is going to arrive until his aircraft shows up on the ramp.” Asked about any plans to acquire or build FBOs elsewhere, Marlow said that at this time, the focus is on further development—essentially expansion—at Castle & Cooke Aviation’s current locations. “Because our hangar space at Everett and Van Nuys is totally filled by tenant aircraft, we are considering leasing or building another large hangar at both of those locations,” he explained. “At Honolulu, we are “We offer the same hands-on approach to service; but, because our customers have been on an airplane for a long time, we try to make their arrival experience more personalized.” looking at establishing a facility that would include a hangar and office space, serving the unique needs of an air medevac operator which is one of our tenants. They have four King Airs in the islands, and one is based with us.” Marlow reported that Castle & Cooke Aviation is strictly focused on providing FBO services, with no plans to pursue charter certificates, aircraft management, or heavy maintenance. In 2018, the three locations pumped a total of 9.6 million gallons of fuel, nearly all Jet A. For this year, fuel sales are estimated to hit 10.5 million gallons. Both Van Nuys and Everett have had increased volumes of fuel sales over the last several years, although Honolulu has remained essentially unchanged. “Honolulu has had very little in the way of growth, not because fewer aircraft are flying there, but because we are seeing a higher volume of newer, fuel-efficient jets flying in that don’t need to upload as much fuel,” Marlow explained. Since 2017, Castle & Cooke Aviation has been an AvFuel branded FBO at all three locations. “AvFuel is a Continued on page 42 Aviation Business Journal | Summer 2019 41 well-run company, which tends to retain its employees for the long term,” said Marlow. “Their pricing is good and so is their marketing support. Also, they build their own fuel trucks, so we get our fuel trucks, which are the newest and most up-to-date, directly from them.” Marlow pointed out that Castle & Cooke Aviation sup- ports the sustainable, alternative jet fuel (SAJF) program and participated in the January 2019 SAJF event hosted by the SAJF Coalition at the Van Nuys Airport. However, he cautions that for SAJF to be commercially viable, more progress needs to be made on the price side. “As it is now, the fuel is sustainable, but the price is not,” he said. “Right now, sustainable alternative jet fuel costs about $8 per gallon, compared to an average of $5 per gallon for conventional jet fuel. We will go along with the industry with respect to adopting sustainable alterna- tive jet fuel, but it will have to be more reasonably priced before it can be sold at a profit and at a price people will be willing to pay.”
