Airport Business - 11

SAFETY
David Allen training
commercial airline team
members use an electro static
sprayer for the disinfection
and protection process for
aircraft.
DAVID ALLEN CERTIFIED

for customers about new policies and
procedures related to COVID-19. Hand
sanitizer was now in every room of the
FBO, social distancing markings were
on the floors and FBO team members
could be seen cleaning and disinfecting
everything from pens and front counters
to the amenity bars.
While all those much-needed
measures were to safeguard customers
and ensure CDC recommendations
were being followed, what it did in
the beginning was heighten everyone's
anxiety. It was all so visibly different.
Even the conversations in the FBOs were
swirling around COVID-19 as people
traded information and shared their
personal experiences with one another.

The Way It's
Transforming
Fear and anxiety have given way to
collaboration and innovation as leaders
and team members across the industry
have joined forces to lead our industry
through COVID-19. National Air
Transportation Association (NATA)
leaders Timothy Obitts, president
& CEO and Ryan Waguespack,
senior vice president wasted no time
responding to their member's requests
to support FBOs and the FBO customer
experience by creating an industry
standard around cleaning, disinfecting
and protecting FBOs.
A host of leaders across the industry
were invited to come together to

collaborate. David Allen, Founder &
CEO of the Allen Groupe and David
Allen Certified was grateful for that
invitation. As a commercial and private
aviation disinfection and protection
expert with 30-plus years of experience,
Allen had been inundated with calls
from aircraft operators and FBOs in
need of his expertise and support on
handling COVID-19 so the invitation
to collaborate on the creation of NATA's
new Safety 1st Clean FBO Program was
a great way to help the industry on a
broad scale very quickly.
David Allen Certified launched an
FBO training and certification program
with Ross Aviation being its pilot FBO
operator. Many of the Ross Aviation
network locations now offer the services
of disinfecting and protecting aircraft,
hangars, customer and rental cars, and
tenant offices in addition to being
able to disinfect and protect their own
FBO facilities. This is a great example
of how FBOs are innovating to add
to their skillset, self-reliance, services
and revenue streams in the wake of
COVID-19.
Many FBOs are taking extra steps
to continue to remove anxiety for their
customers through a heightened focus
on delivering an environment, services
and amenities that are acutely focused
on the customers health and well-being.
While it may seem silly, a mask that is
branded with a company logo or simply
shows a little of a person's personality

goes a long way to lowering the anxiety
of seeing everyone in masks.
In the beginning of the pandemic,
most of the food and beverage amenities
were pulled back by FBOs out of an
abundance of caution with the exception
of coffee where it was available in single
serve machines. That has since changed,
but "single serve" is a very healthful way
forward for amenities. Customers still like
and want cookies, but the expectation
now is that they are individually packaged
like the DoubleTree hotel.
And for a more healthful option, a
bowl of individually wrapped apples
is a great option which are how many
grocery and convenient stores are selling
them already today. Replacing that
much loved fresh popped popcorn is a
little trickier.
There are a multitude of individually
packaged savory and sweet snacks out
there that are great options. You can
purchase them from companies like
Torn Ranch, a long-time vendor in
the aviation space who will even brand
them with your logo. The options range
from savory healthy nuts and trail mixes
to sweet candies and chocolates. One of
the most interesting wellness products
very new to the FBO space is a designer
water machine called Smartwell.
It allows customers to design a single
cup of water to be f lat or sparkling,
infused with vitamin C, electrolytes
or caffeine and flavored to their liking
with choices like lemon, lime, raspberry,
peach, pomegranate, cucumber or
coconut.
There are a variety of healthful snack
and beverage vending machines now
that can create an additional revenue
stream for an FBO while meeting the
current and more healthful dietary
preferences like gluten free, low carb
and keto friendly of both crew members
and passengers. These vending machines
have a very high-end look and feel that
fits quite nicely into today's FBOs.
While FBOs are still in the midst
of managing operations through the
pandemic, they are going to continue
to innovate the customer experience out
of necessity and creativity. The customer
experience is transforming into the best,
most healthy and innovative experiences
customers have ever known and this will
last way beyond COVID-19. 

AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2020 \ AVIATIONPROS.COM / 11
http://www.AVIATIONPROS.COM
Airport Business

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Airport Business
