Page 20 - Dec22T

Company
Keystone Aviation
by Lance Phillips
Chronicles
Throughout the last eleven months, the Company Chron- icles column has highlighted small-to-medium-sized, most- ly private aviation companies whose roots go way back to the beginnings of general and business aviation in the United States. We can also find compel- ling stories surrounding some of our younger organizations. This month, for our final chronicle, we focus on one relatively new aviation company that has not only demonstrated much success but has attracted the invest- ment of other organizations looking to expand their service capabilities.
In 1995, a couple of aviation busi- ness leaders in Salt Lake City (SLC) determined that the time was right to bring an all-encompassing aviation one-stop shop to the area. The Million Air SLC FBO was up for sale at the time, and Bill Haberstock, a local charter guru, pilot and sales pro, saw an opportunity. Haberstock was a partner in a turbine specialty busi- ness in SLC called Business Aviation
18 • TWIN & TURBINE / December 2022
Bill Haberstock and Leon Christensen.
Management. “I saw some untapped potential for growing an even larger general aviation company at Salt Lake City International Airport,” Haber- stock told NATA’s Aviation Business Journal. “[It] had been nearly 15 years since the airport had a full-service general aviation business. What did exist was a lot of small companies that offered different services.”
SLC had FBOs providing fuel, some charter work, and some air- craft sales and distributorships.
That’s when Haberstock brought in Leon Christensen, who at the time was managing the Hudson General FBO, to partner in the formation of Keystone Aviation. The sole pur- pose was to purchase the existing Million Air FBO at SLC. “Leon brought expertise in FBO operations, which we combined with my experience in aircraft management, charter op- erations and sales,” Haberstock told the Aviation Business Journal. “With financial backing from one of my