Testimonials

AVERY ISLAND, La. - Pam and Edmund McIlhenny will tell you the numbers don't lie. For example, the 5,000 Scoville heat units (SHUs) of their family's TABASCO brand pepper sauce is a truth the average person's tongue will affirm after just a few drops.

But the numbers that really told the story for the McIlhennys came from the proxy statement for the parent company of a national fractional aircraft ownership company that had left them stranded one too many times.

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.

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 a never-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.

Longtime believers in the ability of business aircraft to efficiently transport its people, IMA Financial Group owned and operated its own Beechcraft King Air 200 aircraft for many years before becoming an Executive AirShare fractional owner in 2004.

"We flew our airplane about 350 hours per year, and believe that having our own aircraft enabled us to accomplish our business goals while reducing the wear-and-tear on our people," said Watson. "An airplane is a very valuable business tool."