FBO's

[Ndege]

I would highly recommend the following FBO's:

Choice Aviation in Cody WY - this is a great stop for exploring Yellowstone, Jackson hole, Grand Tetons and surrounds. They managed to get a rental car at half the cost that I was quoted directly, fuel and parking were very reasonable and they were extremely nice as well as efficient. A great round trip of a few days can be made through Red Lodge, then down through Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton NP then looping through Wind River range back to Cody. The prices for facility fee, parking and fuel at Jackson are outrageous. There are many other close airports to choose from that charge reasonable prices but involve a little extra driving - but with a little planning the drives can be made into part of the trip and provide great sightseeing opportunities. 

Kemp Jet Center, Ogden, UT. Great service and very reasonable prices. CAA fuel. Only an hour drive to Park City, or Deer valley,  half that to Snow Basin. Perfect stop for skiing these locations.

Boise :Jackson Jet center -also CAA fuel and very reasonable fees. This is about 2.5 hour drive from Sun Valley.
The nearest airport to Sun Valley is in Hailey - but the FBO is operated by Atlantic an FBO that seems to be on track to price normal people out of airports where they operate ; $7 plus fuel price, $420 facility fee, $200 a night ramp fees. This seems to be the norm for Atlantic and I try to stay away from any of their FBO's.

Aero Air in Hillsboro, Oregon- Great prices through World fuel. Provide great service very convenient to Portland or the Willamette Valley wine country. Also a Commander service center - that has provided excellent maintenance at reasonable prices.

Potcake Aviation - McMinnville, Oregon - my home base and home of the Evergreen Air and Space museum, this is the home of the Spruce Goose. Another great base for exploring the Willamette Valley wineries.

Seems like you can save considerable money doing a little research and landing a short distance away from popular locations and just driving a little further. I understand that FBO's like Atlantic spend considerable money building outstanding facilities, but most of us do not need or want that. They operate at publicly funded airports and there should be some way to simply land, park and fuel without having to contribute to these elaborate facilities and services. It appears the only way  currently is to land elsewhere. I hope that these large chain FBO operators do not strangle the market and squeeze out those without very deep pockets.

Cheers,
Peter Fraser
N383HC

[Steve binnette]

Lots of good info. Thanks, I need to get out and do some exploring.

 I would not totally write off all Atlantic’s FBOs.  I just got back from Addison Texas and the Atlantic there said they would match million airs C.A.A. pricing and the one in DSM is a C.A.A. provider.  I would definitely do some calling before I just dropped in on a Atlantic FBO.  They can be ridiculous.

We should all share info on good FBO experiences. 

[donv]

Any airport with only one FBO is likely to be expensive. That's just reality. On airports with multiple FBOs, sometimes the Atlantic location is the one to go for. I would never patronize a Signature willingly, though.

I tend to want to go where I want to go, but I do try to balance my fuel purchases. If I know fuel is ridiculous somewhere, I try to minimize my purchase and tanker in, or add a stop.

The one exception to that, over the years, is San Diego Lindbergh. It is just so darn ridiculous that I will go to Gillespie or Montgomery even though Lindbergh is so convenient.

Sea-Tac is another one to avoid. I went in there a few years back because I had a meeting 5 minutes away from the FBO (would have been 20-25 minutes at least from BFI), but the ramp fee was just absurd. Now, even if I am picking someone up who is coming in on the airlines, I go to BFI. Really not that much time difference there anyway, for that.

[JMA]

Atlantic is crazy expensive, think of it this way, we have been based there since 1980... Thats a lot of hangar fees for 40+ years

[Adam Frisch]

Signature always the worst. Atlantic seemed to go both ways - sometimes reasonable, sometimes outrageous. I'll always go for the least recognizable or mom-and-pop FBO given a chance.

[donv]

If I'm going to somewhere new, or even somewhere I haven't been in a year or so, I always use airnav.com and CAA to check fuel prices and figure out which FBO to go to. In fact, I use airnav.com even for places I do go frequently.

[donv]

I just added a Titan fuel card. They have better prices at a lot of places where otherwise you would end up paying list. Specifically, I wanted it for Bermuda Dunes California, where it brings the price down quite a bit-- although still more expensive than Thermal by a good bit.

I don't think it beats CAA anywhere, but they seem to be a lot of places where CAA isn't, monopoly FBOs, etc.

[Mark S]

Bermuda Dunes is nice and convenient but the pricing is a bit hard for me to justify....Probably because it’s so much more than years past.
Being a private owned airport, I suppose the higher fees are to be expected.

Nice people and cars are on site which is great. TRM is usually less expensive enough to justify the longer drive.
Maybe we do  a turbo commander fly-in and negotiate a big discount!

[donv]

There are a couple of things to take into account in regard to Bermuda Dunes.

First, the overnight fees are significantly lower at Bermuda Dunes than Ross Aviation at Thermal, so that is a savings. Then, the Titan fuel card brings the fuel price down significantly, although it is still about a dollar per gallon more than Thermal (with CAA).

So then I tanker quite a bit in, and in the end it only costs me slightly more than Thermal. However, I do stay several days at a time.

[Badger]

Great information, Guys.  Thank you.  I am always looking for reasonable FBOs, weighed against where I have to be.  I appreciate the inputs here!  I guess I need to look into CAA...

Ed