Gallery: Business Aviation's Sunny Start In Opa-Locka

The NBAA Miami-Opa Locka Regional Forum started on a high note when Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Oliver Gilbert III, standing at left, presented a $100,000 check to record-setting pilot and Flying Classroom CEO Barrington Irving (second from left) to help fund construction of an aviation career training center at OPF.
 

Daher displayed this handsome TBM 960 pressurized, single-engine turboprop at the entrance to the exhibit hall. The French manufacturer first introduced the -960 in April 2022 at the Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Florida.

Attendees had the opportunity to see this 1999 Hawker 800XP, which was listed for sale by United Wings International, a boutique aircraft management company based at OPF.
 

VIP Completions exhibited this recently completed Dassault Falcon 2000, which is used by the company’s president, Ben Shirazi, and serves as a demonstrator. The bespoke aircraft completions house has a 30,000-sq-ft. facility at Fort Lauderdale International Airport and was working on several business jets and a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter.
 

VIP Completions outfitted the 22-year-old Falcon 2000 with custom-designed seats upholstered with Garrett leathers, oak woodwork, Loro Piana carpeting and cabin details, a custom lavatory countertop, a cabin management system and other features. “Our Falcon embodies the elegance of contemporary private aviation,” President Ben Shirazi says.

Part 135 charter operator Fly Alliance of Ocoee, Florida, featured this 16-passenger, 6,000-nm-range Bombardier Global Express. The company has a 25-aircraft fleet ranging from light jets to Globals.
 

Embassair, an FBO led by European investors, has opened its first U.S. facility at OPF. Designed by French architect Jacques Rougerie and described as resembling “a bird in full flight,” the FBO joins Atlantic Aviation, Fontainebleau Aviation and Signature Flight Support at the airport. 
 

Embassair held a soft opening of its new FBO on Feb. 1, followed by a reception it hosted for attendees of the NBAA Miami-Opa Locka Regional Forum.

The rear of the novel Embassair terminal integrates hangar space for multiple business jets. There are four private boarding lounges with access to the OPF ramp.
 

Several business jets were parked outside of Signature Flight Support’s facility at Miami-Opa Locka Executive. OPF is the largest of Miami-Dade County’s four general aviation airports, responsible for nearly half of their 400,000 annual flights, and serves as a reliever for nearby Miami International Airport.