Pilot Travel Centers LLC, also known as Pilot Flying J, is a North American chain of truck stops in the United States and Canada. The company is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Pilot Corporation, the majority owner, is also located. The company is owned by Pilot, FJ Management and Berkshire Hathaway. [3] The company operates truckstops under the Pilot Travel Centers, Flying J Travel Plaza and Mr. Fuel brands.

History


Pilot Corporation opened its first lorry stop in 1981. On November 15, 1993, Pilot entered into a joint venture with Marathon Petroleum Company, and all Pilot lorry stops were renamed Pilot Travel Centres.

At the beginning, the number of rest stops was around 60, but this was to be short-lived. Over the next few years, Pilot Travel Centres experienced significant growth. Beginning in mid-2002, Marathon converted many wholly owned speedway truckstops to the Pilot Travel Centre name. In mid-2003, another major expansion occurred with the purchase of the Williams Lorry Stop chain.

The joint venture between Marathon and Pilot increased the recognition of the Pilot Travel Centre name throughout the United States, as the number of rest stops more than quadrupled. In 2008, Pilot bought out Marathon's stake and entered into a new partnership with CVC Capital Partners, an international private equity firm. The pilot also has partnerships with Road Ranger and Town Pump, and in 2014 acquired a majority stake in Mr. Fuel.

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