Hawaii High Flyer

Business

Catering to the whims of business leaders on the move.

By Rodney Smith

IN LESS than three years, Bob Fish man made Hawaii’s Hemmeter Avia tion the dominant general aviation fixed base operation (FBO) in the Pacific by focusing on the unique characteristics of Hawaii and the Pacific Rim markets.

“An FBO is an oasis,” says Fishman, executive vice-president of the company.

“If you have a private airplane, someone has to do all those things the major air lines’ employees do for aircraft: park, clean, fuel and cater. FBOs also have rental air craft, and on the United States mainland they also do maintenance.”

Hemmeter Aviation claims to offer transient corporate aircraft and flying business leaders the top class services they have grown accustomed to at their own headquarters.

“Right now,” says Fishman, “I’d say we do perhaps 95 per cent of all the transient corporate aircraft business that comes through Hawaii and that includes every-

one from millionaire publisher Malcolm Forbes to Australian tycoon Alan Bond.”

Most Australian and Asian corporate aircraft en route to the US stop in Hono lulu. “Usually,” says Fishman, “the air craft that come in and out are used by top

company people so the planning of each trip is critical. We’ve shown that we can zero in on the needs of people who ex pect the very top service.”

Hemmeter’s guest book has the signatures of Jimmy Carter and Nancy and Ronald Re agan, as well as the scrawls of top executives of such companies as Australia’s Bond Corpo ration, Australian Con solidated Press,

Mitsubishi, Toyota and Kokosai Motors in Japan, Dow Chemical, 3M, General Motors, Abbott Laboratories and United Airlines in the United States.

Fishman has built the FBO from an in house handler of aircraft for Christopher B Hemmeter, 48, the Pacific resort devel oper who bought his first aircraft in 1979 for his own corporate travel, and has re cently purchased a 727 for his trans-Pa ciflc business journeys.

When Fishman, 40, took over the op eration, its only facility was in Honolulu.

Today, it has branched out and is the only FBO with services on all the Hawaiian is lands and at every major airport in the state. □

VIP clients: US Presidents Carter and Reagan.