Achieving top spot in the EBAN FBO survey is something to be proud of. Doing so after just a year of operation is testament to the hard work of the entire team at Rizon Jet UK's London Biggin Hill facility, headed by UK FBO director Allan McGreal.

Along with BACA's best handler/ FBO award in October, the company feels it is receiving the first tangible comment from its peers on how it has progressed since start-up, from little more than a construction site early in 2011 to a fully operational and successfully integrated FBO, vip terminal and maintenance facility.

Month on month the business has been in growth and, despite the early teething problems suffered by many a business in its infancy, Rizon Jet says it has managed to stay faithful to its original plans.

Aiming to deliver something different, the company designed and constructed a facility with customer experience in mind from start to finish, taking all of the elements missing from its previous experience in FBOs and maintenance hangars and installing them in the new project. The idea was to build a more familiar environment so that clients would being able to quickly relax.

Next came the task of finding the people that would make it all work. Rizon Jet says it wanted an eclectic mix of talent and to draw on a wide range of skill and experience from which to build its fraternity. "We struck gold and found some special people, from front of house ambassadors, concierge, operations coordinators and ramp controllers, we had a mix of people able to build a capable operation from scratch," says ceo Capt Hassan Al-Mousawi.

This first full year of operations was an important milestone too for founder Ghanim Bin Saad Al Saad, the culmination of a vision long held. "We knew we had a number of priorities in our first year but to deliver an internationally acclaimed facility ranked very highly on the list," adds Al-Mousawi.

Rizon Jet increased the challenge still further by establishing two facilities simultaneously, the other at Doha, Qatar.

Biggin Hill is the home of the UK operation and the company says that challenges were many and varied. Among these was how to lift a new business aviation name into the marketplace, with new facility, new staff, no customers and starting a business in the teeth of recession, in a competitive airport that already had two well-regarded resident FBOs. Al-Mousawi believes that the essential mantra is always to avoid being passive and always to add to the customer experience. Disregarding the declining market, Rizon Jet set out to educate people in how its business was different.

The international PA, for example, needed to understand how using the Rizon Jet facility during a principal's journey would be a productive and positive experience. Experienced crews and operators needed to be educated on how the new business could not only add previously missing services but, as a new and evolving organisation, changes could be made to suit the client.

An exciting development has been greater use of the facilities by clients of Rizon Jet's based operators.

Overall, McGreal expects to continue the successes of 2012 into this year, but points out that increasing traffic brings the need to ensure it can be accommodated, something that will always be a part of its forward planning.

Al-Mousawi adds: "Following up the BACA award with the coveted EBAN FBO survey top ranking is nothing short of fantastic and puts the icing on the cake. The challenge this survey brings is to be able to sustain the quality of service and the depth of care and attention our customers should expect. The survey examines the business more rigorously than you would expect.

"We are so grateful to all who commented on the service we provide. Both awards come from important sections of our industry and add enormous weight to our credibility, which is something we treasure. I would like thank our entire team at Biggin Hill for these great achievements."