Canada's Skyservice (Booth C9229) added a National Aircraft Retail Association-certified brokerage to its plethora of aviation services—FBO, maintenance, aircraft management, handling and charter—last year, acquiring five aircraft for its management clients in 2016. The company has been in business for 32 years and operates from bases in Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.

"We went into the brokerage business as a service to our clients," said CEO Marshall Myles. "Rather than turning clients over to brokers, if we help them it gives them a much longer term plan in terms of what the plane needs. We were providing much of this information anyway. And we have a strong relationship with OEMs including Bombardier as an authorized service center. We are also the Gulfstream warranty center for Canada and the Falcon warranty facility for Canada. We have the ability to do everything for the client.”

Other capabilities include in-house legal and importation that the company has used for is management clients. “Now we tie that into brokerage. Now we can source an aircraft, do the pre-purchase, the familiarization and import. We're an instant solution—a one-stop shop,” Myles added. “With a broker you're dating; with us you're getting married. With us if you buy that plane you're going to scream at us in two years, not your broker. So when we buy a plane for you, we make sure it is the best one.”

Skyservice currently manages 70 aircraft that includes off-base management, operates from 750,000 sq ft of based space and employs more than 600, including 178 pilots and 25 flight coordinators. It is looking to add 300,000 sq ft of space over the next 24 months. Approximately 50 percent of the managed fleet is available for charter and it is Canada's largest charter fleet. The company's managed fleet has been growing at a rate of 20 percent per year and revenues by double-digits over the last five years, Myles said.