As it continues to expand its FBO network across Europe, France-based aviation services provider Sky Valet has strengthened its presence in Italy by announcing an exclusive partnership with the business aviation terminal at Trieste Airport, under the Sky Valet Connect affiliate program. The FBO operator believes the agreement will help the airport in Northeastern Italy develop its business aviation traffic.

“The Sky Valet Connect brand will provide immediate access to the commercial power and the reputation of the brand and its network, and to heightened international visibility, while remaining independent,” said Michel Tohane, executive director of Sky Valet and director of parent company Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur’s general aviation business unit, adding this latest agreement heralds a new step in the company’s expansion program. “It supports our ambition to create a denser regional network and to meet operators’ explicit needs, in particular by harmonizing the FBO offer in Europe.”

Vincenzo Zangrilli, Trieste Airport’s commercial director noted, “Our region is located in an ideal crossroads which allows easy access to beautiful tourist summer and winter destinations, but also to key business cities in northern Italy and Central and Eastern Europe.” He explained that the airport has invested €17.2 million over the past several years in creating a multi-modal hub with top technologies to ensure the best customer experience. “Now together with Sky Valet, we have all the tools to push Trieste Airport into a market segment which presents interesting growth potential.”

In October, Sky Valet launched its branded affiliate program with the announcement of its its first locations: one in Italy, at Cuneo International Airport near Turin, and three Omega Aviation locations in Bulgaria—at capital city Sofia; Burgas, its largest port city; and Gorna Oryahovitsa, the country’s only privately owned international airport. “The creation of Sky Valet Connect goes hand-in-hand with our goal of becoming the leading business aviation ground handling network in Europe,” said Tohane at the time. “This label gives us the flexibility we need to progress in structuring our network while maintaining our reputation for excellence.”

Late last year, the company declared that it won tenders from Spanish airport manager AENA to establish FBOs at Madrid-Barajas Adolfo Suárez and Barcelona-El Prat Airports, and that it signed an agreement with the operator of Avignon-Provence Airport, making its IS-BAH-registered business aviation terminal the first in France to be branded under the Sky Valet Connect label.

Currently the company (Booth L63) is one of the largest European FBO operators with a network consisting of 28 destinations in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Bulgaria.