When the APERTUS team charters private jets for you, we always ensure that there is someone upon departure and arrival who will receive you and take care of all the flight procedures, making your experience seamless. Ever wonder who this ‘someone’ is? Sometimes, they’re service staff who work for the airline or airport. Other times, they are ground handlers. There is a stark difference between both of these roles.
Ground handlers… handle stuff… like lots of stuff. To be specific, they perform a variety of miscellaneous tasks to prepare everything that is needed for planes to be ready to take off as well as manage the post-landing process. In regions with a lack of sufficient FBOs, handlers compensate for the absence of services and facilities catered to private aviation.
The handlers’ job can include
Loading and unloading
Luggage handling
Refuelling aircraft
Parking
Providing necessary flight information to passengers
Suffice check-in, boarding and deposition procedures.
Prepare and handle the weather condition, flight plan,
fuel, and other important information.
Observe Customer Safety with Security Procedures
Handing and repairing mechanical faults
Evidently, they are very pivotal every step of the way. While the more common handling standard internationally takes the form of local private ground handlers, many Western business aircraft operators (ie. in North America, Europe and Australia) are accustomed to Fixed-Based Operator (FBO) services.
Thus, it is not a norm in the West for there to be as many handlers tending to aircraft and travellers. While FBOs can also provide ground handling services, they are typically done by staff members of airline companies or airports.
Can you guess why? Here is a clue: Out of the 4,500 FBOs that are operating worldwide, a whopping 3,000 of them are just in the USA.
Yes, while the Western World is used to having many FBOs that essentially provide a range of aviation services with specialised manpower and facilities, the rest of the world attempts to accommodate and serve general aviation via their commercial airports and local ground handlers.
Since many commercial airports do not have the necessary space, infrastructure and facilities to act as a private jet terminal, there are many ground handlers who make up for this shortcoming by performing the necessary services.
In fact, the Asia-Pacific region has seen a remarkable increase in its business jet and turbine helicopter fleet over the past five years. These numbers are forecasted to grow due to the increasing population and net wealth in the region.
To be able to grow at the projected rate, Asia-Pacific countries need to resolve their aviation infrastructure bottleneck issues, namely, overcapacity and limited parking issues. Of the 72 FBOs in the region, Australia is home to the most – 23. Questionably, while Australia has 23 facilities to serve a business aviation fleet of about 200 aircraft, Hong Kong has one FBO for a fleet of about 122 business jets.
Fun fact: On average, the Asia Pacific has one FBO for every 15 jets and one Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) centre for every 19. The USA, by comparison, has one MRO facility for every five private aircraft and an FBO available for every four planes.
Similarly, in Africa, which is becoming a more popular location for business aviation operations, FBOs are only accessible in a few of the 55 nations that make up the continent – South Africa, Angola, Cape Verde, Nigeria, Morocco, and Seychelles.
It’s likely that many countries without FBOs don’t see enough potential returns to actually invest in more FBOs even though business aviation is a business tool that can propel economic growth and employment opportunities.
However, demand is increasing and considering the boom in private aviation due to Covid-19 that is predicted to continue, these countries might slowly see the benefits of establishing FBOs.
Ultimately, however, this isn’t a problem that you have to trouble yourself over too much. All of this hard work is taken care of for you by people we trust and work closely with. This was just an insight into some of the behind-the-scenes action that not many may know about. In any situation, the APERTUS team is experienced in navigating such issues and curating a flight itinerary that complements your personal needs, getting you to your destination. So, don’t worry about the location. Actually, don’t worry about anything. Just tell us where you wanna go and we’ll bring the jet.