Consider the convenience of a company Cessna.

One business is running their employees ragged with hours on the road and nights away from their families. Another has a warehouse full of industrial merchandise and thousands of kilometres to cover to get the parts to its customers all over Northern Ontario. Ken Wilson has a solution for both of them.

Ken is the authorized Cessna sales representative for the Cessna Caravan aircraft from the Manitoba-Ontario border to the East Coast, and has been selling planes since 1968.

He says purchasing or leasing a Caravan for your company can save time, money and stress.

To illustrate, Wilson recalls the advent of videophones some years ago, and the limited success that supposedly revolutionary technology enjoyed. With a corporate Caravan, the all-important face-to-face meeting becomes an easy, frequent occurrence.

"Businesspeople want to get face-to-face so they can understand what's going on in negotiations," he says. "The Cessna is one of the best planes to do that with."

What business leader wouldn't want to have the reliability and convenience each federal political leader enjoyed during the recent election, criss-crossing the country at will, without the hassle of waiting in line wasting time, for the next commercial jetliner?

"You never have to rush out of a meeting because the plane is leaving the airport in an hour," he says. "You can come and go on your own time, which is a great stress reliever. It is very easy to fly and has very low-maintenance."

A workhorse, a "sport utility vehicle with wings," that can also be used as a comfortable passenger transport, the Cessna is the only plane of its kind. With amphibious floats, the plane can travel at 160 knots. On wheels it tops out at over 180 knots, which is close to 200 miles per hour.

The Caravan's design has remained virtually unchanged save an increase in horsepower and the continual upgrading of its avionics (flight electronics) since it was introduced in Canada in late 1984. Today, the plane comes with available weather radar, a global positioning system (GPS) and even auto pilot for fully coupled instrument approaches.

"Cessna's engineers got the design right the first time," he says. The worldwide fleet of over 1,500 Caravans has to date logged over 8 million flight hours, and are among the most reliable machines on the planet.

"The capital cost can be considerable, but there is a high dispatch reliability," says Wilson. "You won't miss a trip (because of a mechanical problem)."

A brand-new, fully loaded Cessna Caravan can run about $2 million. The planes can be leased for $13,000-$15,000 per month.

"The best alternative to a new Caravan is a used Caravan," he says. He adds the biggest challenge he faces in selling the plane is getting the customer to realize there is a better solution to their logistical problems, and one they likely haven't thought of.

Wilson gets some referrals, but having been in the business for nigh on 40 years, there are a lot of people in the industry he knows.

"I've probably talked to most of the commercial operators (at some point)."

He may very well have talked to them while in flight.

The ultra-quiet, 11-seat cabin allows the pilot to talk to passengers in the back without having to raise his voice, according to Wilson, a licensed commercial pilot himself.

Managers and employees can use that advantage to do business en-route, and carry out important and sensitive conversations, impossible on a commercial flight surrounded by strangers who might be competitors.

A corporate Cessna would also save time by avoiding lineups at airports checking in to the commercial airliner landing at another airport that might be miles away from the final destination.

"Costs are always going up and people have to do more with less," he says. "That means saving on travel time."

Being able to fly to Ottawa from Sudbury for a meeting and return the same day is a powerful example of what a company plane can do for costs and relationships with business partners. It allows businesspeople face-to-face meetings without spending hours on the road and possibly hundreds on hotel rooms. The plane also has the potential to make employees happier: no one wants to be away from their family for days on end if they can help it.

The Sudbury-Ottawa route is just one example of how a Cessna Caravan can save travel time in Northern Ontario.

The great distances that characterize the region make logistics a primary concern. With mining camps dotted all over the region's 800,000 square kilometres, some in places that are fly-in only for all or part of the year, mine suppliers and service firms with a company Cessna have a significant competitive advantage.

With a company Caravan, weeks of downtime are a thing of the past for any industrial or manufacturing operation. A mill in Espanola that needs a part in Indiana can get it the same day, according to Wilson.

The plane features a four-foot by four-foot by four-foot square cargo door, ideal for some of the larger parts used in mining or forestry related operations.

"They offer a quick response to customers."

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www.wilsonaircraft.com