A New, Executive Thunderbird

Established in 1962, Minnesota-Based Thunderbird Aviation is celebrating it’s 50th year in the business. With two locations — one at Flying Cloud Airport (FCM) in Eden Prairie, and another at Crystal Airport in Crystal, MN, flight training and professional pilot development has always been a core focus. After all, the company brought Piper to the area during its formative years in the ‘60s.

The company’s primary operations has always been at GA airports serving single-engine piston, twin-engine piston, turboprop, and corporate turbojet aircraft. The airports are owned and operated by the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC). With three runways, Flying Cloud is classified as a ‘minor’ airport by the Metropolitan Council and is one of six reliever airports in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

Comments Chris Cape, Thunderbird GM and director of operations, “Our core franchise has always been flight training, but we feel as an FBO, we have to be diversified. So, since 2005 and 2006 at both Crystal and Flying Cloud, we wanted to stay true to our core flight training services, but also provide all of the other pillars that make an FBO successful.

“By being diversified, we are better able to weather the economic cyclicality that exists in the market.”

Managing The Downturn

During the economic recession of the past few years, Flying Cloud Airport took a hit, but business-wise, Thunderbird has not been down — it’s been up. The airport is a highly competitive environment with five FBOs on the field.

Says Cape, “I would venture to guess that our competitors out here were all down during the downturn.

“The business has to be diversified; when the market started to crash in 2008, we really diversified our model to the point that, for example, aircraft rental was a huge part of our business — we went out and started doing more aerial services. We now work with state and government agencies and fly forestry contracts for the Department of Natural Resources. That increases our utilization of aircraft.

“The other FBOs do business a little different. We are now in the mode that we are doing everything; diversifying our service offering is very important to us. When one area is tough, we can focus on another area.”

Remarks president Nancy Grazzini-Olson “We recognize a lot of people are seeing downturns; our philosophy has been to work harder and make it happen. We have been really fortunate; we haven’t had that downturn at all. Aircraft rental was probably hit the hardest, but everything else has been up.”

A New, Executive Terminal

“When the economy was getting tougher a few years ago, and we were focusing our flight training and professional piloting at the Crystal location, we took a close look at the Flying Cloud operation,” relates Grazzini-Olson.

“The airport extended the runway in 2009, and we always knew once that was complete, we would change what we were doing there. We decided to put in a new facility; we were changing the focus of our company. Today at Flying Cloud, we are focused on providing fuel and servicing aircraft.”

The new FBO facility is just shy of 8,000-square feet, in addition to the completely remodeled existing maintenance hangar; the investment was some $2 million. Thunderbird acquired an extension on its lease, and that enabled it to finance the new facility. With options, the FBO now has a 25-year lease at Flying Cloud. The company also added an administration building.

Remarks Cape, “We were very forward thinking in the design when considering security. If TSA were to say we have to have secured ramps, we would be ready. Every employee now has a badge and we have implemented access control features.”

Adds Grazzini-Olson, “We have a very nice pilot lounge and sleeping area. Our lobby is very nice, and there is a complete view of the runway and the airport from that area. We also have a nice classroom setting and pilot training area.