International Charter Service Company To Open Houston Location

March 21, 2014
Move to assist a growing number of companies needing chartered jets

March 21--Greg McCabe, an oil and gas executive in Midland, travels around Texas once or twice a month for business. Sometimes, he needs to attend business meetings in Dallas and Houston on the same day -- and he still likes to make it back home by dinner time.

"We are really booming out here," says McCabe, president of Midland-based McCabe Petroleum Corp. "The airlines are packed full and not on the schedules we're on. Sometimes I have to make two stops in one day. It's very difficult to be nimble with commercial airlines."

So like a growing number of energy companies in Texas, McCabe Petroleum is opting for chartered jets. Even at $3,000 to $4,000 an hour, the private charters can make financial sense.

"In the past few years, we've seen strong growth in the demand for aircraft charters from the Southern states, primarily for cargo movements and executive travel for energy sector clients," said Dustin Roades, who will head a new Houston sales office for Air Charter Service when it opens here in May.

The board of the 24-year-old company, which arranges private jet, helicopter, commercial airliner and cargo aircraft charters, cited the booming energy sector as the primary factor in deciding to open here.

Richard Thompson, the company's vice president for North America, said several companies use the service to transport equipment used on oil sites from Houston to places such as West Africa, South America, the Caribbean and China.

He said automotive companies also purchase flights out of Houston, often to Mexico.

The Federal Aviation Administration reports private jet use rose an average of 18 percent between 2009 and 2013. That increase includes international and domestic flights.

At the 10 biggest airports in the U.S. for business jet travel domestically, the FAA reports a 3 percent decrease from February 2009 to February 2014. But at Houston's Hobby Airport, a Top 5 hub for business jet travel, activity rose 10 percent over that same period.

Regional airports, including Lone Star Executive Airport in Conroe and Sugar Land Regional Airport, saw increases in fuel sales over the last few years, indicating growth.

Alex Wilcox, CEO of Jet Suite, a California-based charter company used by McCabe, said travel from Texas accounts for 20 per-cent of its revenue and typically a quarter of the jets. He said the business with Texas is growing and, at a given moment, a third to a quarter of the company's planes are somewhere in the state.

Wilcox said a lot of the Texas business stems from travel from Houston to other locations in Texas, including a private landing strip owned by energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens.

"We are flying off the beaten path to airports near oil fields," Wilcox said. "We love Texas. We are happy to be there and continue to be a part of the energy sector's growth."

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