Don Allen, owner of Silverhawk Aviation, would like pilots to be thinking of Lincoln Municipal Airport (LNK), Neb., as a mid-continent refueling stop. As an area businessman and pilot, he saw business potential in merging Capitol Aviation and Silverhawk, two of the three FBOs at LNK (Duncan Aviation is the competition). A little more than a year ago, that’s just what he did. Allen said, “It struck me that I could use the best of both and turn the resulting company into a profitable, post-retirement business for my family. Since the merger, we’ve really been
able to take advantage of everything both FBOs had offered.”
Retaining the Silverhawk name, the company still realizes most of its profits from its charter segment (15 aircraft, 20 pilots), but Allen and Silverhawk v-p Tony Mateer expect that to change. Allen said, “We are on target to have one of our best years ever on the fuel sales side, and we expect that it will soon surpass our charter aircraft sales.” Allen expects fuel sales to double in the next few years.
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