Flying A Flight Service Inc.

Flying A Flight Service Inc., a woman-owned small business based in Santa Maria, California, provides light fixed-wing aircraft operations and personnel for aerial firefighting and wildland fire management to the federal government as a prime contractor on 100% of its awards, competing predominantly under total small business set-asides.

Flying A operates specialized aviation services for fire suppression and emergency response across the western United States, including air attack operations, aerial reconnaissance, personnel and cargo transport, and command and control functions. The company typically operates aircraft at altitudes between 1,000–3,500 feet and speeds of 120–150 knots in support of wildfire suppression, project monitoring, law enforcement, and administrative flights. Recent representative work includes a $6.5 million delivery order from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) for air attack and ground support services in San Bernardino with an ultimate completion date of December 31, 2028, a $5 million delivery order for aerial firefighting services at Deer Park, California running through the same date, and a $5.5 million single-award indefinite delivery contract with NIFC for light fixed-wing aircraft and air attack supervision services based in Medford, Oregon.

Customer concentration is extreme and functionally monoculture. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management National Interagency Fire Center accounts for 29 of 41 prime awards (71% of the award portfolio by count) and $147.1 million of the combined $177.5 million potential value across all awards (83% of portfolio dollars). The source identifies NIFC as Flying A's customer since at least 2004 SAM.gov registration. The Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region places two awards valued at $16.9 million combined, and the Interior Business Center holds three awards valued at $12.5 million combined; these two Interior sub-units account for the remaining portfolio concentration. The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission holds four awards with no dollar value disclosed and represents negligible pipeline exposure.

Flying A holds position on multiple indefinite delivery contracts and a basic ordering agreement with NIFC. The National Light Fixed-Wing Services multiple-award IDC, a $73.5 million vehicle awarded January 1, 2024 and extending through December 31, 2033, carries 12 task orders valued at $12.6 million combined. A single-award IDC for national air attack and light fixed-wing services (1202SA22T9117) generated one $5.5 million task order. A basic ordering agreement (12024B19G5506) has supported seven task orders valued at $1.9 million combined. These vehicles anchor Flying A's recurring access to NIFC fire-season procurement and explain the volume of delivery orders issued in April–May 2026, when fire season operationally begins.

Activity has been variable but recent. The source covers awards from 1990 forward; the past five years show one award in 2021, six in 2022, four in 2023, five in 2024, and eight in 2026. Eleven awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months carry combined potential value of $6.5 million, representing the company's immediate recompete exposure. SCI-reported invoicing across federal service contracts above the $150,000 reporting threshold totaled $9 million across FY2022–FY2025, with FY2025 showing $2.8 million invoiced against 2.7 FTEs. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable work ranged from a 10th percentile of $511.49/hour to a 90th percentile of $1,103.99/hour, with a median of $613.21/hour. Flying A self-performs all reported work with zero subcontractor engagement across SCI records.

The vendor's footprint is structured around seasonal fire-suppression procurement cycles. Nearly all awards carry ultimate completion dates of December 31 of their award year or the following year, reflecting the compressed operational window of wildfire season (April–October in western states). Category concentration shows 22 awards under Nonscheduled Chartered Passenger Air Transportation NAICS and 15 under Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation, with secondary classification under Natural Resources/Conservation–Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression PSC code. Flying A's total-small-business set-aside posture and exclusive NIFC customer base position the company as a specialized vendor in a narrow but high-value federal niche with limited customer diversification and heavy recompete exposure to a single agency.