Air Idaho Charters LLC, a Sandpoint, Idaho-based charter flight service, says most of its business has been generated though Spokane and Coeur d'Alene, and it recently has landed a contract with the U.S. Forest Service.

The company currently has just one plane, a five-passenger, twin-engine Beechcraft Baron, but plans to add a second, larger one and eventually hopes to manage a number of business jets through a joint-ownership arrangement, says Andrew Berrey, president of Air Idaho Charters.

Air Idaho occupies 3,200 square feet of hangar and office space at the Sandpoint Airport, which is just north of the Sandpoint city limits.

Berrey says he chose to base the operation at the Sandpoint Airport, because Sandpoint hadn't had a charter service for number of years.

"I thought the majority of customers would be out of Sandpoint, but they really haven't," Berrey says. "We'll go to Spokane or Coeur d'Alene and pick them up."

He says clients range from business travelers to families who prefer an alternative to the major airlines.

Meantime, Air Idaho and the Forest Service recently negotiated a contract for the charter service to provide the federal agency with on-call flights, Berrey says.

"We were hoping to get in on the fire season, but we just missed it," he says.

Among other potential uses for the federal agency, the plane would be an ideal reconnaissance aircraft for spotting and tracking wildfires, he says.

The contract will have a term of one year with options for an additional four years. Through the term of the contract, the aircraft also can be used by other government agencies, he says.

The company employs one pilot, and it contracts out its maintenance, Berrey says. It's seeing enough business that it plans to buy a larger aircraft that can travel longer distances than its Beechcraft.

Air Idaho also is exploring the possibility of setting up a shared-ownership program involving Cessna Citation business jets, which carry four to 10 passengers, depending on the model.

"Through the program our clients could use business jets for their travel for a substantially lower price than either charter services or the larger fractional ownership programs," Berry claims.