Brent Moldowan will head up day-to-day operations as president and CEO; strengthening the firm’s regional bases and customer-facing teams. Joining Moldowan on the leadership team are Viviana Kozin, chief operating officer; Ron Carlstrom, chief financial Officer; Rich Ropp, chief sales and services officer; and Stephanie Mueller, chief talent officer.

The new structure will help incorporate the same technology platforms across each base and help develop ways to support similar departments, leveraging the resources and capabilities of the larger company.

“We’re confident in Brent uniting our entire team together where technology and best practices can be shared,” said chairman Andy Priester. “His experience provides a cohesive way to support our front-line employees, who have built long-standing relationships with and understand the unique needs of our customers in each region.”

Moldowan is currently helping Mayo Aviation integrate into the larger George J. Priester Aviation family of companies, after which he will assume the operational leadership of the larger organisation in his new roles. Andy Priester will continue as chairman.

Moldowan previously served the company as president of Mayo Aviation. Each regional base – Priester Aviation in the Midwest, Mayo in the West, and Hill Private Aviation in the Southeast – will have a president to lead it. The company amalgamated its services into one legacy company earlier this year.

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The companies include Priester Aviation as its Midwest base, Mayo Aviation as its Rocky Mountain West base, and Hill Private Aviation, its Southeast base. George J. Priester Aviation will serve as the parent company for future business and expansion initiatives while the three companies will retain their individual names for customer services and signage.

“For years, we’ve worked to uphold and build upon the legacy that my grandfather created and my father expanded,” said Andy Priester, chairman and CEO, George J. Priester Aviation. “It matters to us that the branding and story behind our parent company unites our businesses while honoring the pillars on which all companies were founded.”

The brand includes a stylised icon representing 1944 Beechcraft Staggerwing, bought by George in 1953 after purchasing Palwaukee Airport, now Chicago Executive Airport.

“It’s critically important that the family of companies maintains what makes them special: building relationships,” Priester said. “It’s why the Mayo family has connected with customers in the Rocky Mountain region and why Guy Hill Sr. and Jr. have been an aviation mainstay in Atlanta. Being part of a larger George J. Priester Aviation organization allows people to immediately see the connection to a group with the nationwide resources and capabilities to serve their aviation needs anywhere.”

George J. Priester Aviation company manages more than 80 aircraft among its companies and operates charter service globally through its bases and partnerships.

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The deal will allow all three companies to grow opportunities together and improve services to clients, said Andy Priester, chairman and CEO, Priester Aviation. “Now Hill, along with Priester and Mayo, can grow with added infrastructure and support, while still honoring and respecting what has already been built over the last six decades,” said Priester. “Hill’s culture and people have been central to its success. We’re excited to engage Guy [Hill Jr] and his team as part of the larger Priester family as we thrive together.”

Hill Aviation’s private jet charter and management services will be branded as Hill Private Aviation. Hill will also continue to operate an FBO, which is not part of the deal, at Atlanta Fulton County Executive Airport, Georgia.

The acquisition continues Priester’s strategy of developing customer-focused, family-led companies that started with acquisition of Mayo Aviation last year. “Independent, family-run aviation companies keep their focus on empowering aircraft owners and charter customers, rather than shareholders or impersonal conglomerates,” said Priester, pictured above.

“Just like our clients know that I’m ultimately the person they can talk to and answer any concerns, Guy Hill has led the way in Atlanta and he’ll still be doing that,” he added. “When you’re able to connect directly with the person whose name is on the door, that’s significant.”

Hill Private Aviation management customers will benefit from fuel and insurance savings, as well as crew scheduling and training and maintenance oversight, said the company. Priester, Mayo, and Hill Private Aviation clients also benefit from the independently operated FBO at Fulton County airport.

Meanwhile, Hill Aircraft has formed a partnership with Stevens Aerospace for the delivery of parts services. The Stevens Aerospace MRO operated from three locations at Greenville, South Carolina, Dayton, Oho, Nashville, Tennessee and now at Hill Aircraft in Atlanta. Christian Sasfai, president, Stevens Aerospace said: “We are excited to expand our footprint into the Atlanta area with a fixed location. Our mobile service unit has been serving Atlanta but with the addition of this hangar space, we can expand our passionate people delivering exceptional service.”

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ACSF’s audit helps organisations measure best practices and attain standards far above the minimum safety requirements, said Bryan Burns, president, ACSF.  “As such, it has led the industry in setting high-performing safety standards and has consistently increased the audit’s safety performance evidence since its inception in 2009.” Burns also noted Andy Priester and Bill Mayo are founding members of the ACSF.

Two years ago, the ACSF added new requirements to the Industry Audit Standard that evaluate an operator’s compliance with FAR 14 CFR Part 5 SMS standards and ICAO Annex 19 safety management.

Brent Moldowan, president, Mayo Aviation, based in Englewood, Colorado, said he was pleased the company surpassed regulatory standards and maintained the ACSF’s rigorous auditing standards for the seventh time since 2010. “Mayo is proud of our partnership with the ACSF and this achievement of the very rigorous IAS requirement,” he said. “Our long-standing commitment to the ACSF mission and the high standards that the organisation demands speak for themselves. We’re happy to publicise this validation to make our customers aware of how critically important we consider adhering to the highest safety standards.”

Andy Priester, chairman and CEO of Priester Aviation and Mayo Aviation, echoed Moldowan’s comments. “It just confirms how very serious our two companies are at creating a culture of safety, and achieving the absolute highest levels of it. And we know from long experience that the ACSF and its IAS represent the pinnacle of safety commitment.”

Aviation operators  on the ACSF Industry Audit Standard Registry are listed here.  Meanwhile, read more about ACSF’s Industry Audit Standard here. 

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Inside, there was heat too, but this was confined to descriptions of the high-demand market for private jets. The key themes running through the 28 different sessions all touched on strong demand, supply chain issues and talent shortages, sustainability and a new influx of capital coming into the industry.

While everyone expects the US economy to worsen, almost all delegates were confident there will be no big fall in the next 12 months at least, with 33% of attendees very optimistic and 66% fairly optimistic. Brokers, too, were confident demand will remain strong into 2023.

Bankers shared their cautious optimism, with business expected to stay strong over the next year. “Senior executives do anticipate some level of recession, but the number one takeaway is that the banks are still open for business,” said Keith Hayes, senior vice president of PNC Aviation Finance. He added: “We’re not in fear of recession, we’re lending very prudently and we’re still doing business.”Global Jet Capital’s CEO Vivek Kaushal agreed:“We’re doing probably 50% more volume this year than we did last year, so we’re still very much in business.”

Another reason for optimism was OEMs’ strict supply chain management – aided by supply chain disruptions. However, keeping up with the demand was a worry for many. Maintenance was a particular concern. Speaking about backlogs in the sector, Christopher Jordan, Operations director, Global Engine Service Sales, Honeywell said: “Have you ever played whackamole? That’s what it’s like right now. It’s triage.”

Hiring (and keeping) the right people also dominated lots of conversations. Many attributed this to the industry’s image and commercial airlines’ polished recruitment campaigns. “Let’s be honest, we’re getting our tails kicked by the airlines,” said Andy Priester, chairman and CEO, Priester Aviation. “That’s where [the students’] mentality is. As an industry, we need to figure out how to engage and recruit people to get them involved in our organisations at the high school and university levels. If we do it together, we’re going to be able to make a difference, if we all do it separately it’s going to be really hard to fix.”

FAA staff shortages are also delaying some jet sales. Chris Rocheleau, chief operating officer, NBAA said the challenge is that companies in business aviation are “trying to move at the speed of Silicon Valley versus moving at the speed of government”. He said: “There’s always a little bit more work to do than there is the time and resources to do it, and the FAA faces the same challenges.

“As you have a lot of people rotating in the senior positions, it’s challenging for the agency to pick a path, there’s a lot of competing interests. Permanent leadership in a direction that’s important to the industry is going to make a difference.”

Sustainability offered both a challenge and an opportunity. While it remains the focus of industry criticism, Eve Laurier, vice president of Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs, Bombardier said it could be key to recruiting more talent. The same young people who are critical of aviation could be attracted by the promised opportunities to make it more sustainable. “They can test the solutions[to sustainability]with us. They can’t test them with commercial aviation”, she said.  

More than half (58%) of the 500 delegates thought the industry has seen a permanent shift in demand. The remaining 42% thought the industry was experiencing cyclical changes. So, even if demand dips in the short term, it will come back around.

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But the acquisition of Mayo Aviation by Priester Aviation, announced this week, stands out. Even though the two companies are strikingly similar.

Andy Priester, chair and CEO is the third generation to run Priester Aviation since it launched in 1945. It manages 57 aircraft.

Mayo Aviation, which operates and maintains 17 aircraft, was founded in Colorado in 1978 by CEO Bill Mayo’s parents. 

With so much in common, it is not surprising that Bill and Andy have been friends for more than 20 years. During breakfast at the Air Charter Safety Foundation conference in April, Andy asked Bill to call him if he was ever interested in selling. To his surprise, Bill said they should talk. 

“This is a deal born out of friendship. Our two companies are cut from the same cloth. This is a very different to most acquisitions,” says Priester. “We recognise that we have two very talented teams and two businesses built on relationships. Customers have trusted Bill and his team for decades, in the same way our customers trust Priester.”

The two companies will be run separately and meet regularly to discuss common problems and share ideas and best practices. Bill says integrating operating software would be a good example, where the two companies could share resources.

“There will be situations where we can use the two businesses to address the needs of customers – Priester management customers may want to use Mayo’s Part 145 Repair Station, for example,” says Andy.

He says one way they will judge the success of the acquisition is retaining customers. “This week, Bill and I met with every one of Bill’s customers and I said we are going to lean into everything that Bill and his family have done for the last 40 years,” he says. 

Mayo’s longest running customer is Flight For Life Colorado – which has been with the company for 43 years.

Andy says Priester may look at other similar acquisitions in a few years’ time. “There are quite a few operators that were launched in the 1980s and 1990s where kids do not want to take over and selling to private equity does not feel right,” says Andy. “In a couple of years, we may be interested in partnering up with the same foundation of taking care of their people and having similar family values.” This could include international management companies. 

Bill says that Mayo had received numerous offers – especially in the past few years. “I care too much about our team, family and customers to sell to anyone,” he says. “When I visited Priester and walked through the front door of Andy’s business it felt just like I walked through the front door of my shop. There is something different about businesses with the founder’s name on the door.”

The deal is expected to close in the next month. Bill is planning to stay beyond that. He adds: “I have agreed to stay until Andy tells me to leave.”

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The Chicago-headquartered Priester and Colorado-based Mayo will continue to have separate brands while sharing resources to be more efficient without reducing staff from either firm. Both firms have been family owned for generations.

“For other companies, success comes from collecting assets and focusing on the bottom line,” said Andy Priester, CEO and chairman, Priester Aviation (pictured). “For us, success is found in the service we provide and the relationships we build. This is an opportunity to blend two incredible, talented teams who are focused on building and enhancing relationships.”

The CEO said that the acquisition will allow Priester to do more for its clients and from that “success in the marketplace will follow”.

Bill Mayo, CEO, Mayo Aviation said the focus on the partnership is to build upon the relationships already established by both firms. He will continue to be “an integral part” of Mayo and continue in a leadership role after the acquisition.

He continued: “In Priester, we see a company that focuses on the same elements we do. Our parents and families understood that this is a customer-based business. The legacy that they built is on display every day in every interaction.” Mayo added: “We are proud to enter into a partnership that will grow that.”

The combined fleets of the companies will increase the nation-wide scale of Priester’s charter offerings. Over the next months, the companies will share best practices and plan how best serve their shared clients.

The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, is expected to be completed over the new few months.  

In July, Priester announced it was relaunching its Centerline Jet Card in response to market demand, having previously entered five new aircraft into charter service from its managed fleet.

Acquisition players – at a glance:

Priester Aviation:

• Founded in 1945.
• Family-owned for three generations.
• Fleet of 19 aircraft (AMSTAT) including Beechcraft Hawker 4000, Bombardier Challenger 300, Bombardier Global 6000, Cessna Citation XLS+ and Gulfstream G550.

Mayo Aviation:

• Founded in 1978.
• Family-owned for two generations.
• Fleet of 13 aircraft (AMSTAT) including Beechcraft Hawker 800XP, Beechcraft King Air 200, Bombardier Challenger 300, Cessna Citation CJ3 and Gulfstream G450.

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“What we’re really seeing is high demand in metropolitan areas. Given they’re highly congested, it’s just a function of the higher number of people looking to use the corporate jet market,” said Priester. “Take Chicago, New York or Dallas; there’s more new entrants in those congested areas and there is not a significant amount of new charter aircraft in those regions. Therefore, servicing that demand gets that much more challenging.”

Looking at charter, the traditional US economic regions and business centres, such as New York, Chicago, Dallas and Houston, have had a higher growth rate when compared with available charter aircraft. “In other words, the supply/demand problem is worse in metropolitan regions. As a result, aircraft from secondary cities have been picking up the slack which inevitably increases repositioning costs and drives up overall prices,” said Priester.

Priester Aviation forecasts demand to moderate, but it should still remain strong throughout the remainder of 2022.

“The main challenge will continue to be aircraft availability, due to a combination of factors. In addition to the supply/demand issues and crew shortages noted, prolonged maintenance down time caused by supply chain challenges and too few qualified technicians takes its toll as well,” said Priester. “Keeping aircraft out of service longer obviously means less availability, which ultimately means operators have to adjust expectations for availability for their clients.”

Despite anticipating an overall slowdown, Priester said demand should still be ahead of where it was three years ago. The company expects a significant portion of the people who have become new users of the corporate jet market in the past 24 months to remain. “They’ve experienced the benefits of private aviation – the safety, security, flexibility and productivity – and won’t be eager to return to the airlines.”

Priester has been in business aviation for decades and has seen a host of market changes. He thinks everyone is still trying to figure out how to adjust their operating model to succeed within the current marketplace. “In reality, the past 30 years has been punctuated by reasonable consistency in product and pricing.” But Priester points out you could argue that these new products developed are not new products, rather just new packaging of an existing product.

“We see some consistency in product however we do predict ‘constant change’ in cost and terms of delivery models. This level of change and uncertainty stems from the variability of costs and aircraft availability. The companies that will be most successful are the companies that educate and manage the expectations of corporate jet users,” concluded Priester.

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The additional aircraft, which included long-range, super-midsize, widebody and midsize options, have been based at five locations around the US. They are: a Bombardier Global 6000 at Chicago, a Gulfstream G500 in North Dakota, a Falcon 2000LXS in Florida, a Bombardier Challenger 300 in Michigan and a Learjet 45 in Oklahoma.

Priester Aviation president and CEO Andy Priester said: “These additions advance our goal of delivering incredibly high-quality, responsive services in key markets.” Demand is continuing to grow, he added. “More and more people recognise the unrivaled flexibility and benefits afforded by aircraft ownership and private charter flights.”

Founded in 1945, Priester Aviation offers a range of services including jet charter, aircraft management and aviation consulting. During that time its fleet has grown from seven to 75 aircraft. The most recent fleet additions follow a new management programme launched last summer with Jet Support Services, Inc. (JSSI) Parts & Leasing serves to streamline procurement and boost efficiencies.

Priester’s new aircraft and their locations – at a glance

• *Bombardier Global 6000, Chicago
• *Gulfstream G500, North Dakota
• *Falcon 2000LXS, Florida
• *Bombardier Challenger 300, Michigan
• *Learjet 45, Oklahoma.

Andy Priester, Priester Aviation president and CEO: More people recognise the flexibility and benefits offered by aircraft ownership and private charter flights. Top: a Priester Aviation Gulfstream G500.

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