Red Bird Skyport closes

hindsight2020

Final Approach
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hindsight2020
Just saw that on AOPA Live and got to reading. I used Redbird Skyport frequently during my pre-PCS house hunting and other errands that required me to fly in to the San Antonio area. Found the place great, the rental car logistics were top notch considering I wasn't even moving to San Marcos, but my future home airport was of no help. I was surprised to read they never made a dime, though to be fair I didn't know the Redbird was in fact the affiliation with the piston simulator hardware company.

The scathing op-ed by the CEO was an added treat. It's not frequently that you get people to openly say what they mean. As someone who patronized that FBO over my local airport or the San Antonio area ones (SAT/SSF), I certainly don't feel like I did any of the things he accused the general population of pilot transients of doing, but I understand my patronage was too small fry to make a dent. This is one of my frustrations as a "small fry" owner, where our fuel sales are of so little consequence, that the FBO relies more and more on jet-A sales, and then the piston customers become an eye sore and are treated with contempt. So it's a catch-22 from where I sit, and something his scathing op-ed didn't quite addressed imo.

I continue to patronize HYI in other matters (91.411/13 checks et al), and frankly wouldn't have a problem being based there (though I don't know the total picture of the hangar situation), but do agree with the scorned CEO, city councils are not GA friendly around here. My current home drone has a pretty sketchy history of drama and running people out of town, as was highlighted here several years ago. These days only the city FBO remains, and it's hegemony. Captive audience, so I keep my comments to a minimum since there's no real choice for hangar spaces in this population exploding area.

As to the projections of traffic, I think he was probably smoking glue. Yeah the place is exploding because people can't fit in Austin anymore, but those are not pilots, it's just a bunch of pedestrians who can't afford Austin. Ditto for my home drone up here, though in my airport's case it's pretty well the case they are not interested in the piston traffic, and the facilities reflect the predilection for non-training jet traffic. The AF keeps the traffic count up, but beyond that the place is a mx and services desert compared to HYI.
 
Just saw that on AOPA Live and got to reading. I used Redbird Skyport frequently during my pre-PCS house hunting and other errands that required me to fly in to the San Antonio area. Found the place great, the rental car logistics were top notch considering I wasn't even moving to San Marcos, but my future home airport was of no help. I was surprised to read they never made a dime, though to be fair I didn't know the Redbird was in fact the affiliation with the piston simulator hardware company.

The scathing op-ed by the CEO was an added treat. It's not frequently that you get people to openly say what they mean. As someone who patronized that FBO over my local airport or the San Antonio area ones (SAT/SSF), I certainly don't feel like I did any of the things he accused the general population of pilot transients of doing, but I understand my patronage was too small fry to make a dent. This is one of my frustrations as a "small fry" owner, where our fuel sales are of so little consequence, that the FBO relies more and more on jet-A sales, and then the piston customers become an eye sore and are treated with contempt. So it's a catch-22 from where I sit, and something his scathing op-ed didn't quite addressed imo.

I continue to patronize HYI in other matters (91.411/13 checks et al), and frankly wouldn't have a problem being based there (though I don't know the total picture of the hangar situation), but do agree with the scorned CEO, city councils are not GA friendly around here. My current home drone has a pretty sketchy history of drama and running people out of town, as was highlighted here several years ago. These days only the city FBO remains, and it's hegemony. Captive audience, so I keep my comments to a minimum since there's no real choice for hangar spaces in this population exploding area.

As to the projections of traffic, I think he was probably smoking glue. Yeah the place is exploding because people can't fit in Austin anymore, but those are not pilots, it's just a bunch of pedestrians who can't afford Austin. Ditto for my home drone up here, though in my airport's case it's pretty well the case they are not interested in the piston traffic, and the facilities reflect the predilection for non-training jet traffic. The AF keeps the traffic count up, but beyond that the place is a mx and services desert compared to HYI.


Could somebody please translate this gobble gook into some form of comprehensible English for me? I understand the part about the fbo being closed, and the probable consequences of smoking glue, but what else is he trying to say?
 
Could somebody please translate this gobble gook into some form of comprehensible English for me? I understand the part about the fbo being closed, and the probable consequences of smoking glue, but what else is he trying to say?
In four words:

General Aviation is dying.

With quite a few "reasons" for that sprinkled in.

By "general aviation" I mean the private pilot that owns or rents a 2-6 place plane, and makes short CCs.
 
Informative read but the right outcome.

Wasn’t enough traffic to support two FBOs. One has to close for the other to have a shot at profitability.

It’s up to that one to not overreach, it or they’ll eventually put themselves out of business.

We are shrinking.
 
So I live in the area and I'll throw my two cents in. I'm what I would call the average pilot. I can't afford a Cirrus and I'm used to old-school airports where I prefer if nobody is working there. I like to roll up to the pumps, use my card, maybe the restroom, and get going. I went to Redbird once for a meeting and it seemed more like a terminal for small airlines. It's a several million dollar building that looks very fancy, but for me that just translates into more money for me to spend. Even when they were advertising their going-out-of-business fuel prices, they were still higher than most in the area. That includes the self-service fuel down the ramp from them.

Add into what I've already said that Berry Aviation is in what was once the City Terminal. To most of us, that's the terminal and that's where we go. The last thing I'll say is for years I thought Redbird Skyport was simply a flight school.

https://landing.redbirdflight.com/posts/the-pilot-and-the-fbo-a-love/hate-story

He does rant a little!

To you private pilots, charter pilots and pilots flying corporate aircraft out there who taxi up to an FBO to use the bathroom, drink the free coffee, borrow the crew car and meet your passengers in the customer lounge then fly away without buying a single gallon of fuel, your thoughtlessness will now be rewarded with ever fewer companies competing for your business. An FBO may be open to the public, but it is a private business that depends on fuel sales to provide you with the amenities that you somehow think you’re entitled to. If you find any of what I just wrote in any way confusing, please surrender your pilot’s license to your nearest FSDO by no later than this afternoon.
 
We up North must be doing it all wrong. Places go out of business all the time, nobody ******* about it. Them's the knocks, you move on.
 
Some of us knew all that was likely a LOOOOONG time ago. That place was subsidized from day one and the model was an experiment for simulators, not an easily-replicable, for-profit operation. Sadly, it affected other for-profit organizations in the area and set up unreasonable expectations in the local area for flight training.
Honestly, I feel like they got more breaks than other FBO's and their inability to make a profit is as much their fault as any of the GA folks they seem to want to blame it on. And yes, I did buy fuel when I stopped there, so don't blame me for your business failure!
The cozy relationship with the SAT FSDO that DPEs described was also weird.
 
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Cheap pilots coming in occasionally to use the loo and not buying gas did not kill his business.
Annoying, yes but not the cause.
And coffee - like if 8 cups of coffee that you already brewed kills your business, color me shocked.
 
Its actually kinda sad that most of these places think they need to build a castle to attract customers when all the customers wanted was an outhouse and a gas pump, ok maybe air-conditioning and a couch.

I am handicapped, depending on what kind of a day I'm having or the weather outside full service gas can be a huge life saver. Maybe once a year I'll pay for it. All other times I usually self serve. One of my peeves is the massive hose on most 100LL pumps, I need 20 gallons at the most, no need for hose big enough to refuel an Albatross in 10 minutes.
 
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