Corey Head, the president, co-owner and director of operations of air charter service Sky Quest, always knew he wanted to be a pilot.
“My mom knew that I wanted to become a pilot, so she set up this introductory flight out of Erie, [Pennsylvania], for me,” he recalls of his first flying experience as a high-schooler. “I went up with a flight instructor. He let me sit in the pilot’s seat and he goes, ‘Once we get to this speed, I’m gonna tell you to pull back, and then you’re gonna be flying the airplane.’”
He says that occasion was the biggest step toward what would turn out to be a lifelong career in the air, taking him from Kent State’s aviation program to clocking thousands of miles — alone — in the cockpit of freight planes as he worked his way to piloting passenger jets.
Head takes one long step over to his desk and pulls out a stack of faded photographs. A younger version of himself stands beside a crumpled, oil-slicked mass of metal. In the dead of night over central New York, one of the plane’s two engines blew apart and deformed the wing, forcing him to make an emergency landing that still visibly excites him.
“Sometimes as a pilot, these are great things to know, is how you’re going to react under pressure,” he says coolly.
Head has faced other pressures with the same confidence, namely growing a niche and infrastructure-heavy business from $54,000 in sales 13 years ago to almost $20 million last year, with 20 to 30 percent annual growth. In the past, Sky Quest has been contracted to shuttle members of the Republican National Convention committee from Washington, D.C., to Cleveland, and they hope to assist with transporting members in July.
In 2001, Head started out as the only captain, or pilot-in-command, of a charter company with only one propeller plane and no charter certificate, headquartered in a single office at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Sky Quest started in 2003, with two captains and one propeller aircraft in a single office behind the I-X Center. Today it’s a 24/7 operation that employs 36. And in the coming weeks Sky Quest will bring its total number of small to midsize planes to 11.
“The incredible success that we’ve had here in Cleveland — it’s been a combination of our safety record, focus on our consumer service, hard work and the Continental United hub pulling out of Cleveland,” says Head. “What we want to do is service the local community, whether it’s individuals that are trying to save time and do vacations on a private jet or whether it’s businessmen that lost that direct flight to Albany.”
That kind of market may certainly be niche, but Head says for groups of about five with productivity in mind, private jet charters can be surprisingly economical, shaving a day off indirect and time-consuming commercial airline itineraries, retaining high-performing employees whose time can be more valuably spent than killing time during a layover in Charlotte or Philadelphia, and providing customized service for a ticket price that’s not even double what other airlines now charge for direct flights to many destinations.
“To be honest, we’ve exceeded any goals that I had 10 years ago, which is amazing. I thought in the Cleveland market you’re probably looking at five or six planes,” he says. “Now? I think that the company could double in size. I think we could get to 20 airplanes in this Cleveland market and still provide a valuable service to the charter clients and to the aircraft owners.”
His responsibilities as director of operations of an airline company obsessed with safety and customer service keep him relatively grounded. They might allow him to focus on company growth (and to spend more time with his family), but this pilot still has his head in the clouds.
“Just sitting up at 40,000 feet with the view up there — it’s just amazing,” he sighs.