Executive AirShare Helps Cobalt Boats Fly

The shortest distance between two points often requires a business aircraft, especially if your business is headquartered in the Southeast Kansas town of Neodesha (population 2,500) and you've got a major manufacturing facility in Vonore, Tenn., 30 miles south of Knoxville.

For Cobalt Boats, a family-owned company that has been building runabouts and performance cruisers for more than 40 years, transporting executives and employees between the two cities was a challenge, requiring expensive commercial airfares and overnight hotel stays, not to mention the "soft costs" on executives facing nights away from home and family or early morning wake-up calls to drive to the nearest commercial airport.

"Flying on the airlines meant either driving to Kansas City (168 miles), Wichita (106 miles) or Tulsa (122 miles) and then usually catching a connecting flight into Knoxville," said Bill Wallisch, chief financial officer, Cobalt Boats.  "For our execs, it either meant getting up just after you went to bed or spending the night in a hotel near the airport. Even then, with the connection, you wouldn't get a full day's business completed and you'd have to overnight in Knoxville."

"By the time you calculate the cost in gas, hotel rooms, airline tickets and lost productivity of our owners and associates, investing in business aircraft was a smart move for us economically," he said.

Cobalt experimented with chartering business aircraft for out-and-back trips, but found that paying for the deadhead legs from Wichita or Kansas City wasn't always a wise move.  The company also became owners of a jet aircraft through a national fractional aircraft ownership program.

"We had a 1/16 share in a jet through Citation Shares, but when you look at the mission parameters from Independence [Kansas, the nearest airport to Neodesha] to Knoxville, as well as the high hourly rates, it's really not a cost-effective trip for a jet," said Wallisch, who said the company then learned about Executive AirShare, a regional fractional aircraft ownership company with owners and aircraft based in Kansas City, Mo., Wichita, Kan., Tulsa, Okla., Ft. Worth and Dallas, Texas.

Executive AirShare's fractional ownership plan is unique in that its owners are provided with use of the aircraft for an entire day, unlike national ownership plans that fly multiple clients to different locations on the same day on the same aircraft.  By scheduling an aircraft to only one owner per day, Executive AirShare is able to adapt to changes in owners' schedules, offering complete flexibility and convenience. 

Executive AirShare's fractional aircraft ownership program includes a fleet of 14 aircraft including four Beechjet 400As, four Super King Air 350s, five King Air C90Bs and a Beechcraft Baron.

Cobalt Boats purchased a 3/16 share in a King Air C90B through Executive AirShare.

"The King Air is an ideal aircraft because it allows us to cost-effectively move our people where we need to go on our own schedule and at a reasonable cost," said Wallisch, noting that Executive AirShare's unique business model makes Cobalt's flying experience very similar to having its own flight department.

"I can't think of a single occasion when an aircraft wasn't available to take us where we needed to go, including several last-minute trips," said Wallisch.  "There have been a couple times where we've been upgraded to the [Super King Air] 350.  What's nice is that Executive AirShare has aircraft based in Kansas City, Wichita and Tulsa, so they've always got an aircraft close to Independence when we need to go somewhere in a hurry."

"We know the pilots by name and they know our names," he said.  "One of our regular pilots is a boater and loves to show us pictures of his boat.  There are a lot of personal touches that make the experience more comfortable."

"Our pilots know that our preference is to fly around stormy weather, so when they know that the ride might get very bumpy, they suggest that we either wait out the storm or fly around the weather, which is something that a corporate pilot would do," added Wallisch. "Overall, we've been very pleased with the Executive AirShare experience and really feel that we're getting good value for our money," he said.