With consolidation reducing the ranks of large independent FBOs in the U.S, a group of FBO owners, including some of the most highly regarded service providers, has banded together to help each other, share best practices, make recommendations and update their colleagues on business conditions. Known as the FBO #1 Group or more commonly, the Aviation 20 Group, it was founded in 1980 and meets three times a year (February, June, and September) with the members hosting the three-day gatherings on a rotating basis. The group’s number hovers around 20 active participants, some of whom have been part of it for so long that they have watched other members’ children grow up and get married. “It’s been a pretty consistent challenge in the industry to stay independent, but the ones that stay independent are fiercely independent,” noted Jim Motroni, co-owner of global consultancy Conversant Solutions, the group’s moderator for more than two decades. “They’ve got jet fuel in their veins and that’s what they want to do.”
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