Cutter Aviation provides the highest standards of customer care in all its business areas: from line services and charter flights to aircraft management, maintenance and aircraft sales. The company has been in business for eighty-eight years and has a well-earned reputation in the industry from many loyal repeat customers.
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Centuries before brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright made history with the world’s first, sustained flight with a powered, controlled, heavier-than-air craft, man looked to the skies and envied the birds soaring overhead. Many tried to break the bonds of earth over the years in everything from kites and hot air balloons to wing suits and bizarre bicycle-powered contraptions which could barely move a few feet without toppling over, let alone take flight.
Beloved Italian artist, sculptor, inventor and true Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci endlessly sketched drawings of a flying machine he called the ‘ornithopter,’ an imaginative creation, based on his observation of nature, which emulated the flapping wings of a bat. Despite his brilliant mind, even Leonardo was unable to get off the ground.
Almost 400 years after Leonardo’s death, his dream – and that of countless others before and after him – literally took flight on the morning of December 17, 1903, when the Wright brothers made four successful flights, the longest by Wilbur, of 852 feet (260 meters) in just 59 seconds. The very next year, Orville and Wilbur took 105 flights, and in 1905, they achieved a distance of 24.2 miles (38.9 km) in 38 minutes and three seconds.
From their initial flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, until 1906, the two were kings of the sky, as no other human had ever successfully flown in a motorized plane. From that point, the fledgling aircraft industry became a reality, with engineers and designers scrambling to outdo one another, making planes that could fly longer distances, go higher and carry heavier loads. This soon led to innovative designs such as the biplane, before World War I saw widespread use of aircraft.
In just a few years, aviation history was made time and again. In 1919, British aviators John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown made the first nonstop transatlantic flight from Newfoundland to Ireland. In 1927, the legendary American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh flew nonstop from New York City to Paris – a distance of 3,610 miles (5,810 km) – by himself. And, just one year later, in 1928, history was made again, when Cutter Aviation was founded.
“The history of Cutter Aviation goes along aviation’s history itself,” says Genaro Sanchez, who has been the company’s director of marketing and communications for the past three years. “In the beginning of aviation, pilots would travel from place to place, landing in the outskirts of towns or farm fields. They were known as barnstormers since there was no infrastructure to service the new industry.”
This soon changed with the federal Air Commerce Act of 1926, which saw the establishment of air traffic regulations – such as licensing, aircraft being tested for airworthiness, aeronautical knowledge tests, physical exams and maintenance standards – and forced traveling aviators to have a fixed based operator (FBO). “And that is exactly how Cutter Aviation began, founded in 1928 by William P. Cutter in Albuquerque, New Mexico.”
Today, almost ninety years after the company was founded, Cutter Aviation remains the oldest, continuously-family-owned and operated FBO in the United States. Fixed-base operators offer a variety of crucial airport support services. FBOs provide fueling, aircraft rental, hangaring, tie-down and parking as well as aircraft maintenance.
The company is now in its third generation of family ownership and is the leading aviation services provider serving the southwestern United States and one of the most respected brands in general aviation.
Cutter Aviation’s staff of about 250 has many years of aviation industry experience and provides full-service aircraft fuel and line services, maintenance and avionics solutions, aircraft charter and management and aircraft sales. The company provides top-notch, reasonably priced, professional aviation services, based on a foundation of trust, integrity and respect for staff, customers and partners.
“Cutter Aviation takes pride in keeping long-lasting relationships with our customers and vendors,” comments Sanchez. “Being a family-owned and operated business translates into caring for every single detail in our daily interaction with our customers to make their experience an outstanding one. Not only do we have a long history, we also have many employees that have been with us for several decades. This speaks volumes to the kind of organization Cutter Aviation is, and this kind of employee retention is only obtained by the special care the Cutter family places in their employees.”
Services range from aircraft management and factory-trained aircraft maintenance and avionics services to professional aircraft line and fuel services, new or pre-owned aircraft sales and on-demand air charter to meet any travel needs, as provided by its fleet of jet and turboprop aircraft. It also has amenities such as arrival and departure facilities for private, general and business aviation travelers.
Currently, Cutter Aviation operates from seven conveniently located and easily accessible major airports in five states within the southwestern U.S. These include Arizona (Phoenix-Deer Valley and Phoenix-Sky Harbor), New Mexico (Albuquerque), Colorado (Colorado Springs), California (Carlsbad) and Texas (Addison and San Antonio). Along with its four FBOs at Phoenix Sky Harbor, Phoenix Deer Valley, Albuquerque NM, and Colorado Springs CO airports, Cutter is proud to provide aircraft maintenance and sales facilities at Dallas/Addison, and San Antonio, Texas airports and aircraft sales from its office at the Carlsbad, California airport.
The company is a member of several aviation associations, including the Pinnacle Air Network, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), and the National Air Transportation Association (NATA).
Cutter Aviation is experiencing growth in many areas. For example, the entry into the service of HondaJet aircraft has resulted in growth in sales as the company is the Honda Aircraft company dealership for Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Nevada’s Clark County, Arizona and Southern California. The highly-innovative plane was initiated by Honda engineer Michimasa Fujino and is the result of almost forty years of effort. In 1986, Fujino worked on developing a jet which was not only lighter than others on the market but attractive, fuel-efficient, had a larger cabin and made less noise.
“We started working with Honda on this project ten years ago, and back in December of 2015, the airplane was certified by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration),” says Sanchez. “Right after this important milestone, HondaJet began to deliver the units, and we are actively promoting the aircraft across the Southwest.”
Cutter Aviation uses decades of experience to be able to advise customers about aircraft suited to their exact needs and budget. From single-engine piston, cabin-class turboprop, all the way to jet aircraft, the company carries inventory from some of the most respected manufacturers in the industry today and acts as an authorized dealer for Piper Aircraft, HondaJet and Daher Aircraft within the southwestern United States.
Cutter Aviation serves customers from California to Louisiana, with new and pre-owned aircraft displayed on the company’s website. “Most of the pre-owned inventory that we carry is aircraft we have received in trade when our customers move up to a newer or bigger aircraft,” says Sanchez. “Since we are Piper, TBM and HondaJet dealerships, we receive a variety of different kinds of aircraft in trade.”
Cutter Aviation serves as the Piper dealer for, Southern California and Texas, as TBM dealer for Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Louisiana, and its HondaJet territory covers Hawaii, Southern California, Las Vegas, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. The company’s pre-owned inventory is available worldwide.
Like other aviation-related businesses, the company has its challenges in an industry that is constantly changing to meet the demands of the marketplace, government regulations, fuel prices and more. However, it remains a quality, customer service-driven company, focused on providing all clients with the best possible experience.
Cutter Aviation is constantly striving to improve its existing locations, expand territory and acquire more airplanes for aircraft management. The company’s maintenance and avionics department is always working on new certifications and training employees to provide excellent customer service.
In 2018, the company will celebrate ninety successful years in business. Every five years, Cutter Aviation kicks off celebrations at the National Business Aviation Association convention in October. “When we commemorated our 85th anniversary, we hosted events to thank our customers and friends for their long-lasting support,” says Sanchez. “We also gave away two custom-made motorcycles to celebrate our milestone. This time around, we will continue celebrating in a big way. Just wait and see.”
Thanks to its many years of industry experience, “and a heritage of three generations of knowledge in aviation, Cutter Aviation has been able to face challenges and continue to provide its customers with excellent products and services,” says Sanchez.
