The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is typically a magnet for business aviation, and last month's conference was no exception. Zurich Airport, the main aviation gateway to the conference, has a limited number of long-term parking stands allocated for business aviation, as does the nearby military airport in Dubendorf. To accommodate the higher traffic volumes during the conference, Zurich also enforces a maximum ground time of three hours for all short-turnaround aircraft.
To handle the surge in traffic, local FBOs brought in more staff and more rental cars. At its flagship facility, Jet Aviation’s staff for the event consisted of 72 handling personnel, including 11 from other company locations as far away as Singapore and Palm Beach, Florida. The General Dynamics subsidiary’s FBO handled 592 movements, 1,320 passengers and 296 conference aircraft at Zurich and Dubendorf during the four-day event. Its locations at Basel and Munich handled overflow aircraft parking, and coordinated customer drop-offs and pick-ups in Zurich, which pumped nearly 300,000 gallons (1.12 million liters) of fuel.
“The entire team truly pulled together to provide an excellent customer experience,” said Joao Martins, general manager of Jet Aviation Zurich. “Last year we employed FBO1 to better connect, harmonize and manage our global FBO network. It was wonderful to see how our personnel from Zurich and Basel, across EMEA and the U.S. all worked together to provide a seamless service delivery as one team.
Execujet Zurich, another of the four FBOs on the field, handled another 300 movements and provided approximately 80,000 gallons (300,000 liters) of fuel, itself. According to FBO manager Basel Gamper, the location’s hangar was full, requiring the company to reposition aircraft to its Munich facility.
“Since 2003 when ExecuJet’s Zurich FBO opened for business, we have grown in our reach, capacity and services available for WEF,” said Gamper. “Our clients fly in from all over Europe as well as Africa, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and the Americas on a wide range of aircraft to the event. It's a great way to showcase how we are at the top of our game.”