After slipping to third place in last year’s FBO survey, Universal Stansted once again find themselves on top of the pile. Sean Raftery, who took over the md reins from Theresa Wooll in March, told EBAN what it means to regain the title.

“We are very excited about winning this year’s FBO survey,” he said. “And in particular, we are very grateful to our clients for taking the time to give us their votes.”

Universal Stansted achievedtop marks in the areas of professionalism, catering and customer service – an achievement Raftery believes is largely down to simple forward-planning.

He said: “We always strive to give our clients the best possible service and to make sure their visits here are straightforward and pleasurable. Customer service is about understanding the customer’s needs.

“A captain for example should never have to ask for his weather briefing; it should be in his hand before he asks.

“It is often the little things that make the difference. It might be something simple like asking if they require newspapers on departure but a customer should not have to ask for service.”

Raftery says it is also the FBO’s great fortune to be part of a world-wide organisation with the operational support that it brings.

As members of the UVglobal Network, he believes that pilots are beginning to identify the logo as a symbol of consistency, high quality and reliability.

“In addition,” he said, “FBOs are only as good as the people who work in them. The ‘extra mile’ culture combined with good operational knowledge are the key ingredients to success.”

It should be pointed out that in its present state, Stansted Airport is well-suited to business aviation activities and this can only help make Universal Stansted a successful operation.

As Raftery says himself, “It is a 24-hour airport with 24-hour customs and immigration cover. The northside of the airport is almost exclusively reserved for business jets which makes it a relatively easy operation compared to some London airports.

“The motorway link to downtown London runs from the airport gates so the journey is simple. We are also lucky to have a 10,000 ft runway so it’s also a good choice for wide-bodied operators.”

That said, there has been recent speculation that Stansted will be the subject of much runway expansion in the future, in order to take some of the commercial traffic pressure off Gatwick and Heathrow.

Raftery commented: “It is too early too say where any new airport capacity will be located. At this stage, no one confidently can say what the long-term future of any of the South East airports is.”\r

But with regard to the near future, Universal Stansted says it is pretty upbeat about a successful year ahead. Raftery concluded: “Despite talk of a possible war in the Gulf and the economy still being volatile, the mood is still optimistic.

“We have seen no down turn in traffic and it is business as usual at Universal.”