“People are more important than profits.”
The above is just one of the phrases deemed important by the founder of Banyan Air Service, Don Campion. However, rather than just a nice sounding saying to go in the values section of his company’s website, that phrase has been something instilled in Don Campion his whole life by none other than his parents, George and Esther.
The senior Campions met as teenagers and both attended college in Toronto, Canada. George became a medical doctor and interned at St. Michael’s Hospital while Esther earned a degree in nursing from the Toronto General Hospital School of Nursing. They married in 1949 and joined the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) group of medical missionaries traveling by ship to Nigeria after months of specialized training. Most of the remainder of their lives would be spent serving the people of Egbe, Nigeria, a small town inland from Lagos to the northeast, across the Niger River. Their faith, drive to help people, and desire to work in a team environment would inform their son, Don, one of four kids, on how to live his life and pursue success.
Don got his first taste of private aviation while attending a boarding school in Nigeria as his parents toiled in their small medical village, building from scratch the infrastructure needed to serve and support the people of Egbe. The little Cessnas and Pipers used to get Don back and forth between home and school lit a passion for aviation that would later steer his decisions in life and career. Don told TwoTen Magazine in 2016, “I loved watching the missionary planes fly in and land in the grass airstrip next to the hospital. They would pick up a group of us missionary kids and fly us to the school. That’s where my love of aviation and my desire to make it a career started.”
After primary school in Nigeria, Don attended Seneca College in Toronto, Canada, earning a pilot’s license and a degree in aviation. On school breaks, Don spent lots of time in Florida with school friends and began to see opportunities for servicing and supporting aircraft. He moved to Fort Lauderdale after graduation and flew charter customers between Florida and the Bahamas. There, too, he saw an opportunity to provide excellent maintenance support to the little charter company.
It was in Fort Lauderdale that Don and his friend, an aircraft broker, leased a hangar together and started up a service and sales business. Soon after, in 1979, Banyan Air Service was founded and began operations. It is said that if you build it, they will come, and come they did. Others in the area started requesting service and support from his small company. Don soon took over sole ownership of Banyan and in 1985, it grew its footprint at FXE and started selling fuel and providing logistics support to transient and based customers. Now anyone could land in Fort Lauderdale, hangar their airplane overnight, get fuel, get maintenance, reserve a hotel and car, and even find their next airplane – all in one place.
Don further explained to TwoTen: “We took advantage of the surrounding hangar space at the airport and started attracting other peripheral businesses as tenants to provide services that we didn’t provide, including aerial photography, flight schools, helicopter repair, air ambulance, legal assistance for aviation law, cargo, etc. We can now go to the people in our industry and say, ‘If you come to Banyan, you have access to more services offered to meet your needs than perhaps anywhere else in the world.’ That approach has been working very well.”
Selecting the team to help Don provide world-class service is one of the most important aspects of running Banyan. “We employ close to 200 teammates, and I have always referred to our employees in that manner because we are all a team. We have a very stringent hiring process consisting of at least four interviews. [Once given] the thumbs up, we proceed with the hiring process.”
Don Campion and his wife, Sueanne, are project leaders in the revitalization of his father’s hospital in Egbe, Nigeria.
As the team and its footprint has grown, it has become increasingly important for Don to have a second-in-command with the experience and right fit to lead with him. In 1996, Michael O’Keeffe joined Banyan and has served in a variety of managerial positions since, including vice president of aircraft maintenance, general manager and director of operations. Michael is now the company’s senior vice president and is also responsible for all aircraft sales and management. He serves on the executive committee for the Pinnacle Air Network, and in 2009 he was elected chairman of the National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA). Previously he held roles as secretary, treasurer and vice-chairman at NARA. He is an active pilot and holds an Airline Transport Pilot license (ATP), instrument, multi-engine land and seaplane ratings, and type ratings in King Air 300/350 Turboprops and Citation 500 series jets. He holds an undergraduate degree in finance and a Master’s of Business Administration from Embry Riddle University.
I asked Michael during a visit in 2021 how the business had adjusted and found success through the pandemic. He said, “It has been unbelievable. Historically, we had a large portion of our business from south of the border. During the pandemic, we saw that change to mostly all North American business due to travel restrictions. Even with the restrictions and our customer profile changing, we have experienced our biggest months in terms of fuel sales and aircraft maintenance and sales ever.”
They credit the success to their unrelenting adherence to the principles of service and focus on customer needs. Serving customers’ needs means that Banyan Air Service needed to provide the best in new aircraft acquisition. They are the southeast’s premier HondaJet dealer. It is a perfect fit for Banyan’s business of providing best-in-class products and services.
Selling and servicing airplanes do not make up all that Don Campion does in life these days. He and his wife, Sueanne, are now project leaders in the revitalization of his father’s hospital in Egbe, Nigeria. Often traveling to Nigeria, they recruit personnel, raise financial support, ship medical equipment and supplies and provide oversight to establish medical care to this needy region. The hospital also is a training center for nurses and doctors. They work closely with 4KIDS of South Florida, a child welfare agency dedicated to foster care and His Caring Place, which provides a safe harbor for teenagers.
Some of Don’s awards and recognition include:
- Serving on the National Aviation Transportation Association Board and Awarded Distinguished Service Award
- Served on Everglades University Aviation’s Program Advisory Committee
- Received International Business Award from the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce
- Inducted into FATA Entrepreneurial Excellence Hall of Fame 2009
- Junior Achievement South Florida Business Hall of Fame Laureate 2011
- Received Excalibur Award 2011
- FXE Achievements in Community Excellence Award 2018
- FXE Distinguished Service Award and City of Fort Lauderdale Proclamation for 40 Years at FXE 2019
These days when you visit Banyan Air Services, the lineup of services has greatly expanded since its early times. Visitors can take advantage of the world’s largest pilot shop (according to Banyan’s website), grab a burger at the Jet Runway Cafe, relax in the terminal lounge, or schedule various services for your aircraft from the airframe to engine to interior or exterior work.
