About Lyon Aviation
In the News
Berkshire Eagle
New Lyon Jet Just a Start
Oct. 9, 2004
by Bill Carey PITTSFIELD - Lyon Aviation's recent acquisition of a
$15 million Gulfstream IV business jet would seem to be the crowning
accomplishment of a company that started 25 years ago with a
piston-engine Cessna 172. But, in fact, it's just the beginning. "I
would like to have 20 jets here in the next 10 years," declared
Michael Lyon, the company's director of operations.
"It's an aggressive goal, but I think it's realistic," he added.
"The Northeast is one of the largest areas in the country for
corporate travel and the people who have the resources to hire these
types of airplanes." Lyon grinned at his brother-in-law, Barry
Roberts, who was seated across the room in the terminal building at
the Pittsfield Municipal Airport. Roberts joined the company several
weeks ago as director of sales and marketing. His considerable task is
to match the vision by booking flights. Not all of the future fleet
would be Lyon-owned charter aircraft. The bulk would be "managed"
aircraft - another growth area for the company. Lyon Aviation would
provide crews and maintenance and logistics support for aircraft owned
by other companies. It had such an arrangement with K-B Toys for about
two years before the latter company declared bankruptcy and sold its
Hawker 800. Lyon said the fleet expansion is not being driven by the
planned airport runway extension and terminal area improvement, a $20
million project that is viewed with skepticism or disdain by some
airport neighbors. That project calls for extending the main runway
at the airport from 5,000 to 5,950 feet, and adding graded "runway
safety areas" of up to 1,000 feet at each end. "There is not a
direct relationship," Lyon said of the airport improvement project.
"The runway expansion and the improvements at the airport are really
only going to enhance the safety of our business. The extra thousand
feet of runway they're going to add will just about double your safety
margins for landing and takeoff." He acknowledged that "it may make
it more attractive for somebody else who owns an airplane to base it
here - the corporate world likes to see 6,000 feet of runway."
Whatever its own future mix of charter and managed aircraft, Lyon
Aviation is bound to build more hangars and add maintenance and other
staff, he said. Already, the company started by the late Lynn D.
Lyon, and his wife, Shirley, has come a long way from its
"mom-and-pop" beginnings. A master electrician and the founder of
Berkshire Pools and Patio, Lynn Lyon also was a pilot who operated the
four-place Cessna 172 for charter. In 1982, when Richmor Aviation
Inc. relinquished its role as the fixed-base operator at Pittsfield
Municipal Airport, he founded Lyon Aviation as its successor. The
company has a long-term lease with the city at the airport, requiring
that it provide maintenance and refueling services, a charter
operation and flight training. From its first Cessna - now used for
flight training - Lyon Aviation graduated to twin-engine Cessna 310
and Piper Navajo airplanes, respectively. It acquired a
seven-passenger Lear 25 jet in 1995 and an eight-passenger Hawker 800
in 2001.
Lynn Lyon, who died in 2003, "had a lot of sleepless nights,
worrying about the payments for that," Michael Lyon said of the
Hawker. "He was definitely a planner and could see things years out.
... He certainly built a rock-solid foundation for us to continue the
growth of the business." Today, Lyon Aviation employs 25 people and
generates annual sales of about $4 million. With the addition of the
Gulfstream IV, that is expected to increase to $6 million or more,
Lyon said. The company remains very much a family operation, with
Shirley Lyon serving as president. Among her children, Michael, 39, is
director of operations; Marc, 34, is chief pilot; and Christine, 36,
is office manager. Christine's husband, Don Carlson, is director of
maintenance. Barry Roberts is married to Sandra, the only sibling not
involved in running the business. In the last three years, Lyon
Aviation has invested $23 million on new aircraft and a gleaming,
11,000-square-foot hangar erected by Betnr Engineering and
Construction, that opened in January. Michael Lyon offered a
mysterious twist on the company's rapid growth trajectory. "It all
stemmed from one phone call," he related. "We had plans to expand the
business, and I got a call at 7:30 in the morning from an individual.
I had probably 30 seconds to make a decision on whether we were going
forward or not going forward. The phone call was unexpected. I'm not
sure anybody here even knows the nature of the phone call. It was
definitely a defining moment." Asked if the caller was an investor,
he answered, "I won't even say. There were a lot of avenues with that
phone call, and I had to make that gut decision on what to do. But it
worked out. It really changed the scope of everything we do here,
without a doubt." For more information about Lyon
Aviation, contact us
online, or toll-free at 1-800-816-7625. |
