Aviation Firms Chart Course Through Valley

Channel Islands Aviation has carved out an unusual niche for it­self in the Valley’s charter industry. Sure, it will fly executives across the coun­­try and world to do business in locales from New York to Beijing. But it also ferries many passengers much closer to home — to the islands, in fact, from which it draws its name. The company, based at the Camarillo Air­port, flies regularly to Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel islands, and has seen its fortunes rise along with the boom in eco­tourism. “It’s really a different world, and it’s only a half hour away,” said Mark Oberman, president of the family owned company. Channel Islands, a newcomer to the Bus­iness Journal’s list of Largest Valley Aviation Companies, served 3,700 passengers last year, landing it on the No. 7 spot. The company also introduced an aviation academy in June, an operation run by Ober­man’s daughter. It’s a way to give teenagers an introduction to potential future career path. A pilot shortage anticipated by experts could leave the industry short of up to a million pilots in the coming decades. Still, the company carries just a fraction of the 50,000 passengers Clay Lacy Avia­tion booked last year, which made the Van Nuys company, once again, No. 1 on the list. Clay Lacy has a client base that is about 80 percent business and 20 percent personal. President Brian Kirkdoffer, who’s been with the company for 22 years, said that the breakdown has not changed in that time. But what has grown in the last year is the company’s aircraft maintenance division. The service is offered 24 hours a day; Clay Lacy boasts it’s the only West Coast aviation company that offers round-the-clock service. The company also has invested in offer­ing wireless Internet aboard its aircraft. That’s an expensive proposition for any carrier but it becomes even more costly for charters, which are lacking the economies of scale of commercial carriers with their massive fleets. Kirkdoffer said the demand was strong among clients. “We were the first charter fleet in the country to start installing Wi-Fi,” he said. “Most of our fleet has it already installed.” Another repeater on the list – and in the exact some position – is Avjet Corp., an aviation company based at Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport that ranks No. 2 with 32,626 passengers in 2011. The company served about 3,500 fewer pas­sengers than in 2010, but President Mark Le­fever said that growth has returned this year due to strength in the international mar­ket, which accounts for about two thirds of Avjet’s bus­iness. The company is patronized by extremely wealthy clients and former heads of state, none of whom can be identified. “I can’t say that our economy here is do­ ing fantastic. It’s the global economy that’s allowing us to see this growth,” he said. A charter company new to the list, Chrys­ler Aviation Inc., based at Van Nuys Airport, took the No. 3 spot, serv­ing 18,500 passengers. It dis­placed TWC Aviation, an­other Van Nuys charter, which fell to No. 4. TWC served 12,000 pas­seng­­ers in 2011, about 1,600 fewer than the pre­vi­ous year. However, the company made a big move this year to expand its business into China by part­nering with a Hong Kong char­ter company Sino Jet. The partnership an­nounced it was starting with a single Global Ex­press in­ter­continental bus­iness jet based in Hong Kong. Other newcomers to the list are Million Air of Burbank, which was No. 6, and Sun Quest Executive Air Charter of Van Nuys at No. 9. The separate list of Largest Valley Fixed Base Operators, which includes companies that service and fuel planes, was topped again by Clay Lacy. The list is ranked by full-time em­ployees and the Van Nuys company had 277 in 2011. Sun Air Jets, of Camarillo, also repeated at No. 2 on that list and employed 65 in 2011. The company last year expanded into Van Nuys Airport, where it leases hangar space. Channel Islands ranked third on the list. Download the 2012 VALLEY’S LARGEST AVIATION COMPANIES list (pdf)