General Aviation Service - recent impressions, trends 2024 and plans for the future

We're getting close to time for reflection on year 2024, identify trends and lessons learned, and acknowledge the shifts in the sector. Work on the future plan while carrying this important information with you. This includes identifying areas that need improvement, deciding changes, and implementing growth strategies. Shortly after the General Aviation Service team returned from the MEBAA show, I was able to speak with Luis Hurtado Barrutia about all of this. I'm happy to give you the main points of our discussion:​

T.O. Luis, I see that you're back from MEBAA show with new hairstyle. I guess it means that MEBAA show a success for General Aviation Service. 

L.H.B. Yes, yes it was!

T.O. Tell me more, because I've seen a lot of reactions on social media, a lot of people asking to start cooperation very soon. So how was it? 

L.H.B. Well, it was very good! I think the difference between this show and some others we used to attend is that it was more like relaxed. We had quality meetings, and this was very important. We had time to explain everything to the new companies that we met there, because we really had a lot of new companies we never knew and different companies that never worked before, never heard of them and it was great. We really had time to meet them, discuss with the key staff there, with their decision makers. So, there is a lot of potential.

T.O. You got back a lot of potential for new business. 

L.H.B. And we also had time to meet other companies. We had really good feedback. We are super happy with results for this show. 

T.O. As we are approaching end of year and Christmas period and celebrations… I was the lucky one to assist during 45th anniversary of General Aviation Service in Madrid and huge thank you. It was very special. I would say epic like a lot of colleagues from industry told, who were there. I saw that General Aviation Service is in fact a big business family. I guess you have amazing potential to grow and do a lot of things in this industry. If you have to look back at the year 2024…What were main trends or main things you will remember regarding this year from the business perspective?

L.H.B. You're welcome. It was very special, and we are very grateful to all guests who made this night epic for GAS. Things to we will remember…I would say a lot of changes like the seasons and the usual peaks of work. Things are getting different. Some bases are totally upside down. Whenever we used to have three days like in Madrid in summer used to be relaxed and now it's totally crazy. We are registering records in Madrid and Barcelona the same. We have sudden peaks that are due to some events that are coming up and you a lot of concerts in summer in Madrid and Barcelona, a lot of festivals that are worldwide known.  So, a lot of things are changing, and we have to be always prepared and follow up a lot the social media. Not only to see how we are doing there, but to inform ourselves and know a lot of trends. So that's why we are working on this on special calendars to try to figure out where we could have a peak where we usually didn't, never had it. And this is a change.I mean, I imagine it's a change that comes from the passengers that are, I don't know, I don't know the exact reasons, but they are looking for some reason for something new. Maybe after the pandemic they say, OK, let's say life is too short, let's do everything I can, whatever I can. 

T.O. Do you think, I mean, your activity on social media in general, would you say that a lot of people are getting information from social media, from other passengers who went through a General Aviation Service teams everywhere in Spain? Then they're getting back to you. Even if you don't expect, as you tell, a peak season or so, newcomers maybe from events who heard about your services and never worked with you, but then they are coming and asking.

L.H.B. It's true that now we are more present than ever in social media. During different shows we have results of that - people know us or just say, OK, I heard of you, I want to know what you're doing. I want to hear from you. I want to maybe try. This happened to us a lot during MEBAA show. It was a good surprise. So, part of that is thanks to our presence on social media. We must also say that things changed after the pandemic: some people that used to fly business class are starting to move in into business aviation. At the same time the industry is changing. So, there is a lot of factors. We don't have that much usual peaks in summer, the typical ones starting in August and things like this. Everything gets so much more flexible. The season may extend till November in some cases. The summer season for some passengers, maybe sailing events, things like that are still getting very big suddenly. And there is a lot of things to do, I have to say. Now, everybody can do a lot of things, you know, and organize them. And there are a lot of nice stuff everywhere. The tourism in Spain is also changing. It's not the usual tourism, all the one that is go to the beach and let's go to the hotel. Things are changing. New events, new tendencies. 

T.O. I've seen till now only Madrid team, hyperactive and always ready. And I've seen their capacity to adapt whatever is needed and to be very reactive when changes come. I can imagine other teams different but with same hyper efficiency. Do you think due to all this market changes, do you see the capacity to grow? Maybe to have additional bases? You say that a lot of very interesting events are appearing and attracting new tourists, do you think that you still have a place to grow in Spain? 

L.H.B. Yes, of course, we are we are always flexible and always able to do it as we did for other bases, normally it's the demand from customers. When we decide that we open a base is that some customers tell us, OK, you should go there. We used to go there, and we have this or that problem or they recommend us like, OK, you need to act and to put a little bit of your know-how there, your expertise. And we always try to do it like this. It's not like we want to expand from one day to the other because the way we work, we need to do it slowly. We need to really know because we have to prepare the people. They must really know how we work. It's not always easy to find someone that wants to move over there to open the base and stay there for some time and create a team. And this is what we need to do when they need to see how we work from scratch is the only way we learn is the guy way of learning. After that, you will be alone from a side. You will have to do a lot of things. So, we will see how you react. But at the beginning, you need to know how we work from the bottom, you know, and that's only by doing. Yes, you cannot accelerate with this. You move step by step. That's why we need to try to find someone that wants to do this project, open a base, build the team, show them how to work, and then we can let them run like little birds.

T.O. In less than a month will be in 2025. What do you expect? 

L.H.B. I will be older. General Aviation Service will be older. That's also true.  2025, well, I think it will be we will continue growing. This year was also a very nice year in terms of growth for us. We are still growing, and we think that the tendencies are here to stay. We want some stability for some time as well. A lot of changes going on in Spain, new competitors arriving, others that they will go. It is life. For us it is important to be aware, to try to stabilize and take care of our customers and keep working for them.

T.O. So main events where people could catch you up, catch up General Aviation Service. Will you be at EBACE 2025? Do you plan to do things different concerning events for year 2025? 

L.H.B. Well, probably we'll keep that in suspense. We'll see if it's a surprise. But we will be attending EBACE for sure. And we always want to do something special. Let's see what we can do. But we are not concentrating all our efforts on EBACE only. We saw there are a lot of events that deserve some attention. Maybe there will be strategic changes. For example, visiting customers directly to their headquarters might be easier and more like personal for us.

T.O. Perfect. Thank you very much. And we will keep torturing you next year.