In fourth place for this year's Business Air News FBO Survey is Eccelsa Aviation, located at Olbia Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, Italy. The Costa Smeralda is a very desirable holiday destination during the summer months, and the Eccelsa team does 80 per cent of its business between June and September. In the quieter months it reduces staff numbers, retaining around a dozen team members on a permanent basis.

“The experience our customers have comes before everything else,” says operations and safety manager Francesco Cossu. “Sometimes things go better and sometimes not. But we haven’t made any major changes to the ramp staff or the customer service representatives in recent years. We have continuous and consistent training that we arrange for everybody as much as we can. Service is everything in this industry.

“The Costa Smeralda is one of the main destinations in the summer time for high end tourism. The resort is a very famous location when it comes to luxury. The airport is located only about 25 km away from the resort, so it is extremely convenient. Our business is exceptionally seasonal. The majority of our staff are employed for just six, seven or eight months. In the summer time we have 45 to 50 people working for us.”

Clients in the luxury tourism industry have very high expectations. “They travel in their own private jet and if they don’t own one, they rent one. Many of them also have their own yacht sitting in the bay somewhere. Owning a boat and owning a jet very often goes hand in hand.

“We have clientele from all over Europe, from the Middle East, a strong Russian community and those from the US, so our market is quite vast. The pluralism of our clientele adds value to our destination and this definitely makes our work extremely interesting and professionally satisfying.

“Customers come from everywhere around the world and they expect to have the best possible service done in the best possible way, because they are accustomed to it. They are often in places like London, Paris, Zurich and Geneva, and these locations are known for their great service. We have to be prepared to provide them with whatever they require within the boundaries of legality and common sense!”

Eccelsa provides inflight catering through sister company Cortesa. It lists more than 100 items on the menu, yet very often must come up with something that is not listed.

“We provide a wide range of services,” continues Cossu. “If you would like to have the Aston Martin or Ferrari ready on arrival, you can have it. We have connections for our guests to rent a boat without stress or charter a flight on a helicopter even during the peak season. We can organise not only the flight itself, but everything around it.”

He recalls one particular instance where a client put in an unconventional request.

“One of our customers found an ice cream parlour in Costa Smeralda with home made ice cream. He loved it so much that he asked me to find a chest that could accommodate a couple of hundred kilos of ice cream to take back home with him. Usually if you find a great restaurant or a great ice cream you enjoy it but you don’t try to take it home with you! But in our case, sometimes they do like to.”

Eccelsa's terminal has a large canopy that can house aircraft up to A320/A321 size. BBJs can be protected from the sun or from the rain on the rare occasion that it rains and passengers are able to move from arrival to departure without ever having to be outside. “We have a dedicated 4,500 sqm space entirely for business aviation,” explains Cossu. “I think it is important within our sector to create and uphold certain standards. In Europe, everybody is nowadays allowed to try and create their own business. But not everybody approaches the business based on the level of quality that private aviation requires and deserves, and that can create confusion and bewilderment when they say they are offering the same service at a lower price.

“Sometimes people don’t realise that you get what you pay for. If we could, we should all together to set standards a little bit higher and ensure quality. Quality is something we care about very much here. My mission is to do everything with as much quality as I can, and this is what I tell my staff on a daily basis. We work with sheer passion.

He concludes: “Doing 85 per cent of our business in three or four months means that everybody comes at the same time. We go from almost nothing during the winter time to delirium seven days a week, and maintaining the same levels is not always easy. But that is what we aim for and it is a great achievement when it happens.”