2021 Year-In-Review
2021 was a helluva year for APEX Flight Solutions. With the pandemic in full swing, the first siren calls of a forthcoming boom in business and private aviation, and a legendary Icepocolypse, Q1 ushered in a year that will go down in the company annals as one for the ages.
In January of 2021, the world was in the throes of the second wave of the pandemic. Corporate travelers and potential private aircraft owners fed up with the rules imposed by nervous airlines and a new administration anxious to stem the tide, created a feeding frenzy on bizjets. While sales and acquisitions have historically been a small part of the operations of APEX, founder and company president Ross Nyerges saw the growing opportunity and decided that the time was right to launch that part of the company in earnest. Ross’ longtime friend and fellow commercial pilot, Clayton Corn, was on the hunt for new opportunities in the aviation industry, so Ross welcomed him aboard, both as a corporate pilot-in-training, and as Director of Sales and Acquisitions. We’ll tell you more about Clayton’s storied background in a later edition, but he brings an interesting and eclectic blend of interpersonal skills and aviation experience to the company, and he was instrumental in the execution of $8,000,000 in transactions in APEX Sales & Acquisitions’ first year of operations.
Also, as business began picking up momentum, APEX added a new Chief of Operations, Adham el-Effendi. Once again, we’ll give you more insight into what brought Adham to the company in a later newsletter, but this former professional athlete and Dallas native comes from a background of top-level competition, successful entrepreneurial endeavors and a lifelong love of all things aviation. Adham’s focus on streamlining operations and making sure the rest of the team has the resources they need to become an industry-leading organization brought needed streamlining and efficiencies to the shop. As a result, APEX saw sustainable growth in both maintenance and flight ops, positioning the company on a solid footing as the fleet grows.
APEX showed that we truly are part of the Austin Executive community when the historic ice storm struck in February. Every member of the team who could safely get to the airport showed up and pitched in with clearing the runway and ramp so the airport could stay open and operations continue. While inside the FBO didn’t fare as well, EDC only saw a small interruption in traffic thanks to our band of misfits.
Shortly after the deep freeze, our newly minted acquisitions service switched into high gear when a current Citation part 91 management client tasked us with searching for a Falcon 900EX. Our team flew to several locations across the country to examine each candidate, both on and off-market, before selecting the one we believed to be not only the best value, but the finest 900EX flying. The aircraft was moved from its base outside of Boston to West Star Aviation’s East Alton, IL facility for pre-buy, and our client took delivery in late June.
APEX brokered $8 million in transactions in 2021, far exceeding our own first-year expectations for our upstart, and we are already seeing good activity in 2021. We have several acquisition projects in the works and recently closed our first sale of the year. We have set a goal of $20 million in sales and acquisitions for 2022, and barring any unforecast market hiccups, either in aviation or the economy at-large, we believe we’ll reach that number with time to spare.
Part of the success we’re seeing comes from new proprietary tools our sales and acquisitions team has built out. Using marketwide research and our own internal tracking of operational and ownership costs, we have created a cost projection tool built on an extensive aircraft database. With this new tool, we can give clients a very accurate picture of what the purchase and operation of an aircraft looks like. It calculates various ownership and use scenarios, financing costs and all of the myriad tax advantages at an owner’s disposal. If you’re thinking about jumping into aircraft ownership, we’d love to customize a projector for you and walk you through the process.
We’ve also authored an article for those looking at jet ownership for the first time called, So, You Want To Buy A Jet? It takes a hard, unvarnished look at what jet ownership actually costs and digests it in a way that’s easy to read and understand. Email clayton@apexflightsolutions.com for a copy..
In the maintenance shop, the team completed several large projects, not the least of which was the completion of big phase inspections of the Falcon APEX brokered. The team also completed the 400-hour walk-around, B, C, E, F & G, and structural inspections of a Hawker 800SP. The aircraft received brand new interior elements including new carpets and side panels, and gorgeous Saddle Brown leather cabin and flight deck seating from our new interiors partner, Black’s Jet Interior.
Black’s Jet Interior is co-located in our maintenance hangar at Austin Executive and they do amazing work. If you’re looking for a quality interior shop to refresh your aircraft, please give us a call.
Finally, while APEX’s main office has been located in suite 236 of Austin Executive for several years, with the expansion of the company comes the expansion of our office footprint. APEX now occupies the entire south hallway of suites at the airport. Feel free to swing by and pay us a visit. We’d love to show you around our growing operation.
While 2021 presented its challenges, for us it was a wildly successful year. We see a very bright 2022 and beyond, and we’re excited to share our successes with you through this blog and website.
Blue skies!