ACI Jet

Bizjet management, MRO, and FBO provider aims to set the gold standard with its unique approach.

By Justin Marchand
Contributing Writer

Headquartered along California’s picturesque central coast, ACI Jet has evolved into one of the most operationally disciplined and fully integrated aviation service providers in the US.

Operating a versatile mix of 17 aircraft, consisting of 10 Bombardier Global series, 4 Bombardier Challenger series, Citation XLS, Gulfstream IVSP, and Phenom 300, the company logs more than 6000 flight hours annually and has approximately 370 employees across its FBO, MRO, and flight operations departments.

ACI’s 91,000-sq-ft corporate headquarters at SBP (San Luis Obispo CA) also serves as a Bombardier authorized service facility.

Operating from SNA (Santa Ana CA) and anchored by its 91,000-sq-ft corporate headquarters and heavy maintenance hub at SBP (San Luis Obispo CA), ACI Jet’s full-spectrum capability bridges the gap between boutique local service and global operational reach. The company’s SBP base also serves as a Bombardier authorized service center.

At the helm of this operation is CEO Bill Borgsmiller, whose vision has transformed a one-man local charter outfit into a business aviation leader. When he started the company in 1998 with a modest $75,000 in seed capital from friends and family, Borgsmiller wore all the hats, serving as the pilot, mechanic, and scheduler – all at once.

ACI Jet CEO Bill Borgsmiller employs about 370 personnel across FBO, MRO, and flight operations. Long-term client relationships, premium service, and deep product expertise all contribute to operational excellence.

Over the ensuing 27 years, those grassroots beginnings have expanded to a multi-location network across the west coast.

Reflecting on the philosophy that underpins the company’s quarter century of success, Borgsmiller notes that the secret lies in keeping the core culture authentic and people-focused.

“When I started the company as a one-man show back in 1998, we didn’t build this business on corporate jargon or Wall Street backing,” Borgsmiller says. “We built it by treating people right, making work fun, and staying genuinely obsessed with aviation. From our line service crews learning to fly on subsidized training programs to our longstanding relationships with aircraft owners, that passion is our secret sauce. If you keep the culture right, the business takes care of itself.”

Flight ops

ACI Jet’s flight ops division is structured to support everything from regional point-to-point missions to complex intercontinental missions. The team is approximately 130-strong, and includes 60 pilots, 40 cabin attendants, and specialists across dispatch, maintenance, and safety departments.

Leading this dynamic unit is VP Flight Ops Sean McDonald, a 28-year US

Navy veteran who maintains currency by flying the line in the Challenger 604 and 605.

ACI Jet VP Flight Operations Sean McDonald, CEO Bill Borgsmiller, Global 8000 Captain Kellee Valentine, and Director of Maintenance Adam Barron at SBP headquarters.

For McDonald and his team, the decision to center the fleet around Bombardier products was an intentional operational strategy.

“When you look at our fleet evolution, we’ve intentionally leaned into the Bombardier product line because it aligns directly with our service capabilities and our clients’ demanding travel profiles,” says McDonald. “Our crews take these aircraft over the North Atlantic to Europe, deep into South America, across the Pacific to Japan, and down to Australia. Our flight operations are truly global.”

Global 8000 Aircraft and Crew Manager/Lead Captain Kellee Valentine has flown with ACI Jet for 22 years. Formally SVP of Flight Operations, he has 11,000 hrs TT and 1300 hrs on the Global 8000.

But what makes ACI Jet great is the tight, unyielding connection between the flight deck and its own maintenance floor.

“Our pilots aren’t dealing with a detached corporate hierarchy when an issue pops up overseas,” adds McDonald.

“They are plugged directly into a team that treats every single tail number like it’s their own. That integration of elite global reach and hands-on operator-led precision is something you simply cannot find anywhere else in this industry.”

At the pinnacle of ACI Jet’s heavy fleet focus stand the Bombardier Global 7500 and 8000. Both flagships feature the advanced Bombardier Vision flight deck, driven by 4 large displays, fly-by-wire architecture, and advanced situational awareness tools such as synthetic vision and MultiScan weather radar.

Twin General Electric Passport engines deliver up to 30% better fuel efficiency than legacy powerplants, and an advanced Smooth Flex Wing dampens turbulence actively for a notably stable ride. Cabin altitude is 2691 ft at FL410.

Spanning more than 54 ft in length and 8 ft in width, the Global 8000 cabin is organized into 4 distinct living suites – club, conference, entertainment, and principal with a stand-up shower – all supported by an industry-leading low cabin altitude and advanced HEPA air purification to ensure passenger comfort on ultra-long-range missions.

Managing and maintaining these high-performance assets is an ACI Jet specialty.

“Operating an aircraft like the Global 8000 changes the conversation entirely,” says Borgsmiller. “It’s not just about flying farther or faster. It’s about managing a high-performance asset that operates at the absolute frontier of aerospace engineering. Bringing this capability under ACI Jet’s operational and maintenance umbrella proves that regional independent operators can compete with – and often surpass – the largest management firms in the world.”

Crew management

Managing a roster of roughly 60 professional pilots, ACI Jet’s flight operations department looks for candidates with 2500 to 3500 flight hours. McDonald notes, “However, the hours are just a baseline that suggests an appropriate breadth of flying experience needed to operate these complex aircraft successfully into challenging locations.

Ultimately, what we are searching for are people with high emotional intelligence, a dedication to improving our operation constantly, and a personality where our team wouldn’t hesitate to spend significant time together navigating across the world.”

Borgsmiller adds, “When we look at a pilot’s background, hours in a logbook tell you someone has been sitting in the seat, but they don’t tell you how they think when the weather turns bad over the Atlantic or an avionics stack drops offline mid-flight. We aren’t hiring a number. We’re hiring judgment, character, and an obsession with doing things the right way.”

Leading the flight crews are dedicated aircraft and crew managers (ACMs). Serving as lead captains, they act as the primary single point of contact between individual aircraft owners and company operations.

Global 8000 Cabin Attendant Victoria Vidak ensures an uncompromising experience.

Operating hand-in-hand with dispatch and maintenance teams, these leaders oversee every operational aspect tied to a specific tail number, from scheduling routine inspections, coordinating flight logistics, and managing pilot rosters, to ensuring the owner’s exact cabin preferences are met.

Mission management

Dispatch Manager Trevor Totman, who has grown with the company over the past 23 years, oversees an 11-person team. Operating via a fully remote model, the department leverages powerful software suites like Portside’s flight operations management system, Google’s collaborative tools, ARINCDirect, and ForeFlight to manage global logistics, complex flight planning, and real-time coordination.

A pillar of its managed and chartered fleet, ACI Jet operates and maintains multiple Challenger aircraft, leveraging its in-house MRO expertise to keep these jets performing at the highest level.

“Private aviation is a constant series of unique challenges – whether it’s trying to secure slot times at congested airports or planning complex intercontinental itineraries,” says Totman.

“We manage about 6000 flight hours a year, and roughly 90% of our international trips – spanning the Americas, Europe, Japan, and Australia – are handled entirely in-house. From multi-month around-the-world expeditions to last-minute international hops, our dispatchers use tailored checklists within our scheduling systems to ensure flawless execution on every single leg.”

Operating complex intercontinental missions requires safety and quality management systems that go beyond regulatory baselines.

ACI Jet has decades of operational and maintenance expertise
supporting the Cessna Citation XLS series, providing reliable regional charter solutions and factory-level care for operators.

Having achieved International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (ISBAO) Stage 3 certification and maintaining Wyvern Wingman status, ACI Jet integrates rigorous external oversight with an internal culture of proactive self-reporting.

“Our safety and quality management system (SQMS) covers not only safety risks but also quality issues that affect the client experience, from catering to ground transportation,” notes McDonald. “We use flight data monitoring tools that allow our pilots to review their own flight parameters and perform self evaluations.”

This safety culture, combined with the advantage of having an FAA Part 145 Repair Station and parts depot under the same roof, ACI Jet is able to troubleshoot and save missions with a high level of agility.

Bombardier MRO ecosystem

The synergy between ACI Jet’s flight operations, FBO network, and its heavy maintenance capabilities is anchored by its status as a Bombardier authorized service facility. “I knew that if we were going to truly compete at the highest level of business aviation, we couldn’t just be another independent shop looking for overflow work,” says Borgsmiller.

“I approached Bombardier and told them we were building a world-class facility on the US west coast that would treat their aircraft with the exact same obsession they put into building them. Over time, this relationship has improved and evolved to change the trajectory of our entire company.”

Director of Maintenance Adam Barron leads the company’s flight operations maintenance team and technical operations, leveraging deep hands-on expertise to oversee heavy airframe inspections, avionics retrofits, and a strategic parts inventory.

Before joining the commercial sector, Barron served with the US Air Force’s Battlefield Airborne Communications as a defense contractor for Northrop Grumman, and with Lockheed Martin in Afghanistan.

Maintenance Mgr Cole Farrar is part of a dedicated team of more than 100 technicians and specialists who keep ACI Jet’s fleet running at peak readiness around

“Securing the Bombardier authorized service facility designation wasn’t just about hanging a new plaque on the hangar wall,” he explains.

“It was about having access to an MRO where our mechanics, tooling, and quality systems operate at the exact same tier of engineering excellence that Bombardier demands of its own facilities.”

The maintenance team operates with a headcount between 75 and 100 people, including 17 specialized technicians embedded directly within flight operations. The flight ops maintenance team manages routine minor checks, including all 1A or 500-hour-or-less inspections, and handles the day-to-day budget management of fleet aircraft, while the MRO team focuses on customer modifications, calendar inspections, and complex avionics retrofits.

“Our maintenance structure is designed for agility, separating the tactical day-to-day work from the heavy, long-term projects,” says Barron. “The flight ops guys keep the fleet mission-ready, while the MRO side focuses on large-scale airframe health and modernization.”

ACI Jet’s in-house maintenance division leverages its status as the west coast’s premier Bombardier authorized service facility to deliver factory-level heavy maintenance, avionics retrofits, and around-the-clock AOG support for Challenger and Global series aircraft.

Between both teams, ACI can handle everything from Collins Pro Line Fusion upgrades in Challenger 604s to integrating Starlink on the Global fleet.

“Our goal is always to synchronize these events,” adds Barron. “If an aircraft is already in the hangar for a major inspection, that is the perfect time to upgrade connectivity capabilities or refresh the cabin. That’s how we optimize asset downtime.”

The parts depot

A cornerstone of this operational success is a parts inventory that rivals some of the largest providers in the country. ACI Jet maintains nearly $10 million in critical stock. Barron and the MRO team work closely with Bombardier to forecast demand for high-volume, high-failure-rate parts that keep airplanes moving. “We don’t just stock parts. We stock reliability,” says Barron.

“My team works in constant feedback loops with Bombardier’s steering committees and advisory boards. We look at the data – what’s failing, what’s causing the most AOG hours – and we stock those items proactively.”

This approach allows ACI Jet to perform same-day repairs that would otherwise ground an aircraft for days. Barron continues, “When you have a Global 6000 or 7500, a minor component failure shouldn’t derail a long-haul trip. By having critical components right here in our depot, we turn potential disasters into overnight fixes.”

Beyond hardware, ACI Jet is investing heavily in the future of the trade, partnering with nearby Cuesta College for technician training to address the industry’s workforce attrition.

This proactive posture extends into the company’s active engagement with software providers, maintenance tracking platforms, and OEMs to shape the future of airframe support. “When you look at where the industry is heading with aircraft health management systems, it really boils down to 3 core tenets. The future is about functionality, reliability, and safety,” adds Barron.

“Are we using real-time data monitoring to anticipate component wear before it grounds a plane? Is the airplane doing exactly what the owner needs it to do consistently and safely? That is the voice of the operator we bring back to the OEMs.”

Elevating the ground experience

Anchored by facilities at SBP and SNA, ACI Jet’s FBO network spans an expanding footprint of roughly 2 million sq ft. Its locations offer 24-hour fueling alongside comprehensive line services, luxurious executive boardrooms, pilot lounges, snooze rooms, and dedicated concierge services.

Evoking a high-end luxury resort rather than a traditional corporate hangar, the flagship SBP FBO lobby and exterior architecture feature warm natural woods, stonework, and expansive glass walls that frame the active flight line to create an immediate sense of elegance and arrival.

Behind ACI Jet’s polished ramp presence is a leadership team guided by executives who understand the business from the ground up.

VP of FBOs and Facilities Andrew Robillard has spent 21 years with the company, rising from an A&P mechanic to executive leadership.”

When I first moved to San Luis Obispo, I had just received my A&P license after working as a line service technician at Sacramento International Airport,” he recalls. “While I didn’t land the mechanic spot initially, they moved me over to line service. I eventually grew into general manager and later was promoted to my current role.”

Robillard continues, “When our website states, ‘Finally a passenger and aircraft service experience that is worthy of private aviation – someone had to do it,’ that isn’t marketing hyperbole. It’s a challenge we issue to ourselves every morning. We didn’t set out to build another cookie-cutter aviation company that relies on smoke and mirrors. We built an integrated ecosystem where line service, heavy maintenance, flight operations, and management all talk to each other in real time, because our owners and crews deserve a level of operational transparency and execution that simply doesn’t exist anywhere else in this industry.”

What sets ACI Jet apart in the executive FBO landscape is its refusal to treat ground handling as a transactional commodity. “Good service is about recognizing the personal connection,” explains Robillard.

“Whether it’s remembering a client’s pet name or upgrading a family’s courtesy vehicle to a minivan, those little touches matter. We also empower our front-desk staff to make financial decisions on the spot so they can solve problems – whether discounting or crediting fuel up to a certain point. If a customer hears, ‘I need to go get my manager,’ that’s a missed opportunity. We want our people to fix it right then and there.”

Future of ACI Jet

Looking toward the horizon, Borgsmiller remains focused on scaling the company’s integrated ecosystem without losing the foundational culture that built it. “We’re not following the traditional playbook where you scale by standardizing the soul out of your company,” he says.

“Our future isn’t about becoming a faceless mega-operation. It’s about proving that we can grow, innovate, and take on complex heavy maintenance and global operations while still holding onto the obsession with quality and community that got you here in the first place.”

ACI Jet’s most recent capital project is already under way at SNA. The company is planning a major, multi-year redevelopment on the east side of the airfield to construct a flagship FBO alongside premium light GA facilities.

Designed to match the architectural and operational standard of its SBP headquarters on a grander scale, the new SNA facility will serve as a prominent investment within the heavily trafficked southern California corridor.

Whether it is integrating the Bombardier Global 8000 into its fleet, nurturing the next generation of technicians through tuition-free local college maintenance programs, or expanding its west coast infrastructure, ACI Jet continues to prove that independent, operator-led companies can set the gold standard for modern business aviation.

The journey from a lone hangar on California’s central coast to a premier, multi-base international operator is a testament to the proposition that, when you prioritize the human element, everything else will fall into place naturally.