FBOs Reap Big Game Bounty

Super Bowl LIV in Miami resulted in a win not only for the Kansas City Chiefs, but also for FBOs at area airports, due to the event’s customary influx of business aircraft. BJT reached out to the service providers to see what kind of traffic they encountered.

Signature Flight Support noted that the bulk of its game-related traffic was at Miami International (MIA), which saw 290 arrivals, including three 747s, four 757s, and an A319. Miami Opa-Locka Executive Airport (OPF) recorded 130 arrivals, and its other area locations such as Miami Executive (TMB) and Fort Lauderdale International (FLL) Airports logged 70 arrivals. The BBA subsidiary brought in 75 staffers from other locations to help with the crush. Reliance Aviation at TMB said it had 40 aircraft on its ramp during the weekend.

Sheltair had more than 300 movements at FLL during the slot period from Wednesday, January 29, to Monday, February 3. “We could have certainly handled more if we had not been restricted by the slot program,” said Karen Kroeppel, the company’s director of sales and marketing. “We did bring in additional staff from other Florida locations for a total of 20.” That number included workers from the company’s Tampa Bay–area locations who needed to gain experience ahead of next year’s championship game in Tampa.    

Also at FLL, Jetscape hosted 72 aircraft—predominantly large business jets—over the weekend and added five staffers through its Air Elite network connections for extra support. At nearby Fort Lauderdale Executive, Banyan Air Service saw 800 operations between Friday and Monday, with a peak of 140 aircraft (mostly jets) on the ground. Like most locations, it reported the largest number of arrivals on Friday, while Monday saw a mass exodus, according to Jon Tonko, Banyan's director of customer support.

Related Article

Erin Andrews Q&A

The Fox Sports reporter and Dancing with the Stars cohost needs to be in three cities in a typical week. Business aviation makes that possible.

Atlantic Aviation reported handling more than 400 aircraft at OPF and Boca Raton (BCT) during the implementation of the PPR slot system, and an additional 350 aircraft (mostly jets) at Palm Beach International (PBI) and Stuart Witham Field (SUA), which also experienced an influx of Super Bowl-related traffic. According to an Atlantic spokesperson, many of those customers purposely endured the Presidential TFR rather than contend with the PPR system.