For Virginia Company, Business Aviation is Key to Success

Banker Steel

Don Banker, founder and CEO 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.”

The most frequent trip is from Lynchburg, where Banker Steel has two fabrication plants, to New York City, where the company supplies massive steel trusses for projects such as Barclays Center or Hudson Yards – the largest real estate development in the country.

With a third plant in Orlando, FL, Banker Steel is one of only three steel fabricators on the East Coast that works on projects this large and complex. Each truss, beam or joint is custom made, like giant Erector Set pieces.

The steel travels by truck or rail, but Banker Steel personnel visit the construction sites every week. The company uses the airlines, but Lynchburg is at the end of a commercial air service spoke, so a flight to New York requires first flying south to Charlotte, NC – the only airline connecting point for Lynchburg.

Chief Pilot and Aircraft Manager Jones Stanley said Banker often has business meetings aboard the plane. Having a meeting with 15 people from various locations could require 15 plane tickets, and that would be expensive, he said, “The savings you get from having this airplane are tremendous.”