Desert Jet Center on April 26, became the one and only FBO in the desert southwest region of the U.S. to hold the prestigious IS-BAH registration as well as the NATA Safety 1st certification, signaling a commitment of its leadership team to safety management and risk mitigation. The desert southwest region encompasses Southern California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.
The International Standard for Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH) follows the structure of the International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) program and incorporates the NATA Safety 1st Ground Audit Program. IS-BAH is the global industry standard for business aircraft handling agents and fixed-base operators around the world developed to align with existing and future Safety Management System (SMS) requirements aimed at ground handling service providers. According to the National Air Transportation Association’s map of the safety standards status of all FBOs worldwide, few FBOs nationwide are IS-BAH registered and NATA Safety 1st qualified, and only one FBO, Desert Jet Center, holds both designations in the greater Palm Springs area and desert southwest region.
"Visitors to our region are becoming much more sophisticated about the options provided by aviation service providers and are increasingly looking for full-service FBOs that provide an anticipatory customer service experience as well as the highest safety and quality standards,” said Denise Wilson, president and CEO of parent company Desert Jet. “Our FBO team’s commitment to ongoing training and professional development has led them to earn numerous accolades and safety nods and we could not be prouder of their achievements.”
“Safety is Paramount is not only one of our CORE Values, it is in our bones,” said Brad Elliot, general manager of Desert Jet Center. “When we opened the FBO we set out to achieve the top safety accolades in the industry, IS-BAH registration and NATA Safety 1st, just as Desert Jet Charter and Desert Jet Maintenance have done in their companies. Our culture and SMS program allows us to continually improve as well as be proactive to safety concerns. Attaining these two designations was a momentous investment in time and money that has paid dividends in avoiding accidents. The NATA’s status map makes a great reference for schedulers & dispatchers, pilots, and operators to choose which FBO to use to mitigate their risks.”
Wilson added, “As an IS-BAO stage III jet operator, it was important for us to build an FBO that met our safety standards from the ground up. The day our FBO opened, we had a set of standards developed from over ten years of operating an active fleet of jet aircraft and lessons learned from our SMS. Desert Jet Center was developed to meet the exacting needs of the IS-BAO-compliant flight department and we are proud of our FBO team for embracing the IS-BAH standard so thoroughly.”
