Charter-airline service has returned to Smith Reynolds Airport as a new business unit of a Virginia aviation company.
Dynamic Airways LLC will begin service on Nov. 4 with one MD-88 jet aircraft, said Guy Cannady, the airline’s chief operating officer.
It plans to put a second aircraft into service early next year.
Mark Davidson, the director of Smith Reynolds, said that the company is leasing office and ramp space.
The company is owned by Dynamic Aviation of Bridgewater, Va., which has nearly 500 employees in five sectors: intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; airborne-data information; fire management; aerial dispersant spraying for agricultural and other needs; and the release of sterile insects for crop and livestock purposes.
Among Dynamic Aviation’s customers are national defense, military intelligence and federal agencies; state and local governments; and private companies.
Cannady said that Dynamic Airways is starting out with 40 employees in Winston-Salem, including a small number of former employees of defunct Pace Airlines Inc.
It expects to add 10 to 15 local employees for every charter aircraft it brings into service.
“We chose Winston-Salem and the Triad in particular because of its growing aviation sector and support system,” Cannady said.
It plans to focus on charter services for the federal government and commercial customers, such as corporate travel groups, tour operators and collegiate-athletics teams. It plans to offer its services worldwide, particularly routes between the United States and the Caribbean and Mexico.
The company said it believes that the timing for the new service is good because of a consolidation of charter-airline companies during the recession, such as Pace, which went out of business in September 2009.
“Discretionary travel is returning to the traditional airlines, which means they won’t need to go after the bulk-travel group business as much,” Cannady said. “That business is returning to the charter airlines, which we expect to capitalize on.”
rcraver@wsjournal.com
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