Fixed-Base Operator at RDU Earns High Ranking in National Surveys

RDU Airport, NC — Southern Jet, one of Raleigh-Durham International Airport's two fixed-base operators (FBOs), was ranked second in two surveys of the top FBOs in the country by Professional Pilot magazine and Aviation International News.

FBOs provide aircraft maintenance, fuel, car rental, flight instruction, aircraft sales, and pilot and passenger lounges and services. RDU has two FBOs that flank the general aviation terminal.

Professional Pilot serves the corporate and regional aviation industry, including pilots, managers and dispatchers. Each year the journal publishes its PRASE survey results, which stands for Preferences Regarding Aviation Services and Equipment. Additionally, Joy Richardson, Southern Jet's Customer Service Representative (CSR), was named ninth in the Top Ten Best FBO Employees.

Southern Jet also was named to the number two slot in a survey by Aviation International News (AIN). The AIN North American FBO survey is intended to be a pilot's guide to the nation's FBOs. The categories in the survey were carefully chosen to reflect the evolving variety of services and facilities offered at FBOs: line service; passenger amenities; pilot amenities and services; and facilities.

Southern Jet at RDU missed the number one spot by only .076 of a point. AIN remarked that Southern Jet catapulted an unprecedented 79 positions from last year's scores. For full survey results, visit AIN's website.

Southern Jet's facilities are part of the revitalized general aviation area at RDU. RDU is served by a second FBO, Piedmont Hawthorne. Along with the two new FBO facilities, the general aviation (GA) area features the GA terminal and more than 30 acres of aircraft parking spaces. More than 4,500 general aviation flights take off and land at RDU each month. Seventy percent of the flights are for business travel.

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