2021 Airport Business Top 40 Under 40: David Buritica, Director of Sales and Marketing, Sheltair Aviation

2021 has been a good year for David Buritica. The director of sales and marketing at Sheltair Aviation is not only an Airport Business 40 Under 40 award winner. He is also a 2021 NBAA Top 40 Under 40 award recipient. The previous year, Buritica was promoted to director of sales and marketing, making him the youngest professional currently at a director level at Sheltair.

Aviation has long been part of Buritica's life. His family runs a charter and air ambulance operation in Bogota, Colombia, flying King Airs. "I was very intrigued by airports, pilots, hangars –," he said, thinking back to his teenage years. He initially wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do in aviation but felt drawn to the industry as a whole. In 2010 he began selling aircraft parts, marking the beginning of his sales career. Buritica earned his private pilot license in 2013, and in 2014, a multi-engine rating.

When he joined Sheltair in 2018, he was the business aviation sales manager. In that year, he helped the company nurture relationships in Mexico and Brazil, led the CAA preferred FBO designation campaign for Sheltair FLL (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport), and restructured the sales process to create better interdepartmental collaboration and communication. In 2019, he focused on coaching the sales team and creating a program to provide sales processes and tools for the employees. Buritica has also supported the implementation of significant changes in the company's use of technology by introducing various flight tracking and sales software resulting in improved communication and lead targeting. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Buritica was involved with the company's efforts to create safe environments, maintain employee and customer morale, support repatriation and ambulance flights, and monitor the impacts of the pandemic.

Supporting the next generation of aviation professionals, Buritica is part of the I Hart Flying Foundation scholarship committee, a non-profit organization that helps women of all ages in their pursuit to become pilots in the general and commercial aviation industry. Along with Andy Castro, Sheltair's director of special projects, Buritica helped form a partnership between Sheltair and SUN' n FUN in Lakeland, Florida, supporting the Aerospace Center for Excellence (ACE), a STEM learning center designed to provide hands-on activities for future aviators.

"Aviation connects the world, " he said. "It creates a direct positive impact on communities across the globe by making them more accessible. We must continue to support younger generations and educate people about the importance of airports and general aviation. It's just a must. It's the way we get places."

The future of aviation is sustainable aviation fuel, he said, and added Sheltair is ready to embrace these changes and support flight operations by storage and fuel handling services.