St. Louis Aviation Community Welcomes New Gateway Jets Location at St. Louis Downtown Airport

By Carmelo Turdo

The St. Louis aviation community turned out for Saturday's Open House event to welcome Gateway Jets to their new location at St. Louis Downtown Airport.  Over one hundred guests gathered at the Gateway Jets hangar at the southwest corner of the airport from 3-7pm, during the dry time between spring showers.  Gateway Jets President, Corey Tomczak, Vice President Josh Vinson and other company pilots were there to greet visitors and shed some light on their aircraft management services in a festive, no pressure environment.  Among the attendees were those new to aviation, students, pilots, and especially business owners who were interested in aircraft management services.  

Inside the hangar, a new Cessna Citation M2 from Textron in Wichita was on display, as shown by Gateway Jets President, Corey Tomczak.    This model of the legendary Citation family is an ideal jet for quickly and efficiently traveling medium-length routes straight to your destination city's regional airport.  The Citation is one of the four principle aircraft types it seeks to add to its current fleet.  The rest of the hangar contains a lounge, office and kitchen as a value-added service for clients.

Outside of the hangar were examples of the other three aircraft recommended by Gateway Jets: Socata TBM-700, Beechcraft Baron, and Beechcraft King Air.  A Beechcraft crew was there to show off the brand new Baron, and Gateway Jets pilots assisted guests interested in the TBM-700 and King Air. 

Inside the hangar, guests gathered to tour the Citation jet, eat some great food at the buffet and listen to a very talented string quartet play popular tunes.  Just outside of the hangar doors were two Tesla high-performance electric cars from the University City Tesla dealer.  The Model S and Model X cars each featured a large flat screen display for maps and luxury interior.  Tesla is preparing the Model 3 for the consumer market for delivery mid 2018.

    















Another look at the TBM-700, Baron and King Air shows the basic configuration and potential utility of each design.  The single turbine-powered TBM-700 offers fast travel to smaller airports with turbine reliability at a reasonable price.  The twin piston Baron is a proven performer with the power and capacity to serve regional travel needs.  The King Air, the twin turbine standard-bearer, continues to offer the ideal mix of speed, efficiency and comfort in several cabin sizes and configurations.  They also look great after a short rain shower!

The Gateway Jets Open House was a great success, and surely a sign of more to come.  For information about Gateway Jets, please contact Corey Tomczak and he will be happy to help you.

The Aero Experience thanks Gateway Jets, Ideal Aviation, Jet Aviation, and Textron Aviation for their assistance and hospitality.