As you may know, I am president of the Independent Fixed Base Operators Association whose mission it is to assist wherever we can small to medium-sized FBOs. It's a competitive world out there and competing against some of the major players can be a daily challenge. And the competition extends to the most qualified supervisors and managers.
I am constantly hearing from operators how difficult it is to recruit qualified managers, especially when employee turnover is high as people leave FBOs for higher-paying jobs, often with the airlines.
One of our missions at the association is to help provide the knowledge and skills FBO employees require to manage their organizations. To that end, I have been working with an aeronautical college to develop an FBO Management Certificate geared towards owner/operators, general managers and shift managers. Our goal is to provide a structured approach to develop the skills and knowledge FBOs need to function effectively, efficiently and, perhaps most of all, competitively.
My questions to all of you are:
- What knowledge or skills would you like to see an FBO management course focus on?
- Are there particular areas of FBO management that you would like to see taught at the college level?
Your thoughts and ideas as workers or managers at FBOs would be most welcome as we shape the program in the coming weeks and months.
