Fractional Aircraft Ownership Helps Entertainment
Properties Trust Manage Growing Real Estate Portfolio
& Maximize Executives’ Productivity

In the constant struggle to maximize returns for shareholders and live up to Wall Street’s expectations, corporations today are running leaner than ever.  For Kansas City, Mo.-based Entertainment Properties Trust (NYSE: EPR), enhancing executives’ productivity is an ever-increasing challenge, as the real estate investment trust (REIT) has acquired more than $1.2 billion of properties since 1997 and now oversees a real estate portfolio covering 21 states and the Canadian province of Ontario.

According to Gregory K. Silvers, who serves as the company’s vice president, chief development officer, general counsel and secretary, getting to business deals and client meetings is more important than ever.  “We have to be responsive to the needs of our clients and there’s just no substitute for being there in person to meet with them or to investigate a property first-hand,” he said.

Because company executives are on the road two or more days each week, in 2002, Entertainment Properties Trust joined the ranks of companies using business aircraft by purchasing a share in a Beechcraft Super King Air 350 turboprop through Executive AirShare, a regional fractional aircraft ownership company headquartered at Kansas City’s Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport.  The arrangement allows executives of Entertainment Properties to use the aircraft for a fixed number of days each year, while Executive AirShare supplies the pilots and handles all scheduling, maintenance and insurance.

Executives say that having access to their own aircraft has been instrumental in helping them manage and sustain growth, while enhancing quality of life for their sales and management teams at the same time.  “We’re a very small company in terms of people,” said David Brain, president and chief executive officer.  “So keeping our people in motion is a key factor in our ability to grow the company.”   “What used to be a two- or three-day business trip is now something that we can accomplish in a single day,” said Silvers.  “We had a meeting outside of Indianapolis not too long ago that was scheduled to begin at 9:30 in the morning.  Had we flown commercially, we would have had to fly in the night before, stay at a hotel and then drive to the outskirts of town for the meeting.  Instead, we took off at 7:30 that same morning from the (Charles B. Wheeler) Downtown Airport, landed at a small municipal airport at 9:18 and arrived at our meeting right on time.”

Another advantage for Entertainment Properties is the ability to visit four or more cities in a single day, often stopping to pick up a client along the way.  “It’s a great way for us to accelerate our business,” said Brain.  “Flying commercially, it could take us an entire week to see the same number of properties that we can visit in one day.  Plus, if one of our meetings runs longer than scheduled, we don’t have to worry about missing a flight because we have our plane waiting.”

Investing in a fractional aircraft ownership program also offers Entertainment Properties the ability to draw from a broader fleet of aircraft, enabling them to choose the aircraft appropriate for a particular mission.  “If we’re staying in the Midwest, we’ll fly the (King Air) C90B or King Air 350, but we take the Beechjet when we go out to California,” said Brain.  “It’s really a function of how many people we need to move from Point A to Point B,” adds Silvers.

One unintended—but overwhelmingly positive—consequence of using business aircraft, has been the ability of company executives to sustain a high quality of life even as the company expands its real estate holdings and travel schedules.  For Brain, a father of four, and Silvers, a father of two, not missing out on school or sports activities or having to worry about childcare issues is a big plus.  “Quality of life is important to all of us,” said Brain.  “We are all very driven in our careers, but we work so we can live rather than living to work.  The ability to fly to a business meeting and still be home for dinner that evening is a huge deal,” adds Silvers.  “We weren’t thinking about quality of life issues when we made the investment in the aircraft, but we certainly do appreciate being able to spend more time with our families.”

David Brain
President & Chief Executive Officer

Gregory K. Silvers
Vice President & Chief Development Officer
Entertainment Properties Trust
President & Chief Executive Officer