Signature Flight Support Finalizes Landmark FBO Deal

Signature Flight Support parent company BBA Aviation completed its acquisition of rival FBO chain Landmark Aviation on Friday, some four months after the deal was announced. The $2.065 billion purchase includes Landmark’s 68 FBOs in North America and Europe and its MRO business.

As a requirement of the transaction, Signature will be forced to divest six Landmark FBOs—to a buyer approved by the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s antitrust division—at U.S. airports where the two companies were the only service providers. This includes Washington Dulles International, California’s Fresno Yosemite International and Scottsdale (Ariz.) Municipal Airports. It is also forced to sell at New York’s Westchester County Airport, Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal, Calif., and at Alaska’s Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, where the two companies had two of the three full-service FBOs.

The transaction also included Landmark's 110-aircraft strong charter/management division. BBA Aviation is based in the UK, and last week’s announcement stated only that the acquisition of Landmark's charter and management division was structured to be compliant with U.S. Department of Transportation regulations. At press time, the company had not responded to AIN requests for further details of how this charter arm is now structured.