Shane Storz (Air Choice One)
On Wednesday September 15, I had the privilege to interview Shane Storz. Mr. Storz has been the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Choice One since 2012, and he has worked in the aviation industry for over 30 years as a pilot and executive for Air Choice One. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Joshua Kupietzky: What’s your background in aviation?
Shane Storz: My dad got his private [pilot] license in 1963, and I was pretty much born in 1963, so I grew up in aviation with my father. In the 70’s I started cutting grass at a local airport for a 15-minute airplane ride. Two years later, at the age of 12, I got promoted to the Line Service Department which included cleaning the aircraft, among other tasks. And then I decided I want to be a professional pilot, so I went and got my private [pilot’s license] at seventeen. Then I worked through the early 80’s getting all my ratings, and then started flight instructing in the mid 80’s; then I joined the family. My dad was in a partnership with Festus Flying Services in the 70’s, and he sold out of that company and kind of did a sabbatical for a year and a half. He got his helicopter rating with another friend of his in 1979, when Air Choice One was born; they started with a helicopter in crop dusting. And then in the early 80’s, the company he used to be part of went out, so the city of Festus called him to operate the airport.He started operating the airport and rebuilding the business Multi-Aero Inc., and we are doing business now as Air Choice One. Multi-Aero was formed in 1979, and I came on full time with the company in 1989. And from there on I just started helping grow the business, flying. I got about 20,000 flight hours as an airline transport pilot and —With everything that has happened, I became CEO in 2012 of the family aviation business, andhere what we are today.
JK: When did you make that jump from flying to taking a corporate position at Air Choice One?
SS: 2012. In 2012 I was named President and CEO of the corporation.
JK: Why did you choose to go to Air Choice One?
SS: My mom and dad started the business Multi-Aero in 1979. In 1989 they pretty much gave me an ultimatum to either join the company full time or they were going to downsize and do what they could do. We are actually a family airline, so in 1989 I came on full time
JK: Air Choice One flies two Essential Air Service (EAS) routes. Can you explain the significance of these routes?
SS: What we did in 1999 was fly aircraft charters, and we came up with a program that we called Share A Flight. And Share A Flight was basically taking a charter customer’s request and asking them if they would like to share the cost of their charter. We did that between 1999 and 2001. We ended up deciding to go ahead and seek our scheduled Part 135 nine-seater laws authority with the DOT [Department of Transportation] and the FAA [Federal Aviation Agency] and that was completed by 2004. nce you get your schedule authority, you actually have to fly a schedule between two points at least five times a week. And so we started with the old route that Trans States Airlines had (Resort Air originally back in the 80’s and 90’s) which was from St. Louis to Lake of the Ozarks. We did that for about six months, and in the meantime we were seeking out opportunities through the Department of Transportation Essential Air Service and finally got our breakthrough.Our first contract was in 2008 in the Essential Air Service Program with Kirksville, Missouri. And then in 2009 we were awarded Burlington, Iowa and Decatur, Illinois, because I was able to get Chicago O’Hare access, and those two communities wanted to go to Chicago, so that gave us the opportunity to serve them. And then in 2012 we were awarded Jonesboro, Arkansas. And then in 2014 it was Ironwood, Michigan, which is up in the upper peninsula, which we flew into Chicago. And then we grew Mason City and Fort Dodge, Iowa at the end of the year in 2014. And then Jackson, Tennessee in 2015, and we continued with a hub service. We were able to open additional hubs, which were Minneapolis St. Paul and Atlanta Hartsfield. We got up to about fourteen aircraft and were carrying a little over 80,000 passengers a year with those cities that we had in the Essential Air Service.
JK: Why was the Cessna Grand Caravan 208B chosen instead of any other aircraft?
SS: Good question. They were originally built in the 80’s for FedEx cargo. The Cessna Grand Caravan was built first as a cargo aircraft and built for FedEx to carry the small feeder routes into their hubs like Memphis. Anyway, the airplane had been built since the mid-80’s and then we were able to purchase our first cargo caravan in 1998 because through the years of doing operations we had also done cargo as well. But anyway, we were very familiar with the aircraft. We had done our research when we were going into the scheduled passenger operations for different types of aircraft, and everything just kept coming back to the Cessna Grand Caravan. And the reason for that was because of the reliability, the dependability, and the cost of operations. Because we are only certificated for nine seats or less, it fits that bill under a certification, and also it was fast enough to go between the points of service into our hubs. So it worked really well. It carried the luggage; it carried the people. It is a very utility-type aircraft that worked well with what we were going into.
JK: Will you stick with the Caravan in the future or are there plans to switch operations to a larger aircraft?
SS: We started that transition into bigger aircraft in 2017, when we took delivery of our first Beechcraft 1900 aircraft, and we are up to two of those. So yes, what we are currently doing is transitioning from the eight-seat to the nineteen-seat aircraft, and then the next transition will be what we fill— the markets we end up growing through the transition. You know, it depends on what the demand becomes, and what the next aircraft type is. We don’t know 100%. But it will be some sort of jet.
JK: How have bookings been with Air Choice One?
SS: They have increased quite a bit. Depending on the route, I believe our load factors so far this year, compared to 2019, are close to 78%, pre-pandemic. Post-pandemic, it is definity improving to where it is somewhat getting back to normal.
JK: Are there plans to add any new routes?
SS: We are currently under analysis. We are doing route analysis with a couple of pair cities that I really can’t go on record and say yet. But we are continuing to look for growth opportunities in our niche markets for either Essential Air Service, or our own—flying what we call ‘at risk flying’, which is totally on us. So our structure would be predicted on what the main line—like your American Airlines or United—can’t fly or won’t fly. But there is still a need in those niche markets.
JK: What is the biggest challenge of flying into major airports like Chicago O’Hare with such a small plane?
SS: That’s a good question. Back when I got access to Chicago O’Hare—that was back in 2009/2010—I had to meet with all the airport officials, and the shaky people in Chicago,that was one of their concerns, because the speed of our aircraft is not jet speed But because of the maneuverability of the Caravan, we were able to come up with a compromise of how we were going to operate in and out of what we call ‘large hubs’, and it’s worked really well. And basically it is just doing the maneuverability that the ATC Air Traffic Control asks us to do, which gives us the opportunity to get into what we call the lineup or into the flow of the aircraft easier. So they slot us where we fit, you know, between the jets. But the biggest challenge was just flowing in with the jet speed.
JK: What are some of Air Choice One’s Hub cities?
SS: We had served Minneapolis (of course), St. Louis is our home, Atlanta, and Chicago. We have been in Chicago O'Hare; it's been our longest hub well outside St. Louis, but Chicgao is coming up on twelve years in January.
JK: Are all Air Choice One crew based in St. Louis or are they based at different hubs?
SS: Our only crew base currently is St. Louis. What we do is we have agreements with carriers, so if one of our crew members lives in Florida they basically jumpseat to their home base. Typical crew flow. So they fly in to do their flights into St. Louis, and most of them have what we call crash pads in St. Louis, so they will stay here during their flight duty time and go home when they can.
JK: Are you starting to see a bounce back for the airline industry?
SS: We are seeing movement in the right direction, particularly in some key domestic markets, but the numbers are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
JK: Have you learned anything new about leadership from the pandemic?
SS: Patience. We got back when covid first hit, we had about fifteen crew members taken out that got it. So it was a lot of finagling and rescheduling of different crews. There was last minute stuff. You know, like I said, patience is probably the key word because it took patience to keep the airline running—strategies on how we were going to backfill the sick calls once they got tested positive, and they had to quarantine; you are talking fourteen days out of pocket with those crews. I think that was the biggest impact:patience and learning to overcome those types of challenges, which were the big ones in the industry.
JK: What do you consider as your greatest achievement in the aviation industry?
SS: In 2010 we were contracted by the Department of Transportation to operate two Essential Air Service programs. One from Burlington, IA and the other from Decatur, IL.
One of the requirements, on both contracts, was to connect the passengers from these cities to Chicago O'Hare International Airport. I believe convincing the Chicago Department of Aviation to approve our scheduled operations using our 8-seat Cessna Grand Caravans was probably one of the most difficult and complicated things I have ever achieved.
JK: What are your long-term career goals in the aviation industry?
SS: My long term goal now as the leader of the company is to grow the company beyond my expectations, but to leave a legacy not only with my mentorship as a leader but also with the size of the company and how the company helps other people. Not only the communities we serve, but also the employees that come and go through the company to continue,to help build their careers as well. Because basically of the size aircraft that we are currently operating, we are called a stepping stone for most of your pilots. Because of the time-building needs, they join us so they can get into the larger aircraft which is their dream anyways. You know—the Delta’s of the world, American’s, United’s.
JK: Do you have any agreements with larger carriers like American and United?
SS: Yeah, the only agreements we have like I said earlier would be your jumpseat agreements, and we don’t have that with everyone. But as far as your baggage and ticketing. No, we are still seeking thoses with American, United, Delta—whoever will give us the opportunity.
JK: What makes Air Choice One airlines different from other carriers and how do you plan on attracting new customers?
SS: For the past year, Air Choice One designed its own business structure to ensure growth and to mitigate any future business risks. Our expansion and growth is based on our reliability, long term relationships with our customers, flexibility, strong management framework, and an ethical and responsible customer service. We work closely with our customers, utilizing every possible local resource, in order to benefit the communities from our success. Air Choice One has never felt stronger and better prepared to serve new customers and deliver one of the most affordable and reliable services in the industry.
JK: What do you see Air Choice One doing in the future?
SS: Continue to be a reliable dependable carrier and also seek larger aircraft for longer routes that can carry 50 to 100 passengers per flight. And again, making a reliable, dependable, sought out airline from the consumer’s world, so you know that they enjoy the flights on Air Choice One and want to utilize our service.
