Peter Le Bas is living the American dream - Irish style. Just over a decade ago he left Ireland along with thousands of other young hopefuls aiming to make a fortune in the US. With no Green Card and only a couple of hundred dollars in his pocket he headed for California hoping to cash in on the glamour of Tinseltown.
It worked. He recently returned from Los Angeles to the family farm in west Clare having made the jump from illegal alien to chief executive of Le Bas International in just more than 10 years. His air-charter business now has annual revenue in excess of $12 million (€11.34 million) and a client list that reads like an international Who's Who.
Celebrity clients such as the Duke of Edinburgh, Mel Gibson, Pete Sampras, Westlife, Pink Floyd as well as business executives account for 50 per cent of revenue, while major airlines of the calibre of Air France and British Airways account for the other half.
Whether the requirement is an aircraft capable of transporting royalty or immediate delivery of a spare part for a broken down Boeing 757, Le Bas International claims it can deliver within hours of the call.
Now the returned Irish emigre is eager to tap into the growing wealth of the Celtic Tiger and the European market. This month Le Bas International marks its tenth anniversary with a major marketing and development plan aiming to double the company's size and revenue within a year.
Instead of relying on referrals and advertising to generate business, the company has hired sales representatives in Washington, Los Angeles and London.
"Seventy per cent of our business is in the States and about 30 per cent in Europe but by moving closer to our customers here we're determined to change that," says Mr Le Bas.
In 1996, the company opened an office in Shannon to offer what it claims is the only 24-hour daytime worldwide air charter service. He is excited by the vibrant economic climate in Europe and he fervently believes that corporate travel is about to explode this side of the Atlantic. "A couple of hours saved by using a corporate jet could mean the difference between a sale or a deal being struck. Nowadays, the business person just can't afford to wait for scheduled air services," says Mr Le Bas. "We offer a very unique and high quality service which will meet this growing need."
"The big advantage of chartering aircraft rather than owning one is that you can choose the exact specification of aircraft to suit the order required," he says. "We offer almost any type of aircraft or service to clients to suit them at the time they want."
The low overheads in the air-charter business have fuelled steady, if not spectacular, growth. Le Bas International operates on a skeleton staff of only 14 operation controllers at its offices in Shannon and Los Angeles. It is able to do this by operating as an aircraft broker utilising over 5,000 registered airlines worldwide. So rather than owning any planes the company pinpoints and leases the nearest available aircraft for a client. The expansion of Le Bas International will be self-financed. "Because we have a strong background and have been profitable since day one the initial investment isn't as dramatic as we've already seen. All our routes are in place. We're just going to promote it," he says. "But when it requires it, we will consider other sources of financing."
High-quality customer service is essential for success, says Le Bas. "If our clients demand peanut butter sandwiches or newspapers from anywhere on the globe we will get it for them," he says.
Mr Le Bas learnt the importance of customer service from an early age. He started up his first business, PLB's Pedalbike Repair Service, when he was eight years old and a few years later was earning an impressive £45 a week in 1976, doing magic shows with his famous uncle, Albert Le Bas. But it was in the US where his entrepreneurial spirit took off.
His first job in the States was as chauffeur in a 10-seat stretched limousine. After a few months he leased his first vehicle and went into business for himself. Three months later he had two cars and soon after a fleet of vehicles. It was then he began to look skyward. "Charter cars and charter aircraft are very similar businesses and it was really a natural progression to become an air-charter company," says Mr Le Bas. "But the aircraft operation became so profitable that we sold off the cars in 1995."
Flexibility remains the key to the company's success, he says. No job is too small, too big or too bizarre. The company even delivered an elephant from the US to South America for Disney: fittingly by Boeing 747 in a flight nicknamed "Jumbo meets Dumbo".
Sports teams are becoming a lucrative source of business. Last year, the company secured lucrative season contracts with the Mighty Ducks and Colorado Avalanche in the National Hockey League. The teams got an aircraft fitted with executive seats, a bar and their logos painted on the tail for a season while the company can lease the plane to other clients when it's not in use. But the corporate jet isn't going to be the sole preserve of the mega-rich for long if Mr Le Bas has his way. The company is currently offering an eight-seat corporate jet aircraft for a return trip between Dublin and London for £4,000 (€5,079).
"Getting to places, meeting people, doing business quickly and getting home as quickly as possibility are very important," says Mr Le Bas. "The ability to do that utilising private jets is just wonderful and the number of charter flights is certain to grow."
