Rich in Experience... Long in Tradition... Earned Respect... Supporting the Charter Industry for over 43 years

Our Heritage

The year was 1967 and the company was contemplating the formation of a commercial air charter operation, one that would complement the company’s existing government charter operation. A telephone call was received from the International Hotel-Casino, now the Las Vegas Hilton, inquiring about a charter flight. A couple of hours later the caller appeared at the company’s office with the customer and arranged our first commercial air charter. The customer was Vernon Presley, the father of Elvis, and the manager of the Presley Family Enterprises. Our company had just purchased a large and luxurious executive aircraft from US Steel Corporation and stationed it at the company's hanger on McCarran International Airport. The aircraft had been the personal aircraft of Roger Blough, then head of US Steel. It was beautiful and outfitted with a plush office and conference area and luxurious living quarters, all furnished with the best of china, crystal, and decor. Until then, the new commercial air charter division of the company was a virtual stealth operation. The company did not have a commercial marketing department and had only one customer. Las Vegas was very small in those days and the Presley account attracted other clients.

Long before flying Elvis, and other celebrities on commercial air charters, Lloyd Percell, currently Managing Director, was a founder of our parent company. Percell started his career at Collins-Rockwell (Rockwell International) where he was responsible for field engineering interface with airlines and aircraft manufacturers. He served in both engineering and marketing positions. Collins-Rockwell granted Percell an Industrial Scholarship for extended college studies as related to the company's plans for him. The company was the largest manufacturer of avionics, integrated flight instruments and flight control systems for airline category aircraft. Products of the Collins-Rockwell Company have dominated the air carrier and airframe manufacturing industry for many years. As part of Percell's engineering and marketing responsibilities, he conducted seminars and lectured throughout the industry.

William P. Lear, Sr., founder of the Lear Corporation, a major aviation company, and later, the father of the Lear jet, lured Percell away from the Collins-Rockwell Corporation, a competitor at the time. One of Bill Lear's biographies, "Stormy Genius" by author Richard Rashke, refers to Percell as "the Collins Corporation's golden boy". At 28 years of age, Percell was hired as Director of the Commercial Air Carrier Division of the Lear Corporation. Percell was actually fired by Bill Lear over breakfast at the Lear residence the very first day on the job. After being questioned by Bill Lear about the designs of the Lear airline product line, Percell simply offered his advice. Lear yelled "Your fired."

Lear was famous for firing management executives, but this time it would be different. By the time Percell drove to the corporate offices to clear out his new office, Lear had telephoned top management and elevated Percell's new position. Percell says of the firing, "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was enjoying my coffee at the breakfast table that morning while Bill was having a heated argument over the telephone. When Bill returned to the breakfast table he was upset, red faced, speaking loudly, and muttered that Howard Hughes was an SOB." Unknown to Percell, it had been Howard Hughes arguing with Lear over a $168 aircraft fuel bill. Hughes had used one of Lear's aircraft and the fuel bill inadvertently went to Lear.

During his career, Percell served seven years as Chairman of ALTAS, an airline committee sponsored by the air carrier industry and the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board (now DOT) wherein he acted as Chair person at quarterly meetings with the CEO's of U.S. air carriers. ALTAS was formed in an effort to reduce air carrier operating costs of air carriers receiving government subsidies. Percell is a past member of industry organizations, including Aviation Finance Association, Aircraft Distributors and Manufacturers Association, National Business Aircraft Association, American Helicopter Association, American Society of Tool Engineers, Aviation Electrical Society, Helicopter Association International and others.

The parent company of The Charter Group was formed in May of 1963, as Aerospace Associates, Inc. During the following two years the company established office facilities at Miami, Florida; Newark, New Jersey; Kansas City, Kansas; and Los Angeles, California.

As a young company, Aerospace Associates Inc.gained recognition as a founding member of the original Aspen Airways . The company provided Aspen Airways with it's first aircraft, a Fairchild F-27. Aspen Airways would become a large operator of Convair CV-580 aircraft. Later the company was sold to United Airlines. During the same period of time the company acted as a founder of Cal Sierra Airlines of Mammoth Lakes, California; and the original Zambian Airlines of Lusaka, Africa. The company gained further recognition when selected to market the General Electric jet engine inventory located at the General Dynamics-Convair CV880-CV990 aircraft factory. This was a significant worldwide aviation project for the new company.

On January 10, 1964, Robert R. Burns, a 22-year official of the McDonnell-Douglas Aircraft Company became the first non-founder to become President of the company. Percell remained CEO of the company but devoted most of his efforts to air carrier relations. The majority of the company’s initial business was conducted with air carriers. Approximately 30 percent of its revenue was from foreign air carriers. Ignacio Bunster was the company’s first Vice President of the Export. The company also maintained a steady business of selling and leasing large Executive aircraft to major corporations.

During 1965 the company acquired a virtually new but damaged Boeing 707 aircraft and experienced a one-time special project. The aircraft was disassembled and sold as large assemblies and spare parts. This was believed to be the first large modern jet disassembled and marketed under such circumstances. The aircraft was disassembled on-site under the cover of several large tents at the end of a runway at the Kansas City Municipal airport. The Boeing Airplane Company, Transworld Airlines, Continental Airlines, Qualitron Aero, and the United States Air Force purchased most of the disassembled aircraft. Percell had spent 13 years helping design and manufacture such aircraft, primarily their systems, and couldn't resist the opportunity to disassemble one. This was another high profile project for the company that was highly publicized throughout the industry.

November 8, 1966, the company acquired the Carco Aviation companies from Clark M. Carr, that operated a fleet of charter aircraft for the United States Government since 1945, from the hubs of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Las Vegas, Nevada and Livermore, California.

Separate from the operation of U.S. Government contracts, the Carco Companies operated a major aircraft maintenance and modification center at Las Vegas, Nevada, servicing both domestic and foreign air carriers. It was one of the largest such facilities in the US at the time and consumed 53 acres of property on McCarran International Airport at Las Vegas, Nevada.

When we did our first commercial charter...

Elvis was King
Kennedy was President
Gasoline cost .32 cents a gallon
The only thing that's stayed the same is
you get your dollars worth when you work with us!

During 1967, the company's first commercial aircraft charter division was formed and operated from the Las Vegas, Nevada facilities. As noted earlier, the Presley Family Enterprises was our first commercial charter customer. The company was already operating a mixed fleet of 34 charter aircraft for government and other accounts. Separately, the company operated 5 airline aircraft on wet lease contracts to airlines and 23 airline aircraft on dry lease contracts. The initial commercial aircraft charter operation of the company catered to celebrities, athletic programs, government officials, hotel-casinos, entertainment groups, motion picture production companies, major political campaigns, and Grand Canyon Tours.

During 1968 the company acquired controlling interest of Ambassador Airlines, Inc., a publicly held scheduled air carrier operating between cities of Nevada, California, and Arizona. Ambassador Airlines had been one of the company's aircraft lease customers. This company was later merged into another publicly held airline company.

The company continued to enlarge its aircraft charter, sales and leasing activities and hired Stanley M. Leist as its first Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Mr. Leist was the former president of Continental Aviation, a duPont aviation company. During the early 1970's the company was selected as the exclusive representative for the Fairchild-Hiller Corporation, a manufacturer of the F-27, F-227, and F-28 aircraft. More than 40 aircraft of various types and models were sold and leased as agents for the Fairchild-Hiller Corporation. The aircraft sales and leasing division of the company placed more than 75 aircraft with U.S. and foreign air carriers, including 23 aircraft as principal owners under the partnership name of Percell-Jones Leasing Company. Percell-Jones Leasing Company was a general partnership consisting of Lloyd E. Percell and Clifford A. Jones. Mr. Jones was a three-term Lt. Governor for the State of Nevada.

During the late 1970’s the company was managing a fleet of large jet aircraft for hotel-casinos located throughout the world under the direction of Mr. James Lake, our current Director of Business Development. Mr. Lake was a former Vice President, and General Manager of the Dunes Hotel & Country Club at Las Vegas. More than 70 percent of the company's hotel-casino flights were for Nevada based hotel-casinos. The company managed as many as 13 charter tract programs for hotel-casinos, including 8 round-trips monthly between Hawaii and Las Vegas for Hawaii Tours Company of Hawaii.

In the late 1970's and early 1980's the U.S. aviation industry suffered a severe recession. There were fields full of parked aircraft, and management of the company knew they had to be creative to survive. The company quickly diversified into other industries in an effort to maintain its stature. The aircraft charter, sales and leasing business of the company remained active under the direction of Thomas "Tom" Atkins, however, there was nominal aircraft activity during this period. The company formed affiliated companies to specialize in other industries. Those companies went on to operate more than 200 large diesel trucks, produce 350 television shows for cable networks, drill 28 oil and gas wells, and construct a pipeline. During this same period in time, the company also developed the first wind farm in the United States at Altamont Pass, California, established a real estate mortgage company licensed in 12 western states, and developed a publishing company.

The company successfully skirted the aviation industry recession by way of diversification. The aircraft industry rebounded during the 1980's and the company refocused its energies back to aircraft management. As a result of the company's experience with the U.S. aviation recession, management aggressively developed a substantial level of business with international aviation accounts. A network of authorized representatives was organized to provision, lease-out, and manage U.S. and Canadian manufactured aircraft.

During our history the company has provided support services for charter tract programs and ad-hoc charters for major tour operators and charter customers such as Holiday Vacations, Go Go Tours, Harrah's Corporation, Air Laughlin Tours, Japanese Travel Bureau, Town & Country Tours, various types of sports programs, Grand Canyon Tours, together with flight services for the White House Press Corps, U.S. Marshall's Service, National Interagency Fire Center, and more than 12 Charter Members.

In today’s travel climate, and crowded airports, the air charter business is becoming a viable supplement to conventional air travel.

                    No company of any size is more in touch with the industry.

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