Pentastar Aviation is an American aviation services company based in Waterford,

Oakland County, Michigan Oakland County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a principal county of the Detroit metropolitan area, containing the bulk of Detroit's northern suburbs. Its county seat, seat of government is Pontiac, Mic ...

. It provides domestic and international private charter flights, avionics, maintenance services, in-flight catering and FBO services. Originally a subsidiary of the

Chrysler Corporation FCA US, LLC, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of ...

, the company was sold in 2001 to Ford family member Edsel B. Ford II.

History

Pentastar Aviation began in 1964 as Chrysler Air Transportation, Chrysler Corporation's internal flight department based at

Willow Run Airport Willow Run Airport is an airport in Van Buren Township, Michigan, Van Buren Charter Township and Ypsilanti Township, Michigan, Ypsilanti Charter Township, near Ypsilanti, Michigan, Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States, that serves freight, cor ...

Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti ( ), commonly shortened to Ypsi ( ), is a college town and city located on the Huron River in Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's popu ...

. The company was renamed Pentastar Aviation in 1980. Initially providing internal flight services, over time the division expanded to offer maintenance and avionics services, private aircraft brokerage services, fixed-base operation services and charter services through Pentastar Aviation Charter, Inc.

Fleet

Pentastar Aviation Charter, Inc's fleet includes the following aircraft: * King Air 200 * Citation Jet Series * Hawker 400XP * Learjet 45 / 75 * Embraer Phenom 300 * Citation XL/XLS * Hawker 800XP * Hawker 850XP * Hawker 900XP * Learjet 60 / 60XR * Gulfstream 150 * Citation Latitude * Challenger 300/350 * Citation X / Sovereign * Falcon 50EX * Gulfstream 200 / 280 * Legacy 450 / 500 * Challenger 604 / 605 * Falcon 2000 EX / LXS *

Gulfstream IV The Gulfstream IV (or G-IV or GIV) and derivatives are a family of twinjet aircraft, mainly for private or Business jet, business use. They were designed and built by Gulfstream Aerospace, a General Dynamics company based in Savannah, Georgia, ...

/ I VSP / 450 / 400 * Embraer Legacy 600 *

Dassault Falcon 7X The Dassault Falcon 7X is a large-cabin, range business jet manufactured by Dassault Aviation. Unveiled at the 2001 Paris Air Show, its first flight took place on 5 May 2005 and it entered service on 15 June 2007. The Falcon 8X, first delivered ...

Gulfstream V The Gulfstream V (Model GV, pronounced "G-five") is a large, long-range business jet aircraft produced by Gulfstream Aerospace, derived from the previous Gulfstream IV. It flies up to , up to and has a range. It typically accommodates four c ...

/ 550 / 650 *

Bombardier Global Express The Bombardier Global Express is a large cabin, long-range business jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aviation. Announced in October 1991, it first flew in October 1996, received its Canadian type certification in July 1998 and ente ...

The company also uses a range of jets through a network of pre-approved operators.

Aircraft maintenance

Pentastar Aviation holds Class 3 and Class 4 airframe ratings and maintains

Gulfstream The Gulf Stream is a warm Atlantic Ocean current. Gulf Stream or Gulfstream may also refer to: Businesses *Gulf Stream Hotel, an historic hotel in Lake Worth Beach, Florida *Gulfstream Aerospace, manufacturer of private jet aircraft *Gulfstream C ...

, Bombardier,

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufactu ...

Dassault Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault SAS (; also GIM Dassault or Dassault Group) is a French corporate group established in 1929 with the creation of Société des Avions Marcel Bloch (now Dassault Aviation) by Marcel Dassault, later led by his so ...

and Hawker aircraft. It also carries out avionics installation and repair at its facility at Oakland County International Airport. On March 13, 2012, Key Air, the leading FBO service provider and aircraft management and charter provider at the Waterbury-Oxford Airport in Oxford, CT, officially announced that they would be signing a memorandum of understanding with Pentastar Aviation. This agreement allowed Pentastar to operate on the east coast of the United States in addition to their headquarters in Oakland County International Airport. The facilities were officially opened on June 13, 2012.

Scheduled airline service

Twice Pentastar has operated scheduled airline service under a public charter arrangement. The first was in 2013 and 2014 when they operated Saab SF340 aircraft on behalf of "Lakeshore Express" between Pontiac,

Midway International Airport Chicago Midway International Airport is a major commercial airport on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the city's Loop business district, and divided between the city's Clearing and ...

, and

Pellston Regional Airport Pellston Regional Airport , also known as Pellston Regional Airport of Emmet County, is a public airport located northwest of the central business district of Pellston, a village in Emmet County, Michigan, United States. It is included in the ...

. The second was for a startup, OneJet, operating Hawker Beechjet 400A aircraft out of an

Indianapolis International Airport Indianapolis International Airport is an international airport located southwest of Downtown Indianapolis in Marion County, Indiana, United States. It is owned and operated by the Indianapolis Airport Authority, and the airport serves over 5 ...

base to a number of destinations in the Midwest. This flying will transition to Corporate Flight Management in June 2016.

Notes

{{authority control Aviation organizations based in the United States Airport operators of the United States Charter airlines of the United States Companies based in Michigan Airlines based in Michigan