Island Airways Selected as SBTDC Business of the Year Northwest Region
If you want to get to Beaver Island, you have to travel by either boat or plane. Yet, thousands of people make the trip with Island Airways every year. The business is owned and operated by the husband and wife team of Angel and Paul Welke. Paul's family started flying passengers to the island as Welke Aviation in 1975. In 1983 they merged with McPhillips Flying Service and became Island Airways.
"Island Airways is an air charter service that operates mostly between Beaver Island and Charlevoix," said Angel Welke. "We operate six aircraft and fly about 28-thousand people a year and about one point two million pounds of freight."
Island Airways flies seven days a week, 365 days a year. On a busy day during the summer they may carry more than 300 passengers. During the winter, when there is no ferry service, Island Airways continues to fly passengers, along with five to eight thousand pounds of groceries every week. Island Airways has its own airport on Beaver Island, which includes a maintenance facility and storage hanger. They also have maintenance and freight buildings at the Charlevoix Airport. All that work keeps their 16 full-time employees pretty busy, but Island Airways would like to find ever more business.
"We have growth opportunities, but it's hard to keep the business going and think how do we get to the next step," said Welke. "We needed some professional guidance."
Island Airways found that professional guidance through the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center (MI-SBTDC). One of the first things the SBTDC did for Island Airways was help them write a business plan.
"They got in to the process of trying to define their business, their customers, their financial requirements, and they found it to be a very useful exercise to go through," said Joe Batteiger, an SBTDC consultant.
"We learned a lot about the business," said Welke. "It helped us identify where some of our growth areas are."
With the business plan and additional help from the SBTDC, Island Airways is arranging new financing that will help them expand their business by pursuing air ambulance certification and state and federal contracts.
"That will add jobs," said Welke. "We'll add some pilot jobs and some ground crew jobs and really be able to expand the business."
"We thought it was real important to do what we could to support them and help them grow to the next step," said Batteiger.
Thanks to an SBTDC nomination, Island Airways has also been selected for the state's new economic gardening program, which will help the business with things like strategic planning and market research. For their efforts to grow their business, Island Airways has been selected as the Northwest Region SBTDC Small Business of the Year. Welke says they appreciate the recognition and all the help they've received from the SBTDC.
"It's the biggest improvement we've made in the business in years," said Welke. "It has meant we will continue to grow and we will continue to provide a real vital service."
