Jet Linx Safety Summit 2018

President and CEO Jamie Walker welcomes the Jet Linx team from across the country via live stream to the annual Safety Summit.

Jet Linx, currently the third largest aircraft management company (FAA Part 135) in the United States, reinforced its unwavering commitment to developing, implementing and furthering the private aviation industry’s most rigorous standards during its annual Jet Linx Safety Summit. In order to focus solely on best safety practices and standards of excellence that exceed governmental regulations and guidelines, Jet Linx suspended all retail flight operations from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Central Time) to enable and empower all of its employees to collaborate together to further its core operating tenant, safety.

The daylong Summit is the culmination of a weeklong series of rigorous assessment exercises, preparedness practices, roundtables and training programs, Jet Linx conducted with all of its executives, employees, pilots, client services and partners in order to evaluate and advance all safety and related procedures and protocols, standards and practices. The Summit was developed and conducted by the Company’s executive leadership, as well as external industry experts and specialists, at its National Operations Center in Omaha, Nebraska, and 14 local Base locations.

“Our commitment to assurance and safety has been a cornerstone since our inception in 1999. Governmental and regulatory standards are essential, imperative and mandatory, but we consider these standards to be merely a baseline, as we hold ourselves accountable to far more aggressive, exacting and meticulous safety principles,” said Jamie Walker, President & CEO of Jet Linx. “One can either adhere to and comply with established standards or continually strive to create new principles and tenets that transcend the norm, and that is both our credo and our mandate at Jet Linx. It is for this reason that we invest substantial efforts, energies and financial resources on a continuous and ongoing basis to provide our aircraft owners and members with the assurance and peace of mind that they are flying with the finest team that develops, implements and upholds the leading standards in the private aviation industry.”

For example, the number of days off per quarter for pilots is nearly twice the amount required by the Federal Aviation Administration. Jet Linx also offers additional computer-based training to complement ground training, which exceeds required hours by 50% when combined with classroom instruction.  In addition, the Company manages and maintains a standalone certification and training program for its pilots, mechanics and flight coordinators. Jet Linx provides training for Airline Transport Pilot certificates for co-pilots, which surpasses the FAA requirements for commercial certificates. Jet Linx pilots do not self-dispatch like many other FAA Part 135 operators; instead, the Company maintains a release process for all flights to ensure operational control and risk mitigation for each flight. This process is conducted through the use of Flight Coordinators, Maintenance Control and a computer algorithm checklist program incorporated into a proprietary, industry-leading, FlightRisk assessment system that Jet Linx co-developed to ensure optimal safety through predictive analytics.

At the 2018 Safety Summit, presentations from Dr. Tony Kern, CEO of Convergent Performance and Don Chupp, CEO of Fireside Partners, challenged the team to continue thinking forward and remaining diligent during a time of incredible growth for the company. Kern noted that the strong core values of Jet Linx are given mass by the positive and progressive attitudes of its team – a culture where people inherently do the right things for the right reasons. Chupp spoke to and reinforced the programs Jet Linx has in place for responding to interruptions of service – a thoughtful and comprehensive approach that moves beyond a plan to a full program touching all departments and team members. “What you are doing here, keep doing it,” he stated.

“We were able to bring together over 450 team members to capture a company-wide conversation on safety, touching every role and every position,” noted Walker. “This day formalizes our commitment to learning from all members of our team across the country, and it is an annual event we are proud to carry forward next year on June 11, 2019.”

“While there are only a couple of private aviation operators the size of Jet Linx, we all have a singular goal, which is to provide the safest flight experience for all concerned,” said Mr. Walker.  “I hope that all of the other operators, regardless of their size and resources, will join us in taking a day each year to ground their fleets and empower their employees to come together to develop, implement and advance the world’s finest and most rigorous safety standards for the private aviation industry.  It’s an absolute necessity, and Jet Linx will be pleased to support this effort so we can share best practices with our peers as well as learn from them.”