For the co-founders of Voyager Industries LLC, the next target for expansion is the land of waving wheat and oil fields.
Founders Josh Somers and Binh Uebinger are eyeing two markets in Oklahoma - Tulsa and Oklahoma City - because of interest from two charter companies there.
One company is NetJets, the New Jersey-based fractional aircraft-ownership company with which Voyager has been talking for weeks. Somers said he is scheduled to meet this week with company officials in Oklahoma to familiarize himself with the facilities.
"Every airport is different - do we need to provide any percentage of our business to operate there? Is there any type of security clearance we need to go through? Will we have to be escorted onto the airfield or will we have our own badges?" Somers said. "All those questions are things that we've learned come up every time we go somewhere new."
The second company is Kansas City-based Executive AirShare, though Somers said discussions are still in the initial stages.
If the deals are successful, Somers said, it would mean work in Oklahoma could begin as early as first-quarter 2009.
Voyager's possible growth in the Sooner State would come on the heels of a first year where the company grew from performing a few jobs at Springfield-Branson National Airport to opening an office in St. Louis, performing regular work in Kansas City, signing on to work at the new Branson Airport when it opens in May and adding two additional full-time staff.
Somers said he and Uebinger have learned that successful expansion into a new city requires daily work orders.
"The key that we've found to doing this safely and successfully is having a foundation somewhere so you at least have an income and the company can pay for itself," he said. "That takes a lot of concern and guesswork out of it."
Consistency is a key goal for Uebinger, who said the company vacillates between being extremely busy and waiting several days for work.
"Last week, we had six planes in five days. This week we have one," Uebinger said. "I'd love to have it where it's every day with something to do."
The additional work could mean additional staff. The Tulsa and Oklahoma City markets would require at least one dedicated employee. And Somers said that if Express Jets, the company that owns the six planes Voyager cleaned in a week's time in Kansas City, wants more work done, it could mean a full-time employee there.
An agreement with NetJets, Somers added, also could mean additional work in the St. Louis area, where NetJets flies several planes a day from the Downtown St. Louis Airport in Cahokia, Ill.
New markets also mean new expenses; doing work in another state means the company's liability insurance rates will nearly double, though Uebinger said Voyager is pricing blanket insurance policies that would cover multiple states.
Still, the focus is on the Midwest.
"Who knows - maybe five or seven years from now, we may be national, but we want to focus on expanding at a proper pace," he said. "Our overall goal is to be a Midwestern aircraft detailing company."
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