Facts About KaiserAir

KaiserAir, Inc. dates back to 1946 when it began as the flight department for the Kaiser companies founded by the late industrialist Henry J. Kaiser.

Today KaiserAir manages more than 14 business jets for San Francisco Bay Area corporations and private owners, offers five business jets for charter flights, and operates the Executive Terminal for the use of private planes at Oakland International Airport.  Thirty-three of Fortune Magazine’s Top 50 corporations make KaiserAir’s Executive Terminal their home when they conduct business in the San Francisco area.In 1968 KaiserAir flew the first Gulfstream corporate jet to travel across the South Pacific to Australia and New Zealand, and in 1979 KaiserAir handled the flight of the first corporate aircraft to ever land in the People’s Republic of China.

Passengers have included former U.S. presidents and European royalty, and the Oakland facility is a refueling stop for Air Force One. KaiserAir initially was based in Willow Run, Mich., where Henry J. Kaiser maintained a DC-3 for his auto factory outside Detroit. The operation moved in 1954 to Oakland, headquarters for Kaiser Industries Corporation, the parent company of Kaiser Steel, Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical, and Kaiser Cement and Gypsum and Kaiser Engineers.

In 1974 Southern Pacific became the first corporation outside the Kaiser companies to become a client of KaiserAir, which provided management, pilots and maintenance service.  Gradually, KaiserAir added more corporate clients, and in 1980 the Kaiser flight department management purchased the operation from Kaiser Steel.  The organization has been in continuous operation since its founding in 1946, and the current management has been in place for more than 35 years.

Operating 24 hours a day seven days a week, KaiserAir has a staff of 120, including 30 pilots and 30 technicians in the maintenance department.  Its senior captains typically have 18 years of experience, with 12,000 to 18,000 hours of flight time.

Its staff reflects the company’s attention to detail.  KaiserAir has its own wheel and brake shop, unusual among aircraft management companies but important because it means that planes do not have to go elsewhere for service, and an upholsterer.  It keeps matching fabrics for each of the planes in its fleet in case repairs are needed.

KaiserAir also has a concierge, whose duties range from hiring limousines and gourmet catering service to scheduling U.S. Customs inspections for international arrivals.

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