Orlando aviation company is flying into the sunset

For nearly three-quarters of a century, the Showalter name has been synonymous with aviation in Orlando.

The family-owned Showalter Flying Service was founded in 1945 along a grass strip in Winter Park by Howard Showalter, a brother and a cousin. It grew into a fixed-base operation at Orlando Executive Airport, with 28 employees and revenue of nearly $8 million, overseen by the husbandand- wife team of Bob and Kim Showalter, Howard's son and daughter-in-law.

The business changed dramatically over the years. Where Showalter once spent most of its time renting airplanes and teaching people to fly, it became what is essentially a marina for airplanes — selling fuel and hangar space and operating a terminal for use by private-plane passengers and crew.

Meanwhile, the industry consolidated around Showalter. The other three fixed-base operations in Orlando — one at the executive airport, two more at Orlando International Airport — are all now owned by chains. The bulked-up competitors gained cost advantages through economies of scale.

"What's really happened is the same thing that happened in the hotel business: They're all becoming Marriotts and Hiltons and Hyatts," says Bob Showalter.

So the Showalters decided to sell. The company announced in December that it had agreed to a deal with Atlantic Aviation, the nation's largest fixed-based operator, which has operations at 63 airports and revenue of more than $700 million. Atlantic itself is a subsidiary of New York industrial giant Macquarie Infrastructure.

Bob Showalter says the sale price is "at the high end of what the family thought it would be," though he wouldn't reveal a precise figure. He said he expects Atlantic will absorb Showalter's existing employees, many of whom have been with the company for decades.

As for the Showalter name? "They'll use it for a while," Bob Showalter says. "But it will eventually just be Atlantic."

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Business Briefs

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Players

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