The Importance of Home Grown

If you are reading this article, chances are you purchased a ticket on Seaborne Airlines and are flying with us — for which we thank you! However there is another reason we want to thank you for flying with us: you are now flying one of only two locally based airlines. While there are a few locally owned charter companies, only Seaborne and Coastal Air are locally based airlines. So why does this matter?

The difference between stateside and locally based and owned companies is that a larger portion of spending stays within the Territory. For example, while a minor portion of your Seaborne ticket pays for replacement aircraft parts purchased from the states, the larger balance funds:

• Employee salaries (130 employees plus)
• Contracted services (Legal, security, consulting, electrical work, etc.)
• Utilities (WAPA)
• Rentals (Virgin Islands Port Authority)
• Jet Fuel (Hovensa)
• Purchased goods (equipment, tooling/hardware, supplies, etc.)
• Corporate taxes (VIBIR)
• Advertising (Radio, newspapers, online, magazines, etc.)

While stateside companies may pay many of the same bills, a larger portion of Territory based companies' spending stays here for two reasons: the location of corporate headquarters and local administrative workforce AND because the revenue generated in the Territory is invested back in the same company with the intention of growing and/or improving products and services.

Therefore, in short, when you purchase a locally based company's products or services, you are investing in the Territory and our future. For example, Seaborne is investing in an overhaul facility that will allow us to completely overhaul our aircraft here instead of sending them stateside. The Territory will gain from this move because quicker and less expensive aircraft turn around times will help keep fares in check, develop a new non-existent business sector, and most importantly, result in new jobs and monies funneled into locally instead of stateside!

Good for you: Eating your local veggies!

The example above infers that purchasing locally helps them keep our costs, and ultimately yours in check while boosting the local economy. Here's another example: if all of us were to start purchasing the majority of our vegetables from local farmers at the road side at Saturday markets, the spike in demand would lead to greater vegetable production and consequently, more jobs, better quality, and lower vegetable prices. Anyone that shops on Saturday for their weekly veggies already knows there is already a quality and price advantage provided by local growers. Can you imagine what would happen if we grew local agriculture by a factor of 10?!

In conclusion, while stateside and foreign companies should and will always have a very important role in our economy by providing competitive balance as well as breadth/depth of commercial capabilities — we must keep in mind that each dollar spent equates on average to a $3 boost to the local economy and the best way to increase that factor of three is to buy LOCALLY!

As always, thank you for your valuable patronage.

As always, thank you very much for your valuable business and patronage.

Sincerely,

Omer ErSelcuk
President & CEO

We welcome your feedback! Please send your comments and questions regarding this article to feedback@seaborneairlines.com

Previous Articles