Even those who follow international affairs in the most cursory way recognize that things can change at lightning speed, often for the worse. So, if you are a flight department manager with executive and other personnel based in a place where bad things are likely to happen or even possible, then you’d better have a contingency plan for organizing your people and dealing with the unexpected.

Not that long ago, it was a challenge to operate a business jet in Mexico. There were few FBOs, ground support was sporadic — at outlying airports, nonexistent — and getting anything seemed to take forever. Even in the few cases where handling agents were available, permits and authorizations had to be walked through multiple offices by flight crews.

This year Manuel “Manny” Romero-Vargas is celebrating his 50th year in aviation. To legions of business aircraft operators who have flown to Mexico and ranged through the country, the septuagenarian handler is known simply (and affectionately) as Manny, the personification of business aviation in Mexico.