New Mountain Aviation owners want charter company to fly higher

BROOMFIELD — Buying an icon in Rocky Mountain charter flights apparently doesn’t preclude moving forward.
“We were really looking for a company that had just a phenomenal infrastructure, and what Rich (Bjelkevig, the former owner) built here was unbelievable,” said Gregg Fahrenbruch, one of three investors who bought Mountain Aviation of Broomfield in August 2014.

But what was a $25 million-a-year air charter business is promising to reel in $40 million a few years later, said Fahrenbruch, who still proudly hoists the Mountain Aviation brand as its new chief executive. While the infrastructure and return business were there when the new owners bought the leading jet and turboprop charter in the region, Fahrenbruch said one key push has been to bring new web and mobile technologies to bear on the sales side of the business.

“It’s still the same company, but there’s a young energy now,” Fahrenbruch said. “We’ve really focused on the people during the last 18 months, creating an environment where it’s really fun to work.”

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And fun to shop, as well, judging by the mobile apps the company has employed in an industry that still largely relies on travel agents, or brokers as they are known in the charter industry.

Mountain Aviation

• CEO: Gregg Fahrenbruch

• Employees: Approximately 60 locally, including pilots (125 total)

• Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, 9656 Metro Airport Ave, Broomfield, CO 80021

• Annual Revenue: Approximately $40 million

• 303-466-3506

• www.mountainaviation.com

Traditionally, that has meant “somebody getting on the phone with a dozen different charters, getting quotes,” Fahrenbruch said. “That just doesn’t work with the speed of business today. The charter market is still behind the times in some ways.”

Mountain Aviation’s primary hub is at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield, although there is another substantial hub in Boise, Idaho; smaller hubs in Fort Collins and Centennial as well as in Sun Valley, Idaho, and sales offices in Telluride and Eagle. The company has about 60 full-time pilots, 25 mechanics and about 40 other personnel. Tracking pilots’ flight time is a huge concern for the Federal Aviation Administration, and that’s where one of the company’s first mobile innovations was enacted.

“We put all the pilots on iPads, so they could log their hours as soon as they completed a flight,” Fahrenbruch said. “Of course, that took about six months to get approved by the FAA,” which still was using paper logs.

All of Mountain Aviation’s flights are tracked and displayed in real time, through GPS and use of the FAA’s inflight tracking, although a great deal of this technology was in place before the purchase. However, Fahrenbruch said the company also makes this information available to its employees on (mostly Apple) mobile devices, along with most sales and other administrative data.

Fahrenbruch said the company has found a direct correlation between the time potential customers must spend finding a good price quote and the number of completed sales.

“It’s an exciting time to bring this new technology to bear, when, if you think back 15 years ago, everyone used travel agents,” he said. “Now we can see having an application where they are actually able to pay with an Apple thumbprint.”

Along with mobile apps, Mountain Aviation also makes unreserved return legs available for discounts on its website. The company also has formed two air clubs, serving Sun Valley and Telluride, which offer discounted and shared fares flying to those destinations. The Sun Valley club already boasts 60 members, who pay a minimum of $6,000 to join.

Mountain Aviation owns and operates a young fleet of about 25 Gulfstream, Bombardier/Lear Jet, Hawker, King Air, Piaggio, Pilatus, Citation Jet and turboprop aircraft, including a Quest Kodiak that can land six passengers with only 800 feet of runway. In addition, the company maintains a like number of aircraft for independent owners.

At the Broomfield hub alone, there are four full-time employees tracking maintenance on these aircraft, which also is digitally reported to the FAA. There are also four sales representative, who take care of their customers’ every whim, including beverage choices and what kind of pet treat that hunting hound prefers.

While times are changing, one thing that won’t is the Mountain Aviation brand, Fahrenbruch said.

“Rich has been incredible helping us during this time,” he said. “But he was kind of at the point that he didn’t have anyone to leave the business to, and was thinking a transition out of the business and kind of continue his legacy.”