A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

European FBO network AviaVIP has acquired Bulgarian business aviation handler Omega Aviation. Omega provides exclusive private aircraft handling and crew lounge services with an FBO at Sofia Airport (LBSF), as well as VIP handling at Varna (LBWN), Burgas (LBBG), Plovdiv (LBPD), and Gorna Oryahovitsa (LBGO). The move brings the AviaVIP brand—which was launched at EBACE last year—to 55 locations in Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands.
“We are thrilled to welcome Omega Aviation to the AviaVIP family,” said Laurent Levaux, president of parent company Aviapartner Group, adding that the acquisition reflects its commitment to its clients. “We firmly believe that expanding in Bulgaria, based on our foundation of customer service excellence, is crucial in meeting the growing business aviation needs of the region.”
In conjunction with the acquisition, the company has completed its integration under the MyHandling software and now offers a single, user-friendly interface for customer operations across its entire network.
“Traditional methods of communication such as emails and phone calls no longer suffice when it comes to communicating with FBOs,” said Luis Escribano, AviaVIP’s head of operations. “Our modern approach helps to minimize any risks associated with outdated methods.” Through the platform, he noted the company’s operation team should experience a 20% to 40% reduction in workload when communicating with all the locations.
AviaVIP also recently completed a major renovation program that resulted in the complete refurbishment of 14 FBOs in Spain (Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza, Bilbao, Valencia, Seville, Jerez, Alicante, Menorca, and Málaga); France (Nice, La Rochelle, and Marseille); and the Netherlands (Amsterdam). “Our objective is to renovate at least five new VIP infrastructures annually, ensuring that AviaVIP consistently enhances the quality of its services,” said Jerome Ferasin, the company’s chief strategy and sales officer. He added that upgrades are in store for its locations in Rome and Brussels later this year.

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