The Sensible Skies

It only takes one bad experience on a major airline to spark the thought: What if we had our own plane? Then I wouldn’t be sitting in this seat, trapped on the tarmac, while my potential customers drum their fingers and wait. I wouldn’t have to connect through Denver—with a four-hour layover—to get to St. Louis.

But then the misgivings set in. What will the shareholders think? Isn’t it wasteful and decadent to have a corporate jet in these times? What if the wings ice up? And it becomes apparent that there’s a lot to know about planes, and you don’t know any of it.

Highly successful people are used to controlling every aspect of their businesses, and they're willing to pay to have that same control in their travel plans.

Professionals in the small-aircraft industry deal with these issues all the time. They say people tend to fall prey to misconceptions about corporate aviation. These myths hold executives back from chartering or purchasing a plane, even though doing so might improve efficiency and save money for the company.

Here, they share their knowledge and defuse those misconceptions.

Myth: The Burden of Ownership

Running your own in-house flight department means purchasing fuel, paying for a hangar, arranging scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, providing salaries and benefits for a flight crew, and countless other tasks. It’s a lot to keep track of, especially if aviation isn’t your field of expertise.

But you don’t have to handle it all alone if you don’t want to. There are companies to whom you can outsource these tasks. Andy Rohlfing is pilot service manager at North Star Aviation, a Mankato-based FBO, or fixed-based operator (an aviation services company operating from a specific airport), that focuses on management and sales. He stands ready to orchestrate every detail of his customers’ corporate aviation experience, starting with choosing the right airplane.

“The people own the airplane; we do everything else for them,” he says. “They just basically pay a flat fee, and we take care of the crew. They don’t have any workman’s comp issues, health care, or any of that. We make sure the airplane is maintained the way it’s supposed to be and meets all the FAA requirements.” North Star even acts as a sort of concierge, stocking planes with coffee, sodas, and snacks, and lining up hotels and limousines on the ground.