Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 22, 1995                   TAG: 9501200037
SECTION: ECONOMY                    PAGE: 4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LEIGH ANNE LARANCE SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                  LENGTH: Medium

PILOTS' MISSION: YOU CAN GET THERE FROM HERE

Three local pilots are banking on the New River Valley's growth to send their company skyward.

Professional Air Service Inc., an air charter service that flies out of Blacksburg, believes there's a market for business travelers tired of the 35-minute commute to Roanoke's airport and hour-long layovers at hub airports waiting to catch connecting flights.

"There is always going to be a market for direct travel," said Lisa de Vries, vice president and general manager.

While rural areas and small towns often win high marks for quality of life, business travelers complain about isolation. The information superhighway may change the way people work, but face-to-face meetings, sales calls and business trips are still the way the world does business.

Laboratories or manufacturers that need quick, direct shipping also can benefit from charter service, de Vries said. Private charters save business travelers driving time. And for professionals who bill by the hour, it makes a difference, she said.

"As I'm finding out what's in the area, I'm seeing even more possibilities," de Vries said.

While Roanoke has a number of private charter companies, Professional Air Service is the first to fly out of the New River Valley in a number of years, she said.

De Vries runs the operation full time with part-time help from her husband, Dick Bosworth, president and treasurer of the company, and Cecil McBride, director of operations, who also is the Federal Aviation Administration examiner in Blacksburg. De Vries and Bosworth met McBride through their work as flight instructors; McBride tests pilots and issues licenses.

All three thought Blacksburg needed a charter service.

"One day at the airport, sitting on the snow and ice, I thought, we have an airplane, we have the pilots, we have the experiences. We can do this," de Vries said.

"There's certainly a need for charter service," said McBride, who has been flying out of the Blacksburg airport for decades. "You've got the Corporate Research Center and the Blacksburg Industrial Park, with Wolverine, Federal Mogul, all those businesses, within five minutes of the airport."

Whether a business wants to move cargo or people, charter service is a real convenience, he said.

The company incorporated in 1992 and received the required OK from the FAA in early November. Professional Air Service flew its first client Nov. 18. It's now busy with marketing.

"You can find us on the Internet. It's part of the Blacksburg Electronic Village, which is one place people seem to be advertising these days," Bosworth said.

The company owns a Cessna 310, which can carry four or five passengers, depending on the number of pilots required for the flight. The company can lease other aircraft to meet clients' needs, de Vries said.

Bosworth said charters cost roughly $275 per hour. Round-trip to Nashville, including two hours of waiting time for the pilot, would cost $1,100.

"If you can take four people for that price, that's pretty good," Bosworth said.

Additional waiting time costs $30 per hour. "We're very competitive with, if not cheaper than, the airlines."

The company recently flew four clients from a local hospital to a meeting in Nashville, and a family chartered the plane for a trip to Atlanta, he said.

"An attorney who has to drive and charges by the hour can actually provide service to a client at a lower cost with a charter," he said. That's particularly true when the destination is a rural area, since charters can fly to small airports closer to a traveler's destination.

"I think we counted over 75 airports in Virginia. How many does USAir fly into? Maybe a dozen," Bosworth said.

Where will the company be a few years down the runway?

"We're not overly ambitious at this time," Bosworth said. "But we will add equipment and personnel as required to meet the demand.

"We see the economic forecast for the valley looking excellent. We see the `smart road,' the opening of the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center, as bringing business into the Roanoke Valley and New River Valley."

PROFESSIONAL AIR SERVICE INC.

THE COMPANY: Professional Air Service Inc., incorporated in 1992, was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration in November 1994.

HEADQUARTERS: Based in Roanoke, the company flies out of Blacksburg.

OPERATIONS: The company provides private air charters.

ANNUAL SALES: Declined to give estimates.

EMPLOYEES: Three - Dick Bosworth, president and treasurer; Lisa de Vries, vice president and general manager; Cecil McBride, director of operations. All three are pilots.