Exec 1 Aviation’s fleet includes six 8-passenger Hawker 400XPs, like this one. (Photo: JetHQ) By Steve Dinnen Drive time to summer fun at Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri, is around six hours. You’ll need two cars for the eight of you. But with Exec 1 Aviation, all you’ll need is a si ngle plane. It will whisk you there in 1 hour 11 minutes, skipping the traffic and airport hassles altogether. This is how you get places in a hurry. Exec 1 Aviation is a private charter company serving Central Iowa, and it’s currently enjoying what company executive Katie Navin described as an incredibly robust business. She said its growth has mirrored the corporate and economic growth in the region. Exec 1 is based at the Ankeny Airport. The runway there is currently under reconstruction, so for the time being, the jets are operating out of Des Moines International Airport. The company operates a fleet of nine aircraft: six Hawker 400XPs, which hold eight passengers, and three Lear 45s, which accommodate nine. These planes can travel nearly 2,000 miles without stopping for fuel, giving passengers nonstop access to almost every corner of the Lower 48. Navin said Exec 1 has considered adding larger aircraft and may in the future, but right now, the current fleet is sufficient. Whenever a client needs a heavy jet for an international trip, or a light turboprop for a short hop, Exec 1’s brokerage division steps in. The brokerage division has access to a global network of operators, enabling the company to source the right aircraft for virtually any trip. Most clients fly for business. Navin said the company values discretion and privacy, so they don’t always ask the nature of a client’s travels. That said, she estimates about 60% of trips are for business and 40% are for leisure. Destinations vary across the country, with occasional travel to Mexico or Canada. Florida is popular, “so much so that we at times have based an aircraft down in Florida,” Navin said. That convenience comes at a price. Liberty Jet of Ronkonkoma, New York, estimates that a Lear Jet 45 costs $1.45 million a year to operate over 400 hours. Acquisition costs run far north of $2 million. Aircraft operators want that money back. You won’t save money flying private. What you buy instead is time: more hours in the boardroom, more hours on the dock at Table Rock and a lot less time waiting in security lines. For cheaper flights, fill an ’empty leg’ You may not be yearning to go to Louisville, Kentucky. But if you want to visit Washington, D.C., this summer and can get to Louisville on a moment’s notice, you can pick up a nice ride into the nation’s capital for yourself and seven friends aboard your very own Learjet 60 for $7,280. Or what about Dallas to Nashville, aboard a luxuriously appointed Gulfstream G IV for $12,264? It carries 14 passengers. These private flights and dozens of others crisscrossing the nation every day, are “empty legs.” These are planes that are available for one-off charter by a plane owner who has flown someone to a particular destination, for a fee, and now wants to reposition it, usually back to home base. Owners offer up empty legs to defray expenses. (That Gulfstream G burns through 480 gallons of fuel per hour, at roughly $7 per gallon). Aircraft charters typically are one way. So for that Exec 1 flight to Branson, for instance, the company makes money on the way out but returns to Des Moines without revenue unless it brings the passengers back or jumps into the empty-leg game. Exec 1 has a button on its website that links you to currently available empty legs, which are very time-sensitive. Here are some options I spotted this week: Jacksonville, Florida, to the Bahamas: 8 passengers for $5,400. Concord, New Hampshire, to Nantucket: 9 passengers for $7,800. Chicago to Naples, Florida: 8 passengers for $12,500. New York City to Van Nuys, California: 9 passengers for $47,000. As you can see, the prices vary quite a bit. On the website, many listings don’t specify the cost and suggest you should simply inquire about pricing. There’s no harm in asking. ...read more read less