature Flight Support is looking to expand its network of fixed-base operations across the globe to extend its dominance of this sector of the business aviation services industry.

The 15-year-old company, which is owned by BBA Aviation of the UK, has 102 FBOs in its portfolio - 57 in the USA, 25 in Europe and 19 in South America - which it operates under a joint venture partnership with Brazilian company Lider and one in South Africa.

"Despite the large number of FBOs in our chain this only represents 7% of the global market," said Signature Flight Support chief executive Michael Scheeringa at the show. "We have barely scratched the surface."

Although he was tight-lipped about the numbers and destinations of these projected facilities, Scheeringa - who took the helm at Signature less than a year ago after a stint as chief executive of fractional ownership provider Flight Options - said the company would expand the network in "first world cities" through acquisitions, joint ventures and licencing arrangements with local operators.

"We are keen to have a global focus and have conducted research on our customers, competitors and the geopolitical challenges to establish a template of what we are going to build towards over the next 10 years," Scheeringa said.

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