Consultants & Advisory
The people on both sides of the FBO lease: valuation and M&A advisors, airport business consultants who write minimum standards and run FBO RFPs, and IS-BAH and safety auditors.
FBO consultants work on both sides of the same lease. Airport sponsors hire them to write the minimum standards and rules an FBO must meet, set ground rents and fees, run the RFP that picks an FBO, and write the business plan for a general aviation field. FBO owners hire them to value the business, find a buyer or an acquisition, negotiate or answer that RFP, and get ready for an IS-BAH audit. Several firms here work for both, which is worth asking about before you hire one for a lease negotiation.
The firms fall into three groups. Transaction and valuation advisors: FBO Partners (M&A, diligence and RFP response work, and commercial advisor on the $4.74 billion Signature Aviation acquisition), FBO Advisors (Las Vegas, brokerage since 1992), FBOsForSale (Denver, with seven closed FBO sales named from 2018 to 2025), Avicor Aviation (aviation business valuations since 1987) and Airport Business Solutions, which also writes airport policy documents and, through a sister company, manages FBOs under contract. Airport business consultants: Aviation Management Consulting Group (minimum standards, rent and fee studies, FBO RFPs, and the lead on ACRP's GA airport business-plan guidebook), Delta Airport Consultants (an airport-only firm with a business and financial practice), Business Aviation Group (FBO and hangar feasibility, rent studies and brokerage) and Airside FBO (FBO business assessments, pricing strategy and a fractional-COO program).
Safety and audit firms make up the third group. ARGUS International runs a Base Operations Audit built for FBOs as well as IS-BAH audits; Sundog Aviation Group and MacPherson Aviation Audits are accredited IS-BAH auditors with long lists of FBO and handler clients; Global FBO Consult prepares operators outside North America for IS-BAH and delivers line-service training. No firm on this page publishes its fees. Every fact here comes from the firm's own site on the date shown on its listing.
Airport Business Solutions
UnclaimedAirport Business Solutions (ABS), headquartered in Flat Rock, North Carolina, is an aviation valuation and consulting firm founded in 1988 that advises FBOs, airports, investors and developers on appraisals, leases, business plans and FBO management.
Airside FBO
UnclaimedAirside FBO, LLC, of Riverside, Missouri, offers nationwide consulting to FBO owners and managers, including business assessments, fuel and fee pricing strategy and an operations program, and develops business-jet hangars at Kansas City Downtown.
ARGUS International
UnclaimedARGUS International, Inc., founded in 1995 and majority-owned by SGS since 2019 (operating as SGS ARGUS), audits and rates aviation operations, including a Base Operations Audit for FBOs and an IS-BAH audit, and sells PRISM SMS and TRAQPak FBO.
Aviation Management Consulting Group
UnclaimedAMCG, headquartered in Centennial, Colorado, consults for airports and aviation businesses on minimum standards, rent and fee studies, valuations, FBO RFPs, agreements and feasibility, and led the ACRP guidebook on GA airport business plans.
Avicor Aviation
UnclaimedAvicor Aviation Inc., based in Beaverton, Oregon and operating since 1987, provides independent valuations of closely held aviation businesses, FBOs among them, plus aviation business consulting and aircraft appraisals.
Business Aviation Group (BA Group)
UnclaimedBusiness Aviation Group (BA Group), based in Centennial, Colorado, is an aviation real estate firm whose consulting arm prepares FBO and hangar feasibility studies, valuations, rent studies and FBO operational audits, alongside brokerage and development.
Delta Airport Consultants
UnclaimedDelta Airport Consultants, Inc., headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is an aviation-only consulting firm whose business and financial practice covers minimum standards, rates and charges studies, lease policy and business plans for general aviation airports.
FBO Advisors
UnclaimedFBO Advisors LLC, based in Las Vegas with offices in Denver and Scottsdale, brokers FBO sales and acquisitions and advises on valuation, minimum standards, lease negotiation and RFPs; founder Nicholas Daddis cites over $500 million in FBO deals.
FBO Partners
UnclaimedFBO Partners, founded in 2014, advises FBOs, airports and aviation businesses on M&A, strategic sales, FBO RFP responses and expert-witness work, and promotes HangarIT, a cloud-based hangar property-management platform.
FBOsForSale
UnclaimedFBOsForSale, operated by Business Presentation Solutions, LLC in Denver, advises FBO owners, buyers and investors on sales, acquisitions and valuations, and names seven closed FBO transactions from 2018 to 2025 on its site.
Global FBO Consult
UnclaimedGlobal FBO Consult is a consultancy and aviation media bureau for FBOs, ground handlers and airports, offering IS-BAH preparation support, line-service training, FBO audits and M&A advice, with work across Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
MacPherson Aviation Audits
UnclaimedMacPherson Aviation Audits International, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, provides IS-BAH preparation and audits, safety audits and FBO operations consulting from Stewart MacPherson, an accredited Stage 3 IS-BAH auditor.
Sundog Aviation Group
UnclaimedSundog Aviation Group, based in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, is a boutique aviation safety consultancy that performs IS-BAO and IS-BAH audits and builds safety management systems for flight operations and FBOs.
Events & dates for consultants & advisory
See all on the calendar →Questions about consultants & advisory
- What does an FBO consultant actually do?
- It depends which side hired them. For an airport sponsor: minimum standards, rules and regulations, leasing and rent policy, rates and charges and fee studies, FBO and SASO RFPs, GA business plans and feasibility studies. For an FBO owner or investor: business valuation, sell-side or buy-side M&A, lease and RFP negotiation, operational assessments, pricing strategy and safety-program preparation. Aviation Management Consulting Group, Airport Business Solutions and Delta Airport Consultants publish the sponsor-side list in the most detail; FBO Partners, FBO Advisors and FBOsForSale lead with transactions.
- How are FBOs valued?
- The firms that describe their method value an FBO as a going concern tied to its lease. FBOsForSale builds its valuation on normalized EBITDA and a multiple range, then reviews the airport lease and the competitive position; FBO Advisors lists valuation alongside EBITDA analysis; Airport Business Solutions values leaseholds, going-concern businesses and equipment separately; Avicor Aviation does independent valuations of closely held aviation businesses with CVA accreditation. Lease term remaining, fuel volume and margin, and competition on the field drive the number.
- Who can help with an FBO sale or acquisition?
- FBO Partners advises on buy-side and sell-side M&A, diligence and capital raises; FBO Advisors brokers FBO sales and acquisitions and cites more than $500 million in transactions advised; FBOsForSale runs confidential sale processes with screened buyers and names its closed deals; Airport Business Solutions offers buyer and seller representation and acquisition due diligence; Business Aviation Group brokers FBOs and hangars. Ask each whether they also represent airports, since lease renegotiation is often part of a sale.
- Who writes airport minimum standards and rates and charges studies?
- Aviation Management Consulting Group (its Primary Management Compliance Documents service covers rules and regulations, minimum standards, leasing and rents policy), Airport Business Solutions (minimum standards, rates and charges reviews and market rent studies) and Delta Airport Consultants (minimum standards, rules and regulations, rates and charges and leasing policy). Business Aviation Group prepares ground rent and hangar rent studies. FBOs that want to challenge proposed standards or rents often hire a transaction-side firm instead.
- How do I prepare an FBO for an IS-BAH audit?
- IS-BAH is the IBAC standard for business aviation handlers, registered in three stages. An accredited auditor performs the audit, and IBAC rules limit an auditor from auditing an operator it has consulted for, so many FBOs use one firm to prepare and another to audit. MacPherson Aviation Audits and Global FBO Consult offer preparation; MacPherson, Sundog Aviation Group and ARGUS International perform audits. Sundog explains the IBAC eligibility rule on its site.
- What is the ARGUS Base Operations Audit?
- An audit and rating program ARGUS International runs for FBOs, covering ground-handling safety, customer service and FBO processes, with the aim of reducing ground incidents and aircraft damage. It sits alongside ARGUS's IS-BAH audit and a Base Operations Registry. ARGUS does not publish the rating tiers or pricing; FBOs request it through an ARGUS representative.
- Do FBO consultants publish their fees?
- None of the firms on this page does. Valuation and policy work is usually quoted as a fixed project fee; transaction advisory is commonly a success fee on a closed deal; IS-BAH audits are quoted per audit and stage. Ask for the fee structure, who else the firm represents on your airport, and named references for similar work.
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