There is something about service in Scandinavia that seems to stand out. Stockholm Bromma's Grafair has achieved third spot in this year's Business Air News FBO Survey, having won in 2014. Roskilde Executive Handling at Roskilde near Copenhagen has also been impressively consistent in the voting, narrowly missing out on its second title with the Business Air News equivalent of a silver medal.

“One of our company values is hospitality. We take care of our customers and business partners as well as any hotel would take care of its guests,” explains operational manager Simona Jespersen. “We do it in a very personal way. We meet our customers at eye level and we are both caring and present. We don’t do too much or too little, from just a glimpse of the eye we can tell when the situation is right. We take pride in understanding the customer’s wishes and needs. VIP private jet customers are very demanding. Our job is to foresee what they need.

“We have become better at working across several departments, and we have become better at understanding and defining our processes. We have analysed our handling process, especially the premium handling process, so that we do the right thing every time.”

Jespersen sees these processes as the key to success in business aviation handling. “Having the right processes ensures that we create value for our customers, which in turn is important for our competitiveness. If we are to manage our high growth in a safe and profitable way, it is necessary that we have control over our processes. They also make it easier to go to work and have fun at Roskilde, increasing our potential to inspire each other and cooperate.”

As a result of recent collaboration with private investors, Roskilde can now offer five different types of hangar to its clients, including a heated one, which opened last year. This is a smart move in business aviation, especially during the punishing winter months. “Up to now it was a challenge for us that we could not offer a solution as part of our FBO product,” says Jespersen.

“We have a close team and everyone enjoys doing their job. We put a lot of effort into our working environment, instilling respect for and good communication with each other, health and safety; all of the basics really. This is what makes a difference to the customer and enables the product to flow and succeed. If you don’t communicate with each other properly, then things won’t go too smoothly.

“In Roskilde we focus on charter flying and private jets. Copenhagen airport is a different story, because it is expanding at a very fast rate, whereas we have remained more or less the same in terms of traffic.”

Roskilde has progressed from 75,000 to 84,000 movements over the last year, so there has been an increase of 13 per cent, but the on-site flight school accounts for much of that.

“We are proud to be among the top 10 of the survey for five consecutive years; there have not been many companies who have done that,” enthuses Jespersen. “We will always work to develop our product to deliver the best every time, the best experience for our guests. We would like to thank all the guests who have voted for us, because without them we couldn’t achieve this.”