L&B is the oldest privately owned consultancy dedicated solely to the needs of the commercial aviation community, focusing on environmental and airport planning solutions for today's results-oriented aviation decision makers. They believe that their focus on the highly specialized issues of the aviation industry provides their clients with a level of expertise that cannot be matched by other organizations. Through experience and technology their ideas are shaping the future of aviation.
Their Mission
To offer leading edge aviation planning services that deliver outstanding quality and value to their clients.
L&B Global Experience
Their geographic reach is represented by the blue dots on the map below.
History
Before launching Landrum & Brown, Charlie O. Landrum, a successful architect and engineer, and John F. Brown, an equally successful business and financial advisor, were working for the Airlines Terminal Corporation at Willow Run Airport in Detroit Michigan. Formed in 1946 as a joint-venture corporation of the then 17 operational domestic airlines, Airlines Terminal Corporation was formed to privately finance, build, and/or own/lease and operate airport terminal facilities across the nation.
Able to attract only a few interested parties to the plan, Airlines Terminal Corporation eventually folded in 1948 and both Charlie and John relocated to the Cincinnati area. They became partners and founded Landrum & Brown (L&B) on January 1, 1949 to provide planning and management solutions specifically for airports.
At that time the trend that was shaping the U.S. airport system was toward local governments taking responsibility for ownership and operation of airports, not private enterprises. Charlie and John saw an opportunity in this national swing toward local control of airports and became pioneers in the aviation consulting industry. The local authorities needed counsel and direction on airport and aviation-related matters, and for ways to address federal regulations. Ever since, the company has flourished, providing planning and consulting services tailored to the ever-changing needs of the industry.
Like the industry itself, L&B's history is one of evolution and change. Following the company's initial growth, it was sold to management consultants Booz, Allen & Hamilton in 1970. Booz, Allen & Hamilton was motivated to get into the aviation industry resulting from new federal legislation and the luster of the L&B reputation. In 1980, Booz, Allen & Hamilton divested itself of L&B by the sale of the company to Dallah AVCO Trans Arabia, moving the company into the international arena and into airport operations and recruiting in addition to the traditional book of planning and financial services provided by the company.
In a personally risky and gutsy move, the Company's top management team of Jeffrey N. Thomas and Stuart S. Holder acquired L&B from AVCO in 1984. Similar to their predecessors and mentors, Jeff and Stu saw the huge potential of the consulting business as the aviation industry was on the verge of another period of explosive growth. During the 1980's and 1990's, Jeff and Stu's vision for the airport consulting industry evolved L&B into the most technologically advanced consultancy's by providing leading edge solutions to the ever changing aviation industry through some of the first applications of computer simulation models and advanced forecasting techniques.
In 1994, Jeff acquired Stu's shares of the company and became the sole owner of L&B. Starting In the late-1990's, with a unified vision, Jeff and senior management took L&B to new heights by turning the company into a highly sought after global aviation consultancy with projects and offices around the world. In 2008, L&B announced that it had entered into a shareholding and investment relationship with Dar Holdings USA, Inc. By forming this relationship, both L&B and Dar Holdings USA recognize the strategic importance and potential of an independent L&B as a global leader in the aviation industry.
