Jump Head Continued from page x Air Taxi name was tied to the bankruptcy, they would have to rename the company. This meant starting from scratch—without a viable business or money; but that did not stop the entrepre- neurial couple. The first step involved renaming the company “Mountain Bird, Inc. dba Salmon Air Taxi,” and establishing the operating certificate under the new business. But the challenges were just starting. The new owners had been under the impression they would have the business fly 2,300 hours per year—300 hours more than the 2,000 hours they needed, at a minimum, to make payments on the loans they took out to restore the operation. As it turned out, only 1,300 hours were flown the first year, largely due to a high-water year, which curtailed demand for trips into the Idaho backcountry. In addition, the company’s competitors, “kept spreading the news” of the old company’s bankruptcy to steer business away from the reborn Salmon Air. “My parents found a way to stick it out and make it work,” Jo noted. “My dad worked hard to learn the Aviation Business Journal | Spring 2020 backcountry, and my mom got help writing a new opera- tions manual—by hand. She also convinced banks to help bridge the money gap. It was a rough first few years. Eventually, with a lot of good help, they got up in the air and things started to work.” Hard work paid off, and by 2005, Dan and JoAnn, looking forward to retirement, sold the business to two brothers. But, within two years, running the company proved too much for the new owners, and Dan and JoAnn, who carried the loan, repossessed the company rather than see it go into bankruptcy a second time. As Jo explained, that led to the Gem Air name. “Once again, my parents had to rename the airline because of bad debt and its association with failed rela- tionships under previous owners and the Mountain Bird name,” she said. “Since Idaho is the Gem State, they chose to operate under Gem Air, LLC, but continued to use Salmon Air as a dba, because the (brand) was very well recognized, especially in the backcountry community.” Continued on page 15 13
