City businesses reach new heights

Security checks, booking difficulties, luggage hassles, layovers, flight delays and expensive tickets can make commercial flying unattractive for the businessperson on the go.

When million-dollar deals or critical presentations hinge on numerous cross-country stops, a different route must be taken.

More than 35 local businesses meet that need with their own corporate planes.

Time is money

"The best part about it is it's direct," said Geoffrey Butler, chief executive officer and president of the architecture and engineering firm of Butler Rosenbury & Partners Inc.

Butler has been a pilot for six years and flies a six-passenger Piper Lance Turbo. The architectural firm flies around the country for meetings and to look at projects, he said.

The time-saving element is the No. 1 benefit for most Springfield business owners and principles.

"In our business ... time is money," BKD LLP Managing Partner and pilot Bill Fingland said. "The time that we save by being able to go to the office, press the flesh if you would and then return the same day is the primary motivation for it."

BKD owns a nearly $4 million 2001 Cessna Citation CJ1. It is the company's fifth plane in 18 years of flying and is in the air two or three times a week.

Wheeling and dealing

In 22 years as general manager and vice president of Springfield Flying Service Inc. the Harry Cooper Supply Company subsidiary that owns Spring-field Downtown Airport Bill John-meyer knows that millions of dollars in business rely on flights in and out of the airport.

Putting a dollar value on it is impossible, Johnmeyer said, "but it would probably surprise you."

On the afternoon of April 23, John-meyer said, there were four corporate jets from out of town camped at the downtown airport at 2546 E. Division St. The principles who flew aboard them were likely working large deals in the business community.

"Most big business deals will be face-to-face," said Jack Reynolds, pilot for Paul Mueller Company.

When big dollars are at stake, technological advancements like video and teleconferencing and the Internet don't suffice.

For instance, the deal on a $15 million purchase order won't close on a conference call, Reynolds said. "There is a lot of trust that goes along with that," he added. "We will always have a need for that face-to-face contact."

That personal attention may also relate to the growth of a business.

"(Of) the top 500 companies in the United States, 99 percent of them own an airplane or have a flight department," Reynolds said.

"It's a business tool," he added, referring to Mueller's $2.5 million 1997 King Air turbo prop. "Just like we'd buy a hydraulic press or something else, we use it in business on a daily basis and ... it expands our ability to call on customers."

He said Mueller's plane is in the air four or five times a week and logs 650 hours a year visiting clients and making sales and service calls. Customers often are brought back to Springfield to view the Mueller-owned Springfield Brewing Company a showcase of its microbrewery product, he said.

Airplane expense

The initial investment for a new, entry-level jet starts at around $4 million, said Bill Hammitt, vice president of Aviation Enterprises at the Springfield-Branson Regional Airport. Older used planes, however, can be purchased for as little as $300,000, he said.

While it may be difficult to justify the initial costs compared with commercial ticket prices, Johnmeyer said if the company is flying often enough at least 25 hours a month and with numerous passengers, it becomes cost-effective.

That equates to 300 hours of air time a year before a business realizes value.

"It's really paid off for us over the long term, and it's pretty cost-effective for our clients," Butler said. "We're able to put more talent in the right place quickly. It's a good business investment."

The distances traveled also play a part because at higher altitudes, less fuel is burned.

After the cost of acquisition, fuel is a jet owner's second greatest expense, and right now fuel costs an average of $2.75 a gallon, Johnmeyer said.

A light jet, like BKD's Citation, holds 476 gallons of fuel which burns at a rate of 125 gallons per hour. Johnmeyer said the larger jets can hold more than 2,000 gallons and burn more fuel per hour.

Maintenance, insurance, personnel and hangar space are other expenses.

What it's worth

Ultimately, it goes back to the time element and what the businessperson's time is worth.

"Unfortunately, business aviation is not a profit center; we are definitely (an) expense," said Prime Inc. pilot Jim Robinson. "But what are the people worth? If we can fly the airplane so they can make a meeting and get back to the office, finish up a contract and have a multimillion dollar deal, it outweighs the operating expense of the airplane."

For Prime, the direct operating expense runs about $1,600 an hour, he said, including maintenance and salaries. The company, which has been flying for 24 years, has three full-time pilots who operate the 1980 Sabreliner Model 65 between 200 and 250 days a year.

The personnel-related value increases when companies, like Paul Mueller Company, carry several passengers at a time.

"If you have six or seven passengers that are all top management," Reynolds said, "an hour sitting in an airport lobby is just unacceptable."

And since Sept. 11, increased security "really plays havoc" with corporate schedules. "There are just a lot of different facets of private flying," he said. "Primarily it's schedule, because we go on (Paul Mueller Company's) schedule."

Reynolds said private planes can land at any of 10,000 airports in the United States, whereas the airlines serve about 1,000 airports.

A big fraternity' in the sky

Other Springfield companies with corporate planes include Bass Pro, Loren Cook, The Killian Group, Meek's, Harry Cooper Supply, O'Reilly, Highland Dairy, Coca-Cola Bottling, Great South-ern and the Foster Group.

Fingland relates the business flying community to a "big fraternity."

"You feel special," he said. "It is such a professional environment and people from all over the world basically, share a common language, common protocols and a common desire for safety."