Beck’s Believes New Hangar Will Boost Business

The chief executive officer of Hamilton County-based Beck’s Hybrids says the company’s new private hangar, a first for Indianapolis Executive Airport in Zionsville, will serve as a "stepping stone" for future development at the airport. Sonny Beck believes it can also help attract new business to northern Hamilton County. During an unveiling ceremony Thursday, Beck said the facility is seven years in the making.

He says flying in clients has become key and growing part of closing deals. Flight totals have grown exponentially each year along with the business from 800 flights in 2012 to an estimated 2,000 by the end of this year. He says every five years over the course of more than two decades, the company has doubled in size and the need to bring in out of state clients to keep up has also increased. "A big part of it is bringing in people that cannot drive to our location. If bring them in from places that are two-and-a-half, three hours of driving time, we’re now developing nine states. We’re developing all over the Midwest and essentially being able to bring potential customers to Indiana to do business in Indiana."

Beck says the company’s success rates tell the story. "Ninety percent of the people that we fly in here will buy the first year and our retention rate is well over 90 percent that we keep them year-after-year, so you can see this is a big part of how and why our company is able to double in size every five years." He says only a small percentage of air travel for the company is spent on managing sites outside the state. Nearly all is used for attracting business.

The hangar includes 12,000 square-feet of aircraft storage and 7,000 square-feet of office space. Construction took around a year.