When Scott Welch came to Byerly Aviation to turn it around approximately 13 years ago, he was tasked with a nearly impossible job. The creditors didn’t think the former business professionals were up to the job, so they turned to a pilot, someone with aviation in his blood. Since then Welch has once again made Byerly Aviation a top regional FBO, a respected Twin Commander Factory Authorized Service Center, and one of the few privately owned options at a large airport in a sea of corporate, chain businesses. Although he is happiest behind the scenes, we chatted with Welch to get a better sense of his background, love for Twin Commanders, and where Byerly Aviation shines.
Flight Levels: How did you get your start in aviation?
Welch: My dad bought a new brand new Piper Comanche in 1962 when I was 3 years old. I don’t remember a life without it. I still have it. I never wanted to do anything but play with airplanes. Now I have about 13,000 flight hours and an A&P/IA. Also, my CFI, CFII, MEI, and helicopter instructor certificates.
Flight Levels: What brought you to Byerly Aviation?
Welch: I came to Byerly in 2009 when everything went badly. I was recruited by the creditors to save Byerly from bankruptcy. I was teaching aviation at Penn State University and they contracted with me to write a business plan because they didn’t want to lose their investment. I came out here and turned it around.
While we were in process of trying to fix the issues, they asked me if I wanted the company and I’ve been here ever since. We’re doing very well. Later I talked Bruce into coming back and partnering with me. It seems like yesterday.
Flight Levels: Do you have a business background? Why do you think they chose you?
Welch: The Byerly family sold out to what was essentially a private equity company. They were business people and they couldn’t make it work. The thinking of the bondholders was let’s see if we can get an airplane guy in there and see what he can do. They had nothing to lose. Every payroll was a struggle. We flew charter like crazy just to make enough money to stay afloat. Then the economy started picking up and we started selling more fuel. The industry started to recover and that was where things started to get better. When Bruce came back, he brought a lot of customers with him. Our maintenance department picked back up.
Flight Levels: How do you compete in an increasingly consolidated market, with chain FBOs now running a large percentage of bigger airports?
Welch: We’re still a full service FBO. A lot of the chain FBOs are gas and grass. When you come to Byerly Aviation we can not only meet all your normal FBO requirements like fuel, catering, and whatever else you need, we also have full maintenance, avionics, paint, and whatever else you need. That’s what makes us separate. We’re one of the last independent FBOs at a Class C or higher airport.
Flight Levels: How do you think you were able to turn it around?
Welch: People are irreplaceable. We were able to keep enough old Commander guys to train up a younger batch of Commander people. These guys are really good at what they do. They were trained by the best. I’m really happy to have the maintenance staff that I have right now.
It’s critical for us to have all our departments working together. Commanders are 80 percent of our revenue by dollars. We’re still Commander people. We’re not a place that wants to do other airplanes. The only thing close is airline maintenance revenue because we do all the local airline maintenance.
Flight Levels: What do you love about Byerly?
Welch: There’s never a day I don’t want to go to work. There’s never been an aircraft made to replace the Commander. They’re still really viable transportation. There’s a group of people that wants two engines, fast, relatively economical fun to fly airplanes. You have your King Air, but it’s bigger, uses more fuel, and is expensive to operate. No one has made anything to replace that niche that Commanders have had since the 690A. You can’t keep one in inventory. The minute you get one it’s gone.
Flight Levels: What are some of your current challenges as it relates to the supply chain?
Welch: Twin Commander Aircraft is still really good with parts. We really give credit to Pam and others at Twin who keep the parts going. But the stuff you don’t buy from Twin we’re hoping to be proactive and help supplement. Right now, cores are worth more than parts because they need them so badly. I’m working with outside companies to study the feasibility of manufacturing certain parts I know we’ll need in the future.
Flight Levels: How important is the Byerly name to your company identity and the history and future of the business?
Welch: I had a choice to keep the Byerly name when I reincorporated the business. I weighed all the factors and decided the advantages of keeping the Byerly name outweighed any negatives at that time.
We have a mural by the front door. You have to walk down a long hallway to get to reception, and you have to walk past the mural. It starts in 1928 and continues to the present as a pictorial history of Byerly Aviation. It runs 100 feet. Not too many aviation businesses can say that.
Flight Levels: What does the future hold for Byerly and Twin Commanders?
Welch: Charter is going to do really well in the future. The unreliability of the airlines is their Achilles heel. We’re going to continue to specialize in Commanders and maintenance. We’re going to expand our charter operations. With avionics upgrades digital autopilot systems are a big priority for us. The new ones that are coming out almost give you a whole new airplane.
