Profile Stories

Detroit-based Masco is a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of branded home improvement and building products.

Salisbury, MD-based Perdue Farms relies on its Gulfstream G150 and King Air B200 to get employees to any of its nearly two dozen facilities across the country.

Cedar City, UT-based Leavitt Group, the 10th largest privately owned insurance broker in the United States, utilizes its HondaJet to reach customers and prospects around the country – often making many stops in one day.

Soon after Robert Tucknott founded his electrical contracting business, he took up flying in order to pilot himself to jobs in cities throughout California. Today, his company employs more than 100 people, allowing Tucknott to pursue a new line of business as a forensic expert witness.

Colorado-based Flagship Food Group uses business aviation to travel between its 11 facilities around the country.

MMG Insurance does business in five states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and business aviation is the linchpin to serving those territories from MMG’s headquarters in Presque Isle, ME. 

Don Banker, founder and Banker Steel of Lynchburg, VA.-based Banker Steel, says the company’s Falcon 900B has been a tremendous asset. “Lynchburg has limited commercial aircraft,” he said. “It’s just a small town. It’s always a spoke, it’s never a hub. We own a Falcon 900B. It’s been a great business tool and it’s a platform for our success.”

Ohio-based NCR Corporation processes more than 550 million transactions a day, supplying the technology for point-of-sale terminals, ATM machines, travel kiosks and mobile boarding passes around the globe. “A lot of our customers are based in remote places, and the aircraft helps us respond to business opportunities,” said Andrea Ledford, senior vice president of corporate services and chief human resources officer.

Minnesota-based Central Business Jets, an aircraft acquisition, sales and fleet-planning specialist, relies on its Cessna 210 to meet clients’ needs. “[Our aircraft] is a necessary tool for our business and for our clients,” said company Vice President Tony Theis.

Business aviation has never been far from the mind of FirstFlight founder, President and CEO John Dow, even as he worked on his family’s dairy farm in upstate New York after college. After selling the farm in 1987, he looked toward a career in aircraft management.