I would ask if anyone has thought of "Marketing" their operation? Things are in decline and yet operations are doing the things they have always done which in many cases is close to nothing. Unless the target audience for your facility knows who you are, where you are and what you can do for them your prospects will be in decline. ( I brought this up at a facility I once frequented and it fell on deaf ears, among other things)

While I cannot speak to the conditions in the UK and elsewhere, my experience with commercial operations in the US shows little being done to "advertise" their presence. (Clubs are a different story and take a different approach) I lived 30 miles from a glider port for 35 years an never knew of its presence, I learned about it by accident. A business should not depend on a small sign on a secondary highway for much business.

The "target audience" for a glider operation is in age group 14 to 94 and includes high school students with a desire to learn to fly, general aviation pilots seeking another challenge and add on to their current license AND the older pilot who has lost his or her medical but still wants to fly. SO, what are you doing to make your presence known to these potential sources of income?

A little advert in "Soaring" magazine is nice but the subscription rate to this magazine is quite limited and probably in decline as is the industry. My suggestion would be to selectively advertise in General Aviation magazines targeting local zip codes (yes, many magazines will allow you to place your ads based on local zip codes to subscribers and magazine stands within your geography). I subscribed to "Plane and Pilot" and "Flying Magazine" among others while I was out of the cockpit for a couple of decades. I never saw an ad for a glider port although one did exist locally. This would allow for an awareness among the general aviation pilot seeking another challenge and the medically disqualified who wish to get back into the air. And how many medically DQd pilots know a glider rating doesn't require a medical?

A well managed service operation (and yes a glide port is a service operation) needs to constantly be aware of its "capacity utilization" level and its break even point. Your profit is beyond the break even point.

Of course management must be willing to spend the money to accomplish this level of communications to the target audience. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

When I decided to get a helicopter rating a coupe of years ago I googled helicopter flight schools locally. NOTHING came up and I found myself driving and hour or two to investigate such schools when there was one 10 minutes from my house. I too found it by accident and a business cannot depend on potential customers finding them by accident. They now advertise on a local TV station quite frequently and have an online presence. They have a professionally shot video which grabs the eye and communicates the proper information to the public. They have seen a ROI which has made it an ongoing activity.

Walt Connelly
Former Tow Pilot
Now Happy Helicopter Pilot