An insurance company used to advertise itself as ‘The Quiet Company.’ It’s a slogan that Macquarie Infrastructure Company might want to adopt. The Australian-based financial conglomerate has in a few short years become a major player in the FBO market. Its announced acquisition of the Mercury Air Centers chain will bring its number of bases to a reported 68. All will operate under the Atlantic Aviation umbrella.
Signature Flight Support, move over.
I first came across Macquarie several years back when it acquired Avports, which managed airports under contract and operated the FBO Avcenters. Just as the company has taken a stealth approach to acquisitions, so too does it stealthily approach the media. They don’t talk, at least not publicly.
It will be interesting to see how long they can maintain that posture once they’ve become the 800-pound gorilla in the FBO room.
Meanwhile, the FBO landscape continues to change rapidly. Might be time to create a monthly scorecard.
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On page 30, long-time friend and industry analyst Jim Haynes offers his insights into how new money (ala Macquarie) is changing the FBO acquisitions game. A few of the outtakes from our interview are worth sharing ...
- On the need to modernize ATC: “There is a tremendous amount of angst on the part of the alphabet groups over user fees, and that isn’t the problem.
- “The people who are going to be inconvenienced the most were sitting around DFW with me yesterday — the flying public. It’s going to be the public who will say stop, we’ve got to fix the system.
- “We need to restructure the way it’s operated; as long as it’s operated by the government and controlled by the government, nothing is going to change.”
- On appraising an FBO: “You should not go there [number times earnings]; it’s dangerous. It’s more, what have you done in the past and where are the opportunities?”
- On GA facilities: “One of the other things that concerns me is, how are we going to enable general aviation airports to become profitable or break-even after depreciation? Most GA airports don’t make money; most commercial airports do. It’s an entirely different model.
“You’re going to have taxpayers asking why do we have this airport? I don’t think people are buying the economic development argument.”
Finally, LAX is once again on the rates & charges radar screen. The airport wants to restructure some airline leases as it rethinks its financial structure. An administrative law judge has sided with the carriers. Watch for a DOT ruling, expected to come out in mid-June. Stay tuned.
Thanks for reading.
