Setting the Standard

Setting the Standard

A decade on, Signature Flight Support is poised for continued success in customer service, reports Michelle Garetson

By Michelle Garetson/p>

By Michelle Garetson

September 2002

If ever there was a decade that would feature every possible peak and valley in aviation, this last one would certainly be it. From the incredible rise in corporate jet ownership as well as increased commercial airline activity to the tragedies that transpired on September 11, 2001, Signature Flight Support, has seen it all. Still, a decade later, while others are struggling, Signature has managed to position itself for a bright future.

History
Steve Lee and Andy Reeves are two of Signature's employees who were in on the ground floor a decade ago when Butler Aviation and Page Avjet Corporation merged.

Lee, who is Signature's Senior Vice President Marketing / Business Development, was with Butler as its Controller when the merger took place. Reeves is Vice President of GSE and Maintenance for both Signature and ASIG (Aircraft Services International Group), which Signature's parent company, BBA Group PLC, acquired over a year ago, purchases ground support equipment for both organizations, and was hired in 1990 by Butler Aviation as line service trainer.

Lee recalls that Butler had 15 locations in 1992, and Page Avjet had 19 locations. There were only two overlaps, so 32 total locations were the result.

"Both companies needed to grow, but it was difficult to survive and prosper on their own," says Lee. "The new entity became Signature Flight Support, with 'We put our name on the line, everyday' as its tagline."

Signature and ASIG
"About a year ago, our parent company, BBA Group PLC, bought ASIG" says Lee. "Prior to that, about one-third of Signature's business was commercial airline work and it included into-plane fueling, ground handling, baggage handling, cargo work, a little bit of everything."

When ASIG was purchased, the existing commercial activity at Signature was combined with ASIG so that all commercial work for Signature at any Signature location, is under the ASIG brand name. Any Signature employees on the commercial side were moved over to ASIG and now wear an ASIG uniform. But Lee makes the distinction; "We're totally separate brands and entities. ASIG is strictly centered on commercial and Signature is centered on Corporate/Retail."

Bread and Butter
"Our real 'bread and butter' business is the corporate business jet," explains Lee. "It's a range - we tend to segregate light jet, medium jet, and heavy jet, - probably the biggest grouping for us is the medium jet such as Citations, Falcon 50s, and Hawkers. However, if you go to a typical Signature ramp, you really will find a big mix - everything from a [Cessna] 172 up to transport category aircraft."

Lee says that Signature's types of services can be divided into two categories: Aircraft Logistics - which is the actual parking of the aircraft, hangaring of the aircraft, services such as fuel, lav service, — anything the airplane needs short of maintenance; and People Logistics -arranging for ground transportation (limos, taxis- rental cars.) catering, conference rooms, for crew and passengers. "We basically look after the crew's needs - anything from hotels, tee times, theater tickets - in effect, it's concierge services," adds Lee.

Running the Ramp
Rampside, all ground support equipment for Signature and ASIG is managed by Andy Reeves.

"It makes sense when you think about it because we're both ordering tugs and fuel trucks, so to get the most economy of scale," says Lee. "We budget a year in advance what equipment we're going to need for all of Signature and Andy tries to consolidate with his requirements from ASIG as to how best coordinate all purchases and work with the manufacturers to schedule."

Lee continues, "ASIG is on 98 airports and Signature has 44 locations in U.S. Andy's role is to try to identify the needs and to determine the best products for those needs." According to Reeves, for both Signature and ASIG, rolling stock of GSE is over 6,000 pieces, up from the less than 2,000 pieces when he first started in 1994.

Resources
Reeves credits his people in the field - the mechanics, maintenance managers, and regional maintenance managers - as his best resources and relies heavily on their feedback.

"We're very lucky," claims Reeves. "The company that owns Signature and ASIG invests very heavily in us. Over the last seven years we have spent a considerable amount of capital replacing our fleet — we went from an average fleet age of 14 years when Signature was first created, to now where we have an average fleet age of five years. Our maintenance tracking program, GSE SRT Web was added in 1995 to track and capture maintenance data essential to the success of the program, and to insure we protect our investment."

Customer Security
Like other aviation-related businesses, Signature was greatly affected by the events of September 11, 2001. Protecting customers as well as employees is a top priority and
Signature has implemented several check systems to keep everyone safe.

"Probably the main thing that has changed," offers Lee, "is access to the facility is more restricted."
He adds, "We actually have an ID tag system. When you arrive with the aircraft, you are issued a unique tag that's printed from our point-of sale system. You have to bring this with you and present it to basically reclaim your aircraft."

FAST FACTS:

Signature/ASIG has more than 4,500 employees that support more than 1.3 million aircraft movements, handle approximately 250 million pounds of freight and dispense more than 2.5 billion gallons of fuel to business, general and commercial aircraft ranging in size from a Cessna 172 to a Boeing 747.

Hiring the Right People
"One of the things we've introduced in the last year is a pre-employment questionnaire," says Lee. "On the Signature side, we're providing services to high-end clientele and it's all about a superior level of service. We're looking for people who not only can be technically trained to properly fuel an aircraft but can do it with a proper service attitude with a smile and correct interaction. Do they have the right mental make-up to be a people person and provide that level of service?"

Changes and Constants
Probably the biggest change in recent times according to Lee is the tremendous growth in operations and activity in the fractionals, as well as the arrival of larger aircraft such as the Gulfstream V, Global Express, and BBJ — all of that is putting stress on available infrastructure. "It's eating up ramp space, a lot of the hangars in the industry aren't big enough to accommodate some of the aircraft," says Lee.

To deal with this challenge, Signature has introduced a reservation system, that is trademarked ConciAir. "A lot of what we're trying to do aside from just providing a service to the customer, is to have more knowledge of arrivals. The more we know in advance as to who's coming and what their needs are, the better planning we can do," says Lee.

"What has stayed the same," Lee continues, "is the underlying value of the business jet. The reason people have them because it provides flexibility, convenience, as well as anonymity. Also, what's stayed the same is the need to provide services to passengers and crew. Even though the technology's changed around us and the airports have changed around us, somebody on the ground still has to provide
services to those aircraft and
occupants."

We have a very supportive parent company, BBA Group PLC, and they've invested a lot of money in us. They have encouraged us to grow and they have created an environment that allows us to grow. We've had a very outstanding, consistent management team. The growth of Signature has mirrored the growth of BBA. When the merger first took place in 1992, Signature was BBA's only presence in the aviation industry. Now it is significantly bigger with its other aviation businesses that generate revenues of over a billion dollars - so they've [BBA] established a big presence in aviation and continue to want to grow.

Given all the peaks and valleys in aviation these last 10 years, if ever there was a decade to have seen so much, this last one has to have been it.

"It's been an interesting 10 years," responds Lee.