Eaglejet moves headquarters to Wichita

CEO says California operation planned

Ken Arnold  

Eaglejet Aviation Inc., an aircraft maintenance company founded in Newton, Kan., has opened a corporate headquarters in Wichita and plans to expand operations to the West Coast in the next six months.

Jamie Pegg, Eaglejet CEO, says the company wanted to open a Wichita office to be closer to the aviation industry. He adds that the time has come to spread its operations across the country.

"We're looking to expand to locations with high aircraft traffic," Pegg says. "It will be in California. We just haven't yet decided on the location."

Round-the-clock service

Eaglejet was founded in June 2000 by Pegg, Cochise Rounds and Andy Rusch, three former Bombardier Aerospace employees. Rounds left the company last year to start his own aircraft repair service company in Dallas.

Eaglejet has operations at the Newton City/County Airport and at a facility at Martin State Airport near Baltimore, Md.

Pegg says the company earned revenues of $907,000 its first full year of operation and $1.5 million in 2002. Pegg says Eaglejet has been able to grow while other aviation-related firms are suffering because Eaglejet has developed a successful niche. The company offers round-the-clock emergency repair service to corporate and business jets.

Pegg says Eaglejet has also been successful because it focuses on the fractional business jet ownership market, where several companies or individuals own a share in a single aircraft. He says the company has developed strong ties with fractional ownership and other corporate pilots who will bring their aircraft to the Newton or Baltimore locations for non-emergency repairs, and call Eaglejet in emergency situations. Pegg says Eaglejet technicians can be on the road within an hour of a pilot's call. The company travels nationwide to make on-site repairs.

Steve Phillips, director of marketing with the fractional ownership firm Bombardier Flexjet, says the company has been pleased with Eaglejet's service. "We have a fleet of about 100 aircraft around the country, so on occasion they will help us out," Phillips says. "They're very responsive and do a very good job."

"The only complaint I have is that there aren't enough of them," says Bill Snow, chief of maintenance with Bombardier Used Aircraft Sales. "I would say they're past due for a little more expansion. They opened their Baltimore site some time ago and since then they seem to be going gangbusters."

Nationwide coverage

Pegg says he plans for Eaglejet to get settled into its new Wichita offices at 203 S. Tyler Road before deciding on a location for a new repair facility. He has been researching possible sites in California, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Oxnard and Napa Valley. Pegg says a site in California will give Eaglejet better nationwide coverage. The company would like to be in four or five locations across the country by 2005, he adds. Pegg says the cost to open a new location is about $250,000. So far, the company has been able to expand without borrowing money, he says.

REACH KEN ARNOLD at 266-6172 or on the Web at karnold@bizjournals.com.
© 2003 American City Business Journals Inc.