Founded

1998

Headquarters

San Luis Obispo, California

Key People

William Borgsmiller, president/CEO

Number of Employees

about 300

Phone Number

(805) 782-9722

Website

ACI Jet

ACI Jet

AACI Jet provides private aircraft charter, management, maintenance, and FBO/fuel services from its California locations. 

With two years of aviation training completed at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the financial help of Kevin Eldredge, who purchased a majority share, William “Bill” Borgsmiller founded Aviation Consultants, Inc., at Northern California’s Red Bluff Airport in 1998. Two years later, the company purchased its first aircraft, a Piper Seneca piston-powered twin, and moved to San Luis County Airport in San Luis Obispo, midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Despite the challenges resulting from 9/11, the company grew at such a rate that Borgsmiller bought out Eldredge in 2002, the same year ACI purchased its first jet, a Cessna Citation CJ2. The next year ACI bought Cal Coast Fuel at San Luis, established a maintenance department, and added three more jets to its fleet.

Between 2005 and 2010, the company built a hangar, headquarters, and repair station at San Luis; established a self-serve fuel depot at Oceano County Airport less than 10 miles south of San Luis; and opened the only FBO currently serving Paso Robles Municipal Airport about 30 miles north of San Luis Obispo. 

By 2011 ACI was managing its first intercontinental long-range business jet, a Gulfstream GIV. French billionaire Olivier Leclercq became a major investor in the company in 2014, and in the next year, it expanded its FBO, maintenance, and flight operations, adding more long-range aircraft to its fleet, including a Gulfstream G650. The company now manages 15 aircraft, 14 of which are on its charter certificate

Through a controversial RFQ (request for quote) process, ACI secured the remaining two years of a lease agreement previously held between John Wayne Airport and Signature Flight Support and later won a 35-year lease at the airport. As part of the lease agreement, ACI remodeled Santa Ana’s executive terminal by October of that year, providing on-site concierge services and a dedicated general aviation Customs and Border Protection facility along with upgraded maintenance facilities. The Santa Ana FBO was the first of ACI’s locations to offer sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), beginning in mid-2020; the San Luis and Paso Robles FBOs started supplying SAF later that year. 

Obtaining its Honeywell dealership in 2018, ACI partnered with the avionics manufacturer by providing a Global Express XRS as a test bed for the new Honeywell RDR-7000 weather radar system. That same year, the company achieved Air Charter Safety Foundation certification and broke ground on a new headquarters and aircraft operations facility in San Luis Obispo, which opened in 2021. In 2019, the company's repair station was certified as a Bombardier Authorized Service Facility.

ACI Jet opened an FBO at San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport (KSBP) in Central California in 2021. Two 35,000-square-foot hangars flank the two-story building, one for maintenance and one for aircraft storage, mostly for ACI Jet aircraft management clients. The second-floor mezzanine is fronted by a glass wall looking out over the ramp, and ACI Jet welcomes the public to visit and watch the action on the ramp and runway. In addition to a pilot lounge, snooze room, conference room, customer offices overlooking the maintenance hangar, and maintenance technician break room equipped with arcade video games, the facility as a large training room that is available for local groups to rent.