Kodiak plane applauded at aviation biz lunch 

If you want an example of a dynamic Idaho startup with global potential, look to the skies for Quest Aircraft Company’s rugged backcountry plane, the Kodiak.

That was the message at Thursday’s meeting of the Idaho Business Aviation Association when it hosted an early morning flight followed by an afternoon luncheon with Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and Tom Schaller, CEO of the Sandpoint-based company.

“Aviation has been an important part of Idaho’s history and I can tell you it’s going to have an important part in Idaho’s future,” said Otter, a longtime pilot himself. “One would have to be very near-sighted not to see how important it really is.”

Schaller told the crowd of officials and business leaders that his seven-year-old company has grown to employ 250 people in the rural northern Idaho town and has plans to increase that figure to 400 by 2012.

And the company will need the extra help. Initially planning to produce between 25 and 30 planes a year, Quest has seen demand for the Kodiak top 100 – a three-year backlog. Schaller said the goal is to ramp up production to 52 planes per year by 2010, but “judging market space, we might be able to double that.”

At about $1.4 million apiece, Quest’s Kodiak stands to become a very profitable export commodity not only for Sandpoint’s tourism-dependent economy, but for the state as a whole.

“I’m impressed with the fact that you’ve done such a great job and I’m grateful you’ve done it in Sandpoint, Idaho,” Otter said. “I think you’re going to become a magnet for a lot of other companies.”

Addressing the crowd with a new Kodiak parked behind him, Schaller said while Quest is most definitely a for-profit business, the plane was designed and engineered to serve a non-profit purpose: Giving those who perform missionary and humanitarian work a dependable and nimble vehicle able to safely access remote areas. The company works closely with such groups all over the world to secure funds, locate markets, even design and develop new features.

The 10-seat, single engine plane sports big wings, big flaps and a lot of horsepower, giving it the ability to take off and land in tight spaces. It carries more fuel than most similarly-sized aircraft and can be serviced in the field, making the Kodiak well-suited for use in areas like Nepal, Papua New Guinea, South America and Africa – all places the Kodiak is either in use or will be soon.

“There will come a time very soon when there’s not a continent where these planes won’t be flown,” said Quest sales director Lynn Thomas.

But with Quest’s rapid growth come growing pains. Schaller said the company needs infrastructure grants or other economic development assistance, an educated and diverse work force, and more suppliers to meet demand and build a sustainable future – all things he said are being pursued with help from state and local sources.

“We have a successful product, we don’t have a successful business yet,” Schaller said.

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