Corporate Flight Department Grows From One, To 76

by ANN Associate Editor Annette Kurman

He may have been the leader of the world's largest merchandiser, but Sam Walton was also a pilot. A pilot of an Ercoupe, in fact. And he didn't use it as an executive perk, but as a business tool that has brought untold success to his company.

Wal-Mart's corporate flight department in Rogers, AR currently overseen by Director of Aviation Dan Williams, is home to 76 pilots, 40 maintenance personnel, and 21 aircraft. The department is currently in a seven-year transition to an all-jet fleet. And although everyone has 24/7 availability, most business trips are made during the traditional business week and the occasional weekend.

Additionally, there are eight planes based in Toronto, and two each in Recife and Sao Paula, Brazil, and Guatemala.

Their most senior pilot has flown for Wal-Mart for 26 years; one of their most junior pilots, Julie Hall, 29, has worked for the company for a little over six months. Their backgrounds are as varied as the merchandise at Sam's Club, coming from the military, airliners, transport, and flight instruction, virtually every facet of aviation.

"We don't want to be one-dimensional [in hiring pilots]," said Williams. "We want to bring people in with varied backgrounds and experiences. It makes us [as a team] much stronger."

Quality of life is very important to the Wal-Mart flight department. Each plane is flown by two pilots and "newbies" are type-rated from day one. Pilots are away from home only two nights a month and fly 15 days each month.

The Wal-Mart flight department looks for pilots with a "team mentality" and other intangibles hard to quantify. Julie came to the Wal-Mart aviation division from University of North Dakota and her job as lead flight instructor. She called being a pilot for Wal-Mart "an opportunity that popped up."

She recalled her interview in Bentonville, AR, where she and other prospective Wal-Mart pilots spent the first day in casual attire, touring the area and getting to know the "crew" at a family-type barbecue.

It was as important to them that she liked what she saw as it was that they liked what they saw," Julie recalled. With senior management headquartered in Bentonville, there are plenty of people to fly around the country, visiting Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores and distribution centers.

Explained Williams, Wal-Mart has a flexible and adaptable strategy. Upper-level managers visit stores each week to gather information and often return the following week to share new strategy. Additionally, real estate teams, merchandisers and others require the flexibility to go to destinations across the country.

As Williams explained, Wal-Mart's aviation department is not the typical "executive" transportation department. It's a business tool, he reiterated, where anyone working for the company may end up in the sky.

"The company goes that extra mile to award associates for their hard work," he said.

FMI: www.walmart.com/careers, www.wai.org