SABRELINER LOOKS TO THE SKY; BUSINESS BOOMING FOR AIRCRAFT CORPORATION

PERRYVILLE -- They say in business it's the bottom line that counts. And for Sabreliner Corp., with its $200 million in annual revenue and 15 productive facilities, including one in Perryville, the bottom line is very impressive.

In the 13 years since the company became an independent corporation, the annual revenue has gone from $48 million to $200 million, said Gene Harbula, vice president of government marketing and corporation communication.

He said Sabreliner originally had two locations, one in St. Louis and one in Perryville, but has obtained 13 more in eight states.

Sabreliner is a diversified company that is continuing to grow while supporting a wide variety of corporate, military, government, airline and cargo aircraft, he said.

Initially, the company was the original manufacturer of the Sabreliner aircraft, of which 370 are now in service. Today, Sabreliner manages sophisticated aviation products, services and training programs; repairs, modifies and remanufactures aircraft; maintains and overhauls aircraft engines and specialized industrial engines; and sells aircraft and aircraft parts.

"We basically maintain, modify and repair aircraft engines and their components," said Ann Tretter, who handles public relations for the company.

Sabreliner was formed in 1983 when a group of investors acquired the assets of the Sabreliner Division of Rockwell International Corp. Harbula said since Sabreliner became an independent corporation, the company has made several significant contract acquisitions, including one involving the Navy's T-2 training plane.

Harbula said when the Navy finds T-2s that are deficient, they send the inferior planes to the Perryville plant for trouble-shooting and correction of the problems. They work on about 15 T-2s a year, Harbula said.

Harbula said Perryville is the key plant for the T-2s and the contract is keeping the employees running.

"Perryville is just a bustling beehive of activity," Harbula said. The T-2 contract alone required the plant to hire 50 more workers.

Sabreliner is also under Navy contract to perform similar maintenance and repair of A-4 "Skyhawk" aircraft. While none is presently there, there are a number of foreign military sales under evaluation that may lead to additional work for the Perryville facility.

Harbula said that Perryville mainly works on government contracts but said that isn't true of all of Sabreliner's plants.

Sabreliner traces its heritage back more than 40 years to North American Aviation and Remmert-Werner Inc. North American was best known for design and production of high performance military aircraft, even before World War II.

Remmert-Werner created what we know as "corporate aviation" when it converted a DC-3 for executive use in 1946. The legendary Sabreliner aircraft followed in 1959 for use by the military and in 1963 for the corporate community.

And they're still growing, Harbula said.

"We've had a nice series of program wins as we continue to develop and build a growing business."