HOUSTON, OCTOBER 12, 2004 -- Air Routing International (booth No. 8800) is experiencing phenomenal growth with increased demand for its corporate flight handling services.

“In the last 12 months, we have broken records in each succeeding quarter,” said Tim Maystrik, vice president of Air Routing International.

Today, Air Routing International serves Fortune 500 companies, government operations as well as commercial aircraft that fly globally. The company guides corporate flight planners and pilots through the pitfalls of domestic and international air travel, providing services that range from permits and route planning to weather reports and refueling. The company also handles auxiliary business trip services, including onboard catering, ground transportation and hotel reservations.

“We are providing a level of service that more and more corporate operators are requiring right now,” said Maystrik. “They are demanding a very personalized hands-on service that they need to maximize the use of the corporate aircraft. At the same time, they recognize they can’t do it by working with a cookie-cutter type of operation.”

Maystrik said that since 9/11 corporations have been utilizing the aircraft a little bit differently than had pre 9/11. “They are using it more as a security tool and because we have such a close relationship with Air Security International, a leading provider of travel security and information and support, we feel we are providing clients with a very high level of security oversight with each and every operation. The operators really see as a benefit.”

Regarding the state of the flight of the flight handling industry today, Maystrik said, “We and others in the industry are seeing significant growth because Fortune 500 organizations are going to new places all the time. They don’t have that comfort level of going to places like Paris where they know what it costs and believe they can handle flight plan themselves, and use a flight handler for just a return trip. When these operators go to new destinations, they absolutely need the expertise of a flight service company who deals with traffic in that area on a regular basis.”

According to Maystrik, the corporate aircraft is also being used more by a different level of management. “We are not getting just the cream of the crop within the corporation using the aircraft these days. You are seeing the aircraft used by upper management as opposed to just top management. As a result we are seeing more usage of the aircraft.”

Maystrik said that while in the last few years the stock market has flat lined corporations realize that in order to grow and develop their companies they often must do it on an international basis and therefore need to use corporate aircraft.

“Corporate operators are becoming more aggressive when it comes to international travel,” he said. “Corporate aircraft usage is in the forefront as to how a business develops and grows. You don’t get a business that is already spiking with profit to say ‘well now it is time to use the corporate aircraft’.

“The corporate aircraft and the corporate flight department are great indicators of the business model a corporation takes because first executives must get out there to start meeting face-to-face with companies or government agencies. The aftermath of that is more business.”

Despite the fact that international business travelers are visiting more interesting places today than ever before, according to Maystrik, they still need a personalized service. “They cannot just fly into an airport and work with the generic airport operations.”

 Maystrik said he has seen tremendous growth in travel to the Far East. “Flight to China has increased substantially as well as to Southeast Asia and India.”

To meet this growing international travel demand, Air Routing has expanded its customer support department which provides a myriad of accessory services to the operator, according to Maystrik.

“Today you have an operator looking for the base services Air Routing provides whether it is flight planning or arranging diplomatic clearances. We are now expanding our customer support team that helps these operators when they are looking to start early stages of planning a trip. The team also fine tunes the services we are providing these operators. That certainly adds to customer loyalty which is very important in this day and age.”

Maystrik said Air Routing is increasing the company’s investment in finding the right agents on the ground at various destinations overseas. “Our people are flying internationally on a regular basis to refine the agents we have overseas. We are doing that in direct response to our customers need for a higher level of service.” Maystrik goes on to say that “we know of other service companies who have found it necessary to purchase or even open up their own handling agency in certain arts of the world. We see this as unnecessary overhead that the client ultimately pays for and does not give the flexibility or range of services that an operator needs when heading to various destinations.”

“That is a hard core dollars and sense investment, not only in travel expenses but in the cost of personnel taking time to go to different parts of the world. One of our Far East representatives based in Houston was in China for several months furthering the development of our relationships with the various Chinese airport authorities, fuel suppliers, and others associated with international air travel.”

Maystrik said that new technological capabilities within the company’s Flight Manager™ program has helped set Air Routing apart from its competition. This flight management support and planning tool allows corporate flight department personnel to enter trip data for coordination for Air Routing operations staff. Pilots, dispatchers and schedulers can then check the status of permits, ground handling, fuel, slots and flight plans.

“This program allows our clients to look into each and every trip that we handle for them,” said Maystrik. “This truly makes us an extension of their flight department. More and more customers are using it and depending on it. Flight Manager™ is making communications with our clients very efficient because they can see what we are doing on their behalf. Then when they ask questions and get on the phone with us or email us, we both are on the same page. That makes for a very warm relationship with the operator.”

For additional information about Air Routing International call 713-430-7200 or visit the website at www.airrouting.com.