Executive Fliteways Celebrates 25 Years

Twenty-five years ago, our country was battling the effects of years of inflationary pressure, a stagnant economy, and a prime interest rate of eighteen percent. Conditions were less than optimal for American business and many industries were struggling to survive, hoping that the newly elected President, a former B actor by the name of Reagan, would throw a life line. It wasn’t a great time for a start-up charter company, with a sole Cessna 172, to be born.

President Reagan did reinvigorate our economy with his now famous supply-side theory, cutting taxes while increasing defense spending to battle the evil empire of the Soviet Union, both to the detriment of the budget. The economy came back with a vengeance in the mid 1980's and our start-up charter company, woefully under-capitalized from inception, was able to make ends meet and slowly grow its fleet from the Cessna 172 to a Beech Baron to Piper Navajos and then to King Airs and Learjets. The leap from Learjets in the eighties to Hawkers, Falcons and Gulfstreams in the nineties was delayed by the first Gulf War, and two or three economic downturns.

The company continued to grind out an existence, never taking anything for granted, always knowing that we had to "earn our wings every day". In the mid nineties, as corporate jets and fractional shares became part of the fabric of not only business travel but personal travel as well, our little company flourished by embracing what we had from day one.hard work, attention to detail, and a strong emphasis on meeting the needs of our customers. The founders have been fortunate to find, over the years, like-minded people who became essential to the success of the enterprise. These employees, so vital to our past growth, are also the key to our continuing evolution, as we are faced with the new challenges of aviation in the twenty-first century.

Today, as one of the largest independently owned and operated charter companies in the country with fifteen aircraft under management and one hundred employees (including two of the founders), we cannot overstate the significance of hard work and persistence in a capitalist democracy that exists no where but in this great country.

To all of Executive Fliteways' customers, vendors, employees, allies and competitors—- we thank you for the remarkable and memorable 25 years.