{"id":3198,"date":"2016-09-22T12:01:57","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T17:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/?p=3198"},"modified":"2016-10-11T09:32:29","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T14:32:29","slug":"st-croixs-first-family-of-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/2016\/09\/st-croixs-first-family-of-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Croix\u2019s First Family of Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Billy Bohlke\u2019s work environment fits like a glove, and he can make it move at mach speed. Today the 37-year-old President and Chief Pilot of Bohlke International Airways in St. Croix will take his office skyward up to 45,000-feet on a business trip to the Southern Caribbean and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>On a sunny St. Croix afternoon, Bohlke\u2019s mission is to fly hotel developers from the Grenadines to the Dominican Republic. On this day, Bohlke\u2019s office in the sky is a Gulfstream G-100 capable of speeds of up to 500-mph. \u201cWithout this non-stop charter option it would easily take a day and half to accomplish this routing. In the G100 the trip is accomplished in a short 1 hour and 30 minute flight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bohlke is airborne roughly 20 days per month, and sitting in an ergonomic cockpit is where this Louisiana State University Finance grad is definitely most comfortable. If you were to visit Bohlke\u2019s more traditional office overlooking a hangar at his company headquarters, he\u2019ll only shrug when asked why he doesn\u2019t have a chair behind his desk. \u201cI guess the only time I\u2019m sitting down is when I\u2019m flying,\u201d Bohlke said with a smile.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Taking the Family Torch Airborne<\/strong><br \/>\nBohlke International Airways is a third-generation family-owned operation dating back to 1959. That\u2019s the year Billy\u2019s grandfather, William Bohlke, started hauling passengers and cargo at a time when few big-name airlines included Caribbean outposts on their flight itineraries.<\/p>\n<p>Grandfather William would eventually hand the reins over to Billy\u2019s Dad, an American Airlines pilot who also answers to the name William. In 2008, it was Billy\u2019s turn to lead the family business. Billy took over after completing his military hitch flying a C-130 turbo prop for the U.S. Air Force in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m still very active in the military. At least once per month I fly for the National Guard in Puerto Rico. The \u201ctraining the Air Force provides is top notch and the friendships I have developed in the Puerto Rico National Guard are near and dear to my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Diversification is the Business Key<\/strong><br \/>\nBohlke International is what the airline industry dubs an FBO. Bohlke\u2019s Fixed Based Operation includes a charter terminal, aircraft maintenance facility, a flight school, aircraft fueling and rental center, and they also thrill vacationers by providing scenic aerial tours of the islands. \u201cIn the aviation business, we learned early on that diversification is important to our bottom line,\u201d Bohlke said.<\/p>\n<p>How this air charter business started in St. Croix almost 57 years ago is as romantic and \u201cWild West\u201d as you might imagine. \u201cIn addition to men and women, my Grandfather\u2019s passenger list might include chickens, fish, and even race horses. Today, we still have some pretty interesting stories to tell,\u201d Bohlke confided.<\/p>\n<p>During the past year, Bohlke International\u00a0Airways has chartered rock stars, a Great Dane dog, and even a human liver. \u201cWe flew the liver from Puerto Rico to New Orleans.\u201d It is a good feeling to help others, in fact, we\u2019re currently setting up one of our planes with medical equipment in anticipation of partnership with a local air ambulance service,\u201d Bohlke said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Speaking Your Language in the Caribbean<\/strong><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3200 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/billyplane.jpg\" alt=\"billyplane\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/billyplane.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/billyplane-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/>Upon entering the Bohlke reception area, guests can overhear Office Manager Betsy Dos Santos correspond on the phone with clients in no fewer than five different languages. This bilingual aptitude becomes especially beneficial during the late summer and fall months when one of Bohlke\u2019s tenants becomes the epicenter for Caribbean weather. From June until November, the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, fondly known as Hurricane Hunters, sets up shop on the Bohlke airport grounds with four planes facing northward. When they\u2019re not chasing storms, The Hunters communicate with the National Hurricane Center and meteorologists from around world.<\/p>\n<p>During St. Croix\u2019s typical year-round sunny season, Billy Bohlke\u2019s flight menu sees him flying as far north as Canada, and below the equator to South America. Hardly a week goes by that Bohlke, and his fellow pilots, aren\u2019t discussing a unique flight destination or why a new client came to appreciate the advantages of flying charter. \u201cLast year we did business with a telecomm entrepreneur who wanted to experience all of the Caribbean islands. We ended up flying him to 15 different islands over 30 days. That\u2019s one job I\u2019ll never forget,\u201d Bohlke said.<\/p>\n<p>For those passengers seeking to experience the Caribbean in a surprisingly affordable, as well as conveniently comfortable aircraft, Bohlke International Airways will customize your trip. For Billy Bohlke, a business owner with no chair behind his desk, taking care of customers at 1500-feet is a great way to get out of the office. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bohlke.com\/\">http:\/\/www.bohlke.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Billy Bohlke\u2019s work environment fits like a glove, and he can make it move at mach speed. Today the 37-year-old President and Chief Pilot of Bohlke International Airways in St. Croix will take his office <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/2016\/09\/st-croixs-first-family-of-flight\/\" title=\"St. Croix\u2019s First Family of Flight\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-travel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3198"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3308,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198\/revisions\/3308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}