Must-read stories in this issue

You’d be hard-pressed to find a company that appreciates the value of private lift more than Taylor Guitars.

Kurt Listug and Bob Taylor started the business in 1974 by making and selling one instrument at a time while living on tight budgets, but as sales took off, so did they: they began to use charter flights to visit customers and suppliers and later purchased a Hawker 850XP. Last year—with their annual revenues exceeding $100 million—they moved up to a Gulfstream G450, which they now fly more than 400 hours annually.

Later this year, Listug plans to take the aircraft on a three-week sales trip around the world, while Taylor intends to fly across the globe with four colleagues to study trees. He will also use the jet to travel to Africa, where Taylor Guitars grows ebony trees that produce the unique wood for its instruments. The company is fiercely committed to preservation of these endangered trees and to raising living standards for the 75 employees who work at its wood mill in Cameroon.

The Taylor Guitars story is just one of many must-reads in this issue, which, like every BJT edition, combines articles designed to enrich your lifestyle with features aimed at maximizing your investment in private air transportation. On one hand, we offer Mary Ann DeSantis’s article on vacationing in Havana, Cuba, and a story by John Grossmann about hotels and resorts where you can help catch or prepare the food that winds up on your plate. But the issue also includes a preview of Finmeccanica’s AW609 tiltrotor, a look into chartering massive business jets, and an article that explores which cabin upgrades are worth their cost.

This mix of authoritative, comprehensive bizav coverage and lifestyle content adds up to a complete package for the business jet traveler, and we’re proud to remain the only publication that offers anything like it.

Business Jet Traveler hosted dozens of our readers at the National Business Aviation Association’s regional forum at Palm Beach Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on January 28. We helped them tour the aircraft and explore options for private lift, including charter, jet cards, and fractional shares. The forum attracted 120 exhibitors and more than 2,200 attendees. Twenty-five aircraft—ranging from helicopters to light jets to a bizliner—were on static display at the FBO of event host Atlantic Aviation.

Jennifer Leach English is BJT's editorial director.