Friends, family and fried chicken at jefferson city flying service
As with many who work in the aviation industry, it just sort of happened. And once you get a taste of the industry, many end up becoming "lifers." Such is the story with Jefferson City Flying Service (JCFS) partner, Grant Shorthose.
"Out of high school, my ambition was to come to the airport and hang with my friends who had jobs fueling aircraft," said Shorthose. "I started as a lineman and worked my way up the ranks through hard work. You could say I grew up here at the FBO."
Shorthose continues to work with friends, even going as far as to call his 18 full-time employees and six part-time employees family.
JCFS is the only FBO on the field, servicing one of Central Missouri’s busiest airports (KJEF).
In 2000, when Shorthose became partner, there were two hangars, including a maintenance department and 22,000 square feet of storage space. Since then, an additional 32,000 square feet of hangar space has been added.
Bottom to the Top Customer Service
From line service meeting and greeting, to upper management and ownership, JCFS believes that if you do good business and do right by the customer, you’ll gain a loyal customer base. Quarterly the FBO holds line service meetings to discuss safety and customer service. Employees are encouraged to share personal experiences of when they received outstanding customer service and also when they received service that fell flat.
From customer service to facility offerings, there’s a convenience customers have come to expect, knowing that JCFS can handle all of their needs. Passengers and crew receive all of the expected best-in-class services at Jefferson City Flying Service, including a robust maintenance and avionics departments, charter and rental aircraft, a Part 141 flight school and line service that pumps Phillips 66® Aviation fuel. The maintenance department has more than 100 years of experience combined, with many employees sticking around for 30-plus years.
Safety is always top-of-mind at JCFS with personnel completing the NATA Safety 1st Online Training program, just another great program offered by Phillips 66 to branded FBOs.
Fried Chicken with a Side of Ice Cream
Every Friday JCFS serves up a free lunch to pilots, crew, customers and employees. Recently Champs Chicken catered lunch. Not only is Champs headquartered in nearby Holts Summit, Missouri, but they are also a JCFS customer, with two aircraft hangared at the FBO. The popular fried chicken chain takes to the skies often, regularly traveling to the 38 states that it currently has locations.
For dessert, JCFS always has free Central Dairy gourmet ice cream with flavors that include the ever-popular Moose Tracks and the Mizzou-themed flavor, Tiger Tracks, which feature Truman the Tiger —the official mascot of the athletic teams of the University of Missouri Tigers — on the package.
The weekly lunch gathering is just one of the extra perks that both customers and employees alike have come to expect and appreciate at JCFS.
"Some of your best customers are the ones you already have," said Shorthose. "We don’t overlook that. We treat all customers with the highest level of service, whether you fly a Cessna 150 or a Falcon 7X."
Jefferson City Flying Service proudly participates in the WingPoints® Rewards Program and the Partners-Into-Plane Contract Fuel Program. To learn more about Jefferson City Flying Service, visit their website at www.jcfs.net.