Ohio University employees who travel sometimes choose to fly out of the Gordon K. Bush Ohio University Airport on the university-owned Beechcraft King Air 350 instead of driving an hour and a half to the nearest commercial airport.
The plane, acquired in October 2003, cost the university $3.7 million, according to Raytheon Aircraft Company's King Air 350 purchase agreement, and OU's distance from a major airport was a partial justification for purchasing the plane, said Ken Carley, director of airport operations. The airport is located in Albany, about 12 miles from OU.
The plane holds up to nine passengers and is available for use by all university employees who call the airport to reserve the plane, Carley said.
Flying on the university plane costs $770 per hour no matter how many passengers are on the plane, and the airport owns software with the capability to compare the price of flying the university plane versus the price of flying on a national airline, Carley said.
This brings a level of awareness to travel costs
he said. The program equates value to time.
Most of the time, the airplane stays within a 500-600 mile radius from OU rather than flying to the West Coast, Carley said. Some of the more common flight destinations for the plane in the past two years were Columbus, Cleveland, Washington D.C., Dayton, Toledo and Cincinnati, according to the airport's passenger summary report.
When only one or two people are flying, commercial airlines are competitive to the university, but when the number of passengers increases, the university airplane is sometimes a better deal because of the flat $770 charge for departments using the plane, Carley said.
Sharon Zimmerman, director of alumni affairs for the College of Osteopathic Medicine, said she often receives e-mails that are also sent to other faculty and staff members advertising available seats on the plane.
As a whole the university tries to be efficient and responsible as far as filling seats (on the plane) she said, adding that when arranging a group to travel in 2004, she used the university-owned plane because it was likely more time- and cost-efficient than taking multiple cars and paying for mileage.
Julie Allison, director of business operations for Facilities and Auxiliaries Administration, said taking the Beechcraft saved time because she did not have to go through multiple security checkpoints in major airports.
Employees who use the university airplane also can come back the same day they leave, and they do not have to drive a long way to get to the airport, Carley said, adding that employees can have meetings on the university airplane that they would not be able to have on national airlines.
Since 2004, the Office of the President has used the plane more than any other department. That year, the plane was used by the office to fly 29,119 miles. In 2005, the office used the plane for 39,895 miles, according to the 2004 and 2005 aircraft passenger summary reports.
During those two years, OU President Roderick McDavis used the plane to fly about 145 different legs ' any time the plane touches ground ' of trips, according to the reports.
McDavis' flights are paid for through the Office of the President and the Ohio University Foundation, said John Burns, director of legal affairs for OU. Typically, foundation-funded trips are associated with fund raising, he said.
Student interns training to become co-pilots also use the plane, Carley said. Most schools with an aviation program offer a program that lets students get flight experience, he said
(The flight experience) helps sell the aviation program to a student coming in
Carley said.
One of Carley's goals is to try to get passenger flights to the university airport so the university and community can get more business, Carley said. A move to passenger flights is not possible right now, however, because the airport does not have the staff to meet the crash and fire regulations for passenger flights set by the Federal Aviation Administration, he said.
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Ohio University's private plane, Bobcat One, cost the university $3.7 million, according to Raytheon Aircraft Company's King Air 350 purchase agreement. OU's distance from any major airport was an important deciding factor when purchasing Bobcat One
