July-August_2021 - 10

FBOS
AUTHOR Roderick Kelly
FBOs Make a Strong Case
FOR INCREASING CHARTER, FLIGHT-SCHOOL
BUSINESS, OTHER SERVICE OFFERINGS
THOMAS ARONSON, 30, would drive up to eight
hours to meet with customers. " I'd be on the road
three days a week meeting with three customers.
Now I meet with all three in one day, " he said. The
game changer: private aviation.
Aronson is president of the Aronson
Group, a Bettendorf, Iowa, risk
management insurance agency that
specializes in transportation fleets such
as semitrucks.
" I recently made the same trip by
chartering a Carver Aero King Air 200
from the Davenport FBO and flew to
Minnesota, " said Aronson. " My first stop
was to meet a customer in Winona. I
then flew to Aitken where I had lunch
with a second customer and the third leg
of the trip was to Rogers where I met
with another customer. I was back home
for dinner with my family that evening. "
The $5,500 charter " paid for itself
in spades, " said Aronson.
Here's how. Aronson says you take
30% off the top that would have gone
for federal income taxes, which brings
the actual cost of the charter to $3,850.
Then you factor in the cost of gas, vehicle
maintenance, hotel and meals. Lastly,
you factor in the loss of business. " I've
eliminated two days of traveling and I'm
in the office making calls and conducting
business. Now we're past the break-even
point because I know how much business
we conduct each day based on total
income from previous years. "
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RODERICK KELLY
Roderick Kelly is the Marketing Manager for Carver Aero.
On the personal side, he wins. " I'm
with my family. We have two young
children. I get to spend more time with
them and help my wife, " he said.
" When Tom came to Carver Aero,
he first was looking at purchasing a
plane, " said Julie Marrella, director of
charter sales. " He's in risk management
and he saw what his clients did to reduce
their tax liability. They bought assets,
and he thought he should do the same. "
At the end of the day, Aronson
believed chartering was the better way to
go. " I decided on Carver Aero because
they were minutes from my house. I can
drive my car right up to the plane, hop
on and off we go. "
According to IBIS World, prior to
the pandemic, charter flights increased
at an annualized rate of 1.8% to $25.2
billion over the five years to 2020.
Sandra Barrett, director of operations
at Carver Aero's Davenport FBO, said
charter sales have increased during the
pandemic. " It fell off in March and
April of 2020, but it picked back up in
May and continued to make a strong
comeback progressively throughout the
year and into 2021, " she said.
Future of Private
Aviation is Taking Off
Joshua Diggs, district manager for
Avfuel, confirmed that Part-135 fuel
consumption in the Midwest " had a
good, solid year " in 2020. " Many of
10 \ AIRPORTBUSINESS / JULY/AUGUST 2021
our Part-135 customers had a record
number of new customers, and many
saw flat or slight increases over 2019
numbers, particularly with those who
have disposable income, but didn't
previously consider private aviation
for their transportation needs. Rather
than experience declines during the
pandemic, we saw Midwest FBOs that
cater to GA traffic remain stable, and
many even experienced an upward trend
in volume of new customers compared
to 2019. "
Most of our FBOs had a record
number of new customers and most
saw flat or slight increases over 2019
numbers, " particularly with people with
disposable incomes.
There are about 8.2 million
households in the United States with
a net worth of $2 million or more, one
charter jet executive was quoted in a July
2020 Forbes article. " The majority of
them weren't flying private before, " he
said. " We are seeing a huge shift in that
narrative now it is a health and safety
concern. "
Carver Aero CEO Guy Lieser
agrees, saying, " We did a thorough
survey in late 2020 and we are seeing
an increase in charter and pilot services,
partly because of COVID-19, but also
because people want to fly out of their
local airport on their own schedule
and land at an airport nearer their
destination. The airlines only service
500 airports nationwide. A chartered
aircraft will fly into an additional 14,500
airports. "
Lisa LaMantia, senior vice president
of national services for Carver Aero
and former owner of Advanced Air in
July-August_2021

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