SpiritJets shines with midwest hospitality
Eleven aircraft operation combines boutique services and full service capabilities as it continues to evolve its fleet.
By Justin Marchand
Contributing writer
SpiritJets is a full-service aircraft management and charter operator based out of SUS (St Louis MO).
It has served one of the Midwest’s largest cities for more than 18 years with a blend of personalized boutique service and international capabilities.
SpiritJets Owner & CEO Doug McCollum founded the company in 2008, after the sale of JetCorp in 2006.
Doug was part of JetCorp’ s founding in 1981, and JetCorp grew into a full-service charter, management, sales and acquisition, FBO, and Class IV maintenance and repair station.
McCollum sold JetCorp to a private equity group that failed economically, filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy during the economic downturn that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.
“We had loyal customers and a culture that was well respected in the industry,” explains McCollum.
“After the private equity failure, there was interest within the St Louis area with previous clients to start up the business again. We had a lot of existing customers who were disenchanted with the company that bought me out, so we started fresh with a new FAR Part 135 air carrier certificate and assumed much of JetCorp’s charter management clientele.”
McCollum continues, “It was a new company, but with the same passion for flying and highly trained and qualified personnel, and the same commitment to world-class responsive service. I hired many former JetCorp employees, received our air carrier certificate in less than 6 months, and our worldwide certificate with the ‘10 or more’ – which allows SpiritJets to operate aircraft with 10 or more seats for Part 135 – took place over the next several years.”
McCollum began his flying career, flying for St Louis-based Anheuser–Busch, where he joined the corporate pilot ranks in 1978 when hired as a copilot/mechanic, for the flight department’s Learjet 24B, 35, and Falcon 20 aircraft.
He remained at Anheuser–Busch until 1981 but continued to fly contractually for them until it was sold to InBev.
“Anheuser–Busch leadership were real stickers for quality, and its corporate focus on quality dripped down onto the flight department,” declares McCollum.
“I didn’t leave as a disgruntled pilot. Just for an opportunity to be a part of a upstart of an aviation company that became JetCorp. In 1992, Anheuser–Busch asked us to become a local MRO that would also provide maintenance for its corporate fleet, so we started an MRO organization.”
Fleet and operations
SpiritJets operates 11 aircraft – all available for charter. The fleet consists of 4 Hawkers (750, 850, and 900), 6 Bombardier Challengers (300, 350, 604, and 605), and one Gulfstream G550.
The Hawker fleet has Collins Aerospace Pro Line 21 flight decks, the Challenger 300 and 350 are equipped with Pro Line 21 Advance, the 604 with Pro Line Fusion, the 2 605s with the Pro Line 21 Advanced, and the G550 with Honeywell PlaneView.
The integrated flight deck, advanced navigation, and enhanced situational awareness (SA) allow for more efficient flight planning and operations along with standardization across the entire fleet.
“We’ve done well adding the Challenger line of aircraft, and we’ll continue to grow in the super midsize category,” says McCollum.
“We like to have similarity in our fleet. It allows us to be more efficient. The Hawkers are great. There are no midsize aircraft with the range and capacity of the Hawkers. However, we are considering Challenger 300s or 350s to replace our aging Hawkers.”
SpiritJets Director of Operations Patrick Buchanan has been with the company for 16 years.
He worked his way up from a first officer on the Learjet 60 and 55 to a captain role on all aircraft.
A Peoria IL native, he attended Southern Illinois University Aviation Program.
After a brief stint instructing, he started flying Airnet Systems in high-performance piston twins, such as the Cessna 310 and Beech Baron 58 before moving into Learjet 25s and 35s.
That experience led to flying Learjet 60s for JetRide Private Charter. His management roles at SpiritJets have included assistant chief pilot, chief pilot, and director of safety.
“Flying at SpiritJets is fantastic, especially the Gulfstream G550, which enables global travel,” Buchanan says.
“A former colleague and I worked together on developing both the ‘10 or more’ and the global operating certificates. We did that in the Falcon 900 EX. We flew over to SNN (Shannon, Ireland) to do the test runs, then brought that home and got it signed off. That was a really big step in the growth and development of SpiritJets.”
The G550 does more international ops than the Challengers. “We just had a crew over in Italy and France, and we have another long trip (some 21 days) later this year,” notes Buchanan.
“The Gulfstream goes on these international missions once every quarter, while all 4 Challengers combined deploy on international trips a one or two times a quarter.”
Buchanan continues, “We’ve flown to Milan, Sicily, Palermo, and Corsica in Italy; Nice and Paris in France; London, England; Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin in Germany; and Prague, Czechia.” During the winter time, common destinations include Aruba, the Cayman Islands, Saint Martin, and Saint Kitts in the Caribbean.
Buchanan adds, “A trip that we have coming up includes some destinations I haven’t been to. We are going to Innsbruck in Austria, and Malta. We spend a lot of time in Basel, Switzerland. That trip is always fun. We’ll be going back to Pisa and Milan. Whether it’s the Challengers or the Gulfstream, our crews are able to sightsee at these destinations on most occasions.”
Signature is SpiritJets go-to FBO. “The fuel discounts are very good at Signature,” Buchanan says.
“We use them 90–95% of the time. One thing that I’ve noticed is that Signature’s international network has improved significantly.”
Chief Pilot Charlie Ford has flown with the company for 5 years. After several years working as a flight instructor, he transitioned to regional airlines, where he flew CRJ-200, CRJ-700, CRJ-900, and CRJ-550 aircraft.
He later moved from Part 121 operations to SpiritJets, flying the Learjet 60, then the Hawkers, and currently the Challenger 604 and 605.
“Aviation has always been, and still is, a part of my family,” says Ford.
“My father holds a private pilot license and remains active in general aviation. But I have to say it was my grandfather who inspired my love for aviation. He was a pilot in the US Air Force and later flew for TWA.”
Ford enjoys flying the company Challengers. “They’re versatile aircraft that our clients appreciate,” he says.
“They’re capable of handling both short regional trips and long international flights, which is especially interesting. The Challenger 604 is enjoyable to fly manually. It’s very responsive. Plus the cabin and flight deck are spacious, making it a comfortable aircraft for both crew and passengers.”
The frequent international trips come with a set of unique operational challenges.
“One of the main challenges with longer international missions is maintaining recency,” explains Ford.
“Just like with our initial pilot training, if you’re not flying regularly, it’s easy for some of that knowledge to fade. Each international airport comes with its own set of unique challenges, whether it’s local operating procedures, ramp protocols, customs, or other logistical factors. Because of that, our crews need to begin flight planning weeks in advance. This level of preparation can be a shift for pilots who are more accustomed to planning just a day or two ahead for domestic trips.”
With the large scope of international flying, SpiritJets uses international handlers.
For flight planning on the large-cabin aircraft, all of SpiritJet’s needs are met by ARINCDirect, although the company also uses Universal Aviation for more specific needs, such as overflight permits for complicated airspaces like Cuba’s.
On the other hand, for the lighter aircraft, the flight crew uses FltPlan.com.
In terms of connectivity, all of SpiritJets airplanes are equipped with products from various vendors. “We typically use Gogo Avance L5, but Starlink becoming more prevalent, so we’re exploring to add it to our fleet in the near future,” remarks Buchanan.
Promoting from within
The 35-pilot staff will be growing to 51. At SpiritJets, pilots have a lot of opportunities for a diverse array of flying.
Operations are head-quartered at Signature SUS. As one of the largest customers on the field, SpiritJets maintains a number of offices, separate pilot facilities, and ops center inside the FBO.
“The place has been modernized quite a bit. Signature and SpiritJets have worked together to develop workstations and set up an appropriate flight control facility where we do our flight coordination and operational control,” explains Buchanan.
From Caribbean getaways to European business centers, the SpiritJets fleet is maintained to the highest standards for dependable global travel.
“It’s called Hangar 10, and we are located right below the air traffic control tower.”
Newly-hired pilots are typically introduced to the Hawker first. “The company aims for dual type ratings, and this is a system based on necessity,” explains Buchanan.
“If the need is there, it usually takes around 6 months to a year to get them type rated in additional aircraft. Then we try to move our pilots into the larger cabin aircraft. The SpiritJets fleet is transitioning to more of the large-cabin super midsize aircraft and looking to retire the legacy Hawker platform into something a little bit modern.”
Buchanan adds, “Throughout our history, we’ve always run lean. Our schedules are 9 days on, 4 hard days off. May 1st, 2026, we go to 8 Days on, 5 days off. Our airplanes are based at SUS, and they always return to our home base. It’s incredibly rare that a pilot is physically gone 9 days in a row – unless it’s for an important training event. On an average month, we spend 17 days flying.”
However, the company offers a pretty good amount of overtime, and does employ contract pilots for Part 91 operations.
When hiring, Buchanan says that around 90% of the applicant pool has 1500 hours TT or less.
But while they’re knowledgeable and gifted with technology, they still lack real life experience.
“That is why we spend so much time developing and training new hires,” he says.
“Now we’re trying to hire candidates who are closer to 2500 hours TT. But if we have strong candidates who know their job, have sharp customer service skills, and work well with their colleagues, we’ll start considering them at about 1800–2000 hours. Then we’ll go through the captain upgrade process. They will begin doing the pilot in command (PIC) job duties under the supervision of the assigned captain for that trip. This tends to work out pretty well with our pilot development.”
Ford adds, “When promoting pi-lots, SpiritJets places a strong emphasis on accountability, reliability, and professionalism. We look for individuals who demonstrate sound judgment consistently, take ownership of their responsibilities, and understand the high standards of conduct expected in our pilot group.”
Buchanan acknowledges that pilot turnover is an ongoing issue.
“Individuals come into the organization, we build them through their ATP course, they go back to a recurrent, do an ATP addon, move to a captain position, and as they come closer to that 500 to 1000 hours of PIC turbine time, they become competitive candidates for Flexjet, NetJets, Fortune 500 Part 91 operations, and the airlines.”
As soon as individuals get good at what they’re doing in Part 135 and Part 91, their options increase tremendously.
They move to organizations that can pay a lot more money and offer superior benefit programs. “Then we start the process all over again,” says Buchanan.
“We do a tremendous amount of promotion from within and considerable development of young men and women into their professional career. I think the best way for me to describe it is we are like a AAA baseball team. We develop players and then they go to the ‘Majors.’”
SpiritJets uses FlightSafety International at Dallas TX, Savannah GA, Tucson AZ, Wichita KS, and Wilmington DE, and the CAE training center in Dallas as well.
“They’ve had our training programs for 15 years,” declares Buchanan. “They know exactly what we’re looking for and they work well with us.”
Experienced maintenance team
VP and Director of Maintenance Russell Murphy oversees a 10-person in-house maintenance department – all under one roof in Hangar 10.
He has been an aviation technician for 33 years, with 6 of those years spent as a US Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter crew chief, and 14 years with JetCorp as a lead technician and inspector.
During his 14 years with SpiritJets, he has acted as both the maintenance manager first, and now also serves as vice president.
“The average time in aviation for the majority of our technicians is 34 years, so we pride ourselves in having extremely experienced techs to inspect and maintain the fleet, with safety being the top priority,” Murphy says.
“We attempt to bundle as many inspections as possible when a large inspection is due and requires substantial down time. This saves us from having aircraft down multiple times in a year.”
The team troubleshoots incoming discrepancies, and replaces wheels, brakes, and other components.
It also performs pre-flight inspections before every flight on every aircraft, and conducts small airframe inspections, such as 6-, 12-, and 24-month checkups, as well as 300-, 600-, and 1200-hour checks, including engine inspections.
Where applicable, all aircraft are on engine and avionics protection plans. For the heavier side of things, such as large inspections, SpiritJets takes its aircraft to Duncan Aviation and West Star Aviation.
Midwest’s premier boutique operator
SpiritJets aims to keep its position as one of the Midwest’s premier aircraft management and charter companies. The fleet expansion that McCollum has envisioned continues to play out with the planned acquisition of additional large-cabin, super midsize business jets.
“We want to be the provider in St Louis MO that competes with NetJets and Flexjet as a boutique operator,” remarks McCollum.
“That is one of our foundations. We don’t want that to erode. I am proud that our customers say we perform the duties of the large national competitors in a way that is more personalized and less corporate. Relationships are important to us, along with remembering where we came from.”
Buchanan concludes, “We want to make it so that if a customer needs to use NetJets or FlexJet, it’s because we don’t have the aircraft type that they want. We don’t want it the other
way around, where they find a better service or better operator somewhere else.”
Justin Marchand is an aviation journalist who has specialized in writing about technology, corporate flight departments, and pioneering helicopter operators for the past 25 years.