MEET THE NEW BOSS

New Ownership Looks to Take Central Flying Service to Greater Heights

By Dwain Hebda

Arkansans are a welcoming lot, but when it was announced last year that Central Flying Service was changing hands after 82 years of family ownership, the news raised eyebrows. Now, as it approaches the one-year anniversary of taking over the storied company, Tricoastal Ventures leadership sees a clear horizon ahead.

“We have developed a strategic plan for the next five to 10 years that has Central being the hub of what will be other maintenance facilities, other operating facilities,” said Herb Knight, COO. “The framework says we’ll be basically from the Rockies to the Mississippi, from the Gulf to the Canadian border, but we’re not tied to that. We’ve looked at facilities in the Northeast, we’ve looked at facilities in Florida.”

Knight and partner Phil Jordan, CEO, spent their first 11 months at the helm reconfiguring the company’s business model with regular input from remote third partner and Chairman of the Board Brian Raduenz. Implementing a strategy best described as addition by subtraction, the company became more focused on its core competencies as it has poised for growth, Knight said.

“As we grew into defining this organization, we knew we were going to be in the maintenance business,” he said. “Central, before we got here and after they sold the FBO business in 2015, really tried to do it all.

“In the 11 months that we’ve been here, we’ve really redefined what we do and what we don’t do. We’ve redefined our flight operations, redefined the maintenance operation; we’ve said we don’t need to fix everything because we can’t do everything well.”

In purchasing Central, Tricoastal gained a number of operations, including a flight school and charter business, but Knight said the acknowledged leader of the pack is the maintenance division. Given that, it was especially important to bring efficiencies to that area of operations. Maintaining parts and mechanical expertise for Dassault Falcon jets, for example, was one aspect that made little business sense, given the French company’s Little Rock facility sits just on the other side of Clinton National Airport.

“Once we established that and defined what we are, people understood that we’re not equipped with facilities or training to work on brand new Dassault Falcon jets; they’re already doing that over there,” Knight said. “What we do have is a great workforce built up of people who are the best at what they do. We’ve really defined our scope to make it a recipe for success.”

The new strategy also made particular sense given the supply chain nightmares that still plague companies dealing with aviation parts, especially for older airplanes.

“There are airplanes that are out of production, but the people who own them love them, and they recognize it’s a great performer. When it breaks, though, there’s limited options,” Knight said. “Airplanes are bought to be parted out, which is a heavy investment because you’ve got the cost of the acquisition, you’ve got the cost of the de-manufacturing, you’ve got the cost of tagging and inventorying and storing. But there are certain components that have to be done that way.”

Knight said Tricoastal has also found success through forming partnerships with fabricators who, in the total absence of replacement or cannibalized parts, can manufacture one specifically for the job at hand.

“The core of landing gear, for example, may be repairable; the seals may just have to be replaced,” he said. “Going back to the manufacturer of that landing gear doesn’t make sense. They don’t want to be bothered with a one-off.

“We have some relationships where we know they are skilled in repairs, that they understand how to disassemble and recreate that component in the landing gear that’s not being built anymore, and are not shy about investing in a process to make it a repeatable process. We work together with people like that, and it helps us alleviate the obsolescence.”

Adapting to change can sometimes be a dicey proposition, especially in companies as tenured as Central. However, Knight said employees have adjusted well to the new thinking.

“We are trying to define the areas that we have developed our skill sets on and that we concentrate on, so we can succeed where we should and not try to be everything to all people, because we disappoint people that way,” he said. “We’ve brought a new culture to an organization that’s been here and had a little bit of dust and some deeply entrenched roots that had to be changed, but it’s been embraced.”

Even with a slimdown of maintenance operations, there’s plenty of diversity in Central’s service offering. The flight school will continue as will aircraft management, sales and advisory services. As well, the Little Rock facility will benefit from Tricoastal’s other ventures, especially its sister companies dealing in new Volare Air and Kodiak aircraft sales, which will engage Central to provide full-service, authorized maintenance for a growing number of owners of these planes.

And that’s not even touching on management’s eagerness to expand its physical footprint. Knight said the company is actively seeking additional locations. In the process, they’re discovering that for many operators, COVID was the last straw, and they’re looking to sell. On the other hand, money for acquisitions isn’t as cheap as it has been over the past couple of years.

“The painful reality is the cost of money now,” he said. “It wasn’t that long ago you could borrow for 2 percent, and now it’s 7 or 8 percent. That won’t eliminate those opportunities, it just changes the thresholds a little bit. You’ve got to have a plan, but we’re pretty sure we’ll be in Texas with the Central brand this year and probably somewhere in the Rockies not far behind that.”

The story of Central Flying Service is a key chapter in the history of Arkansas aviation, and a rich history at that. Although most of the non-aerial public may not know it, Arkansas is sacred ground when it comes to aviation from its first well-documented flights at Fort Smith in 1910 and in Pine Bluff and Fayetteville in 1911.

The Natural State has produced warriors including World War I’s John MacGavock Grider, who died in action in 1918, and Wendell Archibald Robertson, who ranked ninth in kills among American World War I fighter pilots. In World War II, 14 Arkansans registered five kills or more to earn the title of “ace,” while three native Arkies made history as part of the elite Tuskegee Airmen.

Arkansas’ impact was even greater in peacetime. Charles Lindbergh’s first night flight took place over Lake Chicot (commemorated with a monument in Lake Village). Katherine Stinson and Louise McPhetridge Thaden broke both speed records and stereotypes with their accomplishments in the first half of the 20th century.

Sandwiched in between, Central Flying Service played an integral role in the state’s private aviation industry. The company’s origins date back to the 1920s, when Claud Holbert joined the Arkansas Air National Guard, having lied about his age to get in.

Infatuated with aviation, Holbert did anything he could to be in the air, including flying in the Guard, working as a flight instructor and even aerial photography. In 1940, he founded Central Flying Service to take advantage of the new Civilian Pilot Training Program, launched to increase the ranks of trained pilots in response to growing threats in Europe.

Expansion would take time. Richard Holbert, who succeeded his father at the helm of the company, told AMP magazine in 2022 that between 1939 and 1961, the company had less than $1 million in annual sales and 25 employees, at most, at any given time.

From there on, however, Central Flying Service hit the throttle and, with the 2002 acquisition of MidCoast Aviation of St. Louis, became the largest full-service FBO in the world at that time, measured by square footage under roof. Headcount swelled to a peak of 300 workers, now closer to 100.

The company’s longevity and reputation made it the company of choice for the who’s who in Arkansas business. Holbert recalled Sam Walton telling him his airplane was a key element in building Walmart, given the legendary retailer’s penchant for visiting his stores personally at least once a year.

“When Winthrop Rockefeller came to Little Rock, or to Arkansas, he chose my father to be his personal pilot,” Holbert said. “Dale Bumpers was a real good customer, even when he was a senator. When he’d come to Arkansas, he’d have to fly to wherever in the state making speeches, and he would charter planes.

“Any president that’s ever come to Little Rock has come through us. I can remember Ronald Reagan made a speech out on our ramp. In fact, Ronald Reagan was here several times, even back when he was a candidate. I remember Jimmy Carter coming in. Back when Bill Clinton opened the library and everybody and their brother came, most all of them came through our place.”

As they take over the legendary company, the new owners are committed to maintaining Little Rock as headquarters, even as they look to expand operations into new markets. Both Knight and Jordan have relocated to Central Arkansas full time, while Raduenz remains based in California.

“I’m a New Englander my whole life and [Jordan is] a Texan, and neither of us really understood Arkansas prior to this,” he said. “But wow! This has become our new home, even as we’re still getting to know it. We’ve embraced the community and, most importantly, we’ve been able to bring this culture to where not only in Arkansas but people in other locations can see what we’re building and why.”