12 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE JUNE/JULY 2016
COVER STORY
To hear him tell it, Jonathan Bluth, oper-
ations manager at Atlantic Aviation's Aus-
tin, Texas location, is the luckiest man alive.
Bluth took a job as a line service technician
at a South Bend, Indiana FBO near where he
grew up after growing up with a fascination
of airplanes that was aided by the internet
boom and enthusiast forums.
Atlantic purchased the small FBO Bluth
had been working at as part of their acqui-
sition of Mercury Air Center in 2007 and
Bluth came with.
"I've learned a lot along the way," Bluth
says. "And I can't imagine myself without
all these airplanes."
After becoming a site trainer for Atlantic,
Bluth's rise took off. He moved to Austin to
oversee the ramp as line manager at Aus-
tin-Bergstrom International Airport in 2012
and became the operations manager at the
same location just last year and now leads
a team of 26 people.
"His leadership guided us through the
Formula One races and the annual SXSW
Music, Movies and Technology Festival and
Conferences, two of the busiest times of the
AviationPros.com/11174155
"I struck lucky."
By Alex Wendland
Jonathan Bluth came into Atlantic Aviation as a line service technician nearly
13 years ago. Since 2003, he has built a career and his reputation on more
than a decade of leadership, team development and authentic enthusiasm.