On this episode of Banking on KC, Jeffrey Altendorf, co-founder of Team Aero, joins host Kelly Scanlon to discuss how he and his brother built a global aircraft parts business from one dismantled jet.
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Kelly Scanlon: Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is Jeffrey Aldendorf, the co-founder of Team Aero, a company that buys and sells aircraft parts globally, and he'll be the first one to tell you. It's a very unique one of a kind business, so. For a story here.
Welcome, Jeff.
Jeffrey Altendorf: Thank you.
Kelly Scanlon: Your beginnings were even kind of different if I know the story, uh, the little bits that I do, you and your brother had started out and you were parting just a single plane, and that was back, I think in 2006.
Jeffrey Altendorf: Correct.
Kelly Scanlon: So walk us through that very first deal. What led to it, what excited you about it and how that very modest beginning evolved into the international company you've become.
Jeffrey Altendorf: Well, we have aviation backgrounds. I went to flight school in 1989, thought I wanted to be a commercial pilot. Started flying and realized that's not really the path I wanted to take. So then I got into business jets and that was pretty fun too. But quickly started into dismantling aircraft for, for parts.
This went on for a long time and then eventually my brother and I decided to start our own company in 2005. So at that time we, we got together and we bought a loft in River Market and decided. Let's go for our first deal. So we got our first deal in February, 2006, and if you can imagine buying a 10 passenger jet and not knowing where to put it.
Kelly Scanlon: Yeah, a bit of a problem. That's a
Jeffrey Altendorf: challenge. Definitely. So I had a mentor, a friend of mine that had a op, a trucking operation in Spring Hill, Kansas. I asked him if I could lease some space to put this jet that was dismantled. Of course he agreed and the rent was ridiculously cheap. So we shipped the aircraft from Germany to United States.
And that's where it all began.
Kelly Scanlon: When you started out, did you have any idea it was going to evolve into Team Aero as it is today? Did you have that kind of aspiration from the very beginning?
Jeffrey Altendorf: Absolutely. I mean, I'm very goal, uh, oriented person. I have a vision. I, I go for it and typically I reach it. It is just, I'm very driven just by dreams, I guess.
And I don't know, sometimes I pinch myself and think, geez. I do have everything I've always wanted, especially today.
Kelly Scanlon: So when you talk about, uh, you flew this plane in from Germany, or was it shipped in or did it fly? We
Jeffrey Altendorf: dismantled it in Germany. It was actually,
Kelly Scanlon: You dismantled it in Germany. Okay. So, so talk to us about that part of your business.
I mean, do, how, how do you come upon these planes? How do you get them to you? Uh, how does that whole process work?
Jeffrey Altendorf: We've been in the industry forever and so we have a lot of contacts worldwide and, and mostly outside the United States. A lot of people that do similar things to that. We do work within the US and don't travel outside the borders of the states.
We find that our best deals are coming from. Europe or Asia or Africa. Mm-hmm. So we do have contacts worldwide and we can also target a certain aircraft make and model or a certain engine make and model and just try to find that, what we call like a low hanging fruit. Yeah. You know, something that either needs, uh, a complete makeover or requires a extensive maintenance or just a lot of investment to bring it up to standards that sell again as a flying airplane.
We like those because. Typically some of those airplanes, you would've to invest more money into the aircraft to make it. Up to today's standards, then the aircraft is worth. Sure. So then at that time, the owner's like, it's not worth investing that money. Team aro in its infancy. We were buying airplanes and we were pre-selling engines or avionics or packages really to fund the whole project.
Kelly Scanlon: That's how you. Earned your money to buy the next plane or the next set of parts or whatever. So what was a turning point that really gave you some financial breathing room to become the company you are today?
Jeffrey Altendorf: I look at an airplane in two different ways. I mean, you can look at it as a flying airplane that you keep flying or you can look at it to where it's worth more in parts to me than it is flying.
And that's how Team Air really started. We were looking at airplanes that, yeah, absolutely a hundred percent we're worth more money in pieces. Then as a flying aircraft. So we would have to be very creative and try to pre-sell parts and kinda do back to back closings, things like this, to, to have very minimal investment in, in acquiring the product.
Usually we could try to cover the aircraft by selling. A big piece of it.
Kelly Scanlon: Yeah. So that was very limiting because you really couldn't get more than maybe one or two deals ahead of the current
Jeffrey Altendorf: one. Yeah, definitely. I mean, the first one, the first couple was like, you know, we'd have be really rich and then we'd get really poor again.
You know, 'cause you're starting to make all this profit, then you start running outta parts and then that's when things kind of changed. From 2006 to about 2010, we decided we needed to figure out a way to make the, the company have value. At the end of the day when I'm ready to hang it up, yes, then it's something that's a sellable product or a sellable company.
And when you're just selling parts outright to everybody left and right, then eventually you have nothing left over. So that's when we started getting involved with, uh, repairing the parts and selling them to customers where we'd get their, their units back and we'd keep revolving these parts. So we always had stock and that's kind of been the, the big key to our success today.
Finally realized that having a Banking relationship was huge and opened up way more opportunities that really took us to the next level, and that's what we've tried to do over and over again. But, um, yeah, the Banking has been fantastic and it's given us the opportunities to grow not only our facilities, but our employees, our inventory, and that's key.
Because I felt like the more inventory I have, the more inventory I can sell, it's just, it's a no brainer. But in the beginning it was whatever I can afford, right? So when you have access to funding and things like that, do some of these projects, you could do more and you could do quicker. And so the quicker, the more you do, the more return comes faster.
Kelly Scanlon: For early stage entrepreneurs, funding is typically a big problem. So what advice would you give them, especially ones who are struggling to find funding?
Jeffrey Altendorf: You have to have a business plan a hundred percent. And still today, we have to have a business plan for most of our projects. So you have to, it has to make sense and you have to look at it and make sure it makes sense.
So I'd say the business plan is number one. Uh, having good people behind you is probably number two. Uh, a good circle of mentors will never hurt you.
Kelly Scanlon: Who do you target as customers?
Jeffrey Altendorf: Our main customers are the, what we call an MRO, the maintenance facilities, where if you're a business jet owner, you're gonna take your aircraft there to get maintenance performed.
Those facilities buy from us like they would from the OEMs. From the factories we're a good alternative to the factory.
Kelly Scanlon: As you've expanded from really a, a very, uh, smaller regional operation to serving these major clients around the world, was there a point where you realized we've outgrown the way we used to do things,
Jeffrey Altendorf: systems.
Kelly Scanlon: Just even having them to begin with.
Jeffrey Altendorf: With just the right, yeah, the right systems in place. I mean, for the longest time I kind of wore all the hats. You know, when we started, there was four of us and you know, I, whether I was selling, buying, shipping, pulling parts, I did it all. And my brother has always been the logistics guy.
He's always the guy that's going out in the field, taking the aircraft apart, shipping it back to the United States. I'm always the guy that's in the office doing the invoices. They're the purchase orders, making sure the inventory is correct, shipping parts. But over the last 20 years, you know, I've got people in each department doing what they're supposed to do.
So instead of being, you know, jack of all trades and master of none, I wanted people to master a. What their job and their duties were. And it's, it's really come together and now it's kind of a well-oiled machine where it kinda gives me freedom to kind of oversee these departments instead of trying to control these departments.
Kelly Scanlon: And you can focus then on the, the bigger issues that was gonna take you to that next level and that, that's hard for an entrepreneur. Was it hard for you or?
Jeffrey Altendorf: Yeah. Very, very difficult to delegate task, quite honestly. Sometimes it depends on how old you are and how long you've been doing it, but. Early on, I just thought, you know, I'm the only one that could do this.
Correct. You know? Mm-hmm. And, uh, that's not true. You know, you can actually teach people and they can learn, but it's hard. It's hard to let go.
Kelly Scanlon: What finally got you through that?
Jeffrey Altendorf: I don't know. I'm probably still struggling with it a little bit, but, you know, I had to, I had no choice. You know, even back when I tried to do the accounting, I was like, you know, I'm not accountant.
Here. I'm trying to do it. Why am I trying to do it? That's actually the first person I should have hired, and it was, took me forever to do that. Hindsight, you know, is the best thing I ever did, and, and it's just things like that, you know, hiring, shipping manager, hire, sales manager, uh, somebody to do research and development, things like that.
Those are all things that, you know, you try to do everything, but you just, there's not enough time in the day to do that.
Kelly Scanlon: You obviously have a lot of passion for your business, so how do you hire these people that you are now hiring? What did you look for so that they shared that same kind of passion, enthusiasm, call it what you will, that you have for the business?
Jeffrey Altendorf: Hiring is probably the most difficult part about my business, but you know, I try to hire within the industry these days. In the beginning I was hiring friends and you know, but we've all evolved together. And that's the, that's the good thing. And trust factors there. When you hire a friend or a relative, um, in our business, that's important.
It's hard to find people that are passionate about things like you are, uh, especially, you know, what I've noticed over the years is your employees will never be as enthusiastic about your business as you are. It's just this, I, I think that's just the way it is.
Kelly Scanlon: Mm-hmm.
Jeffrey Altendorf: They may be close, but not a hundred percent.
Kelly Scanlon: When you are working with this legacy aircraft, often that means the sourcing could be unpredictable. You've already talked about that a little bit. Uh, repair timelines. There may be some, uh, really
Jeffrey Altendorf: difficult,
Kelly Scanlon: you think difficult repair jobs, or maybe you get into it and realize it's a little bit different than what you thought.
What's been the most challenging? Problem you've had to solve when it comes to a project that you worked on? Perhaps something or something The most fun. I mean, it doesn't have to be the most difficult thing, but maybe. Maybe the thing that was the most fun to work on project.
Jeffrey Altendorf: The fun thing about our business is every day is different.
Mm-hmm. You never know what's gonna happen day to day. You can. You can walk into work and a deal just comes in your lap that you've had this part for 15 years and you think this'll never sell. And next thing you know, it's you're selling it, you're making the deal on it. Those, that's what's great about our business.
It's just, it's unpredictable and that's why I like the challenging thing that we face is, is lead times parts getting things fixed. Especially since COVID, you know, during COVID it was, you know, the, the supply chains for everybody. Every industry was was bad. Ours still is pretty tough.
Kelly Scanlon: Are there certain kinds of planes that you specialize in?
Jeffrey Altendorf: Typically 10 to 15 passenger jets. We do not deal in any propeller aircraft. We don't do the commercial aircraft. We do. Your Falcons, your citations, your Gulf streams, your hawkers, your. Business Jet
Kelly Scanlon: as a former pilot. Do you have a favorites?
Jeffrey Altendorf: Of course.
Kelly Scanlon: Yeah.
Jeffrey Altendorf: I mean we, we operate citations and Falcons right now ourselves, and we do have another company that's doing completions and renovations and.
Aircraft sales, but I would say the Falcons, the Gulf Stream, a Jets a jet. They're all great.
Kelly Scanlon: Well, yeah, you probably wouldn't turn down an opportunity to fly any of them, would you? No. Yeah,
Jeffrey Altendorf: not at all.
Kelly Scanlon: Um, you have a new, about 15,000 square foot hangar out at New Century Airport. Adds a big move for you. So.
Beyond giving you the additional space, what other capabilities or what other efficiencies is it gonna give you as a company?
Jeffrey Altendorf: We've had airplanes spread out all over the city, kind of all over the United States in different stages of maintenance or upgrades. We've had airplanes in Topeka Lee Summit, downtown New Century, uh, and it's just really.
Just not efficient at all. And so kind of balancing around and moving airplanes and you can't keep up with the maintenance. You can't keep up with everything when everything's spread out like this. So it's, this is centralizing our aircraft, our inventory, when I mean inventory, complete aircraft that are not gonna be torn down.
It's just gonna, it's gonna give us opportunities that we never had before. It's been a pipe dream forever. I mean, I think I met with the airport for the first time back in 2009, maybe again in 2012, probably again in 2018. Always looking to see what's available, how can I get a hangar built, and just, it was just never reality.
It became reality about three years ago and, and we went for it.
Kelly Scanlon: You've had a lifelong love of aviation. It clearly drives your work. So how does that passion influence your day-to-day operational decisions, um, and the culture you're building?
Jeffrey Altendorf: You know, that's a good question. I, I just, I like the deal. I like putting the deal together.
I like results. I'm a very results oriented guy. I like seeing things come to fruition. It's, um, it's just I have a drive for that. If I don't have something in the works or actually many, many things in the works, then I probably get bored and, and I just. Then it's no longer interesting. I have to juggle a lot of things.
Kelly Scanlon: I've talked to a lot of entrepreneurs, business owners over the years, and to a person they will say that business ownership changed them in some way. How would you say business ownership changed you?
Jeffrey Altendorf: I think the number one thing is one day you just look around and you, you, you see the people that you're responsible for.
That's probably the biggest change that I, that I've, uh, I've realized. You know, you, you start thinking about it's not only the individual that's your employee, but it's their, their spouse, their kids, um, you know, it goes really deep. And to have that responsibility on your shoulders is another driving force, you know?
It definitely is.
Kelly Scanlon: Yeah. What is your big picture vision? I mean, I know you've got what you're doing now and you just expanded, so maybe this is a bad time to be asking this question because you just achieved a major goal, but. You've said that you're driven, so I know you've gotta have another goal. What is, uh, you know, 10 years, 20 years down the road, looking like to you?
Jeffrey Altendorf: I mean, I've always wanted to hang out on a catamaran in the, the bvs or The Bahamas, you know, and just take it in, work for my laptop, make a deal here and there. I mean, I don't know. I, I always thought that I would never stop working. Mm-hmm. I mean, I just, I genuinely love it that much.
Kelly Scanlon: You still feel that way?
Jeffrey Altendorf: I do. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I do. But you know, at the same time, you know, my son is 14 now and starting high school and, and we're thinking, okay, in four or five years, where is he gonna be?
Kelly Scanlon: Mm-hmm.
Jeffrey Altendorf: Are we gonna be following him around and, and, uh, hoping to be there for him. I mean, that's. That's really important to me.
Kelly Scanlon: Talk to us a little bit about the private jet industry right now. Is it on the upswing? Uh, any challenges headwinds that you're, you're noticing that's gonna require you to make adjustments?
Jeffrey Altendorf: It's, I think it's pretty strong. I mean, the, the whole tariff thing is affecting certain countries like Brazil because they, they manufacture a very popular jet United States consumes.
Um, but, you know, the, the market's good and you know, of course we had. Uh, a hundred percent depreciation on these, on these jets, um, a few years back, and that went away. And now it's come back this year, but people that buy jets are people that can always buy jets.
Kelly Scanlon: That's a good point. Yeah.
Jeffrey Altendorf: There's a lot of international money buying these airplanes too, so, um, I don't know.
I, I think it's really good. COVID really changed everything quite a bit. People went and bought airplanes that required tons of maintenance and paint and interior and things like this, and Connie Barn finds they're pulling 'em out, cleaning 'em up, polish 'em, and selling 'em because everybody wanted a jet.
Nobody wanted to fly the airlines anymore. Yeah. And so that really, it took, you know, prices and doubled some of them. It was quite crazy.
Kelly Scanlon: Yeah.
Jeffrey Altendorf: So some of the airplanes that I had to smell for parts, you know, hindsight, I thinking, oh my gosh, you know, that airplane would be worth twice as much flying today.
Exactly. But you can't look back. And of course if you had a crystal ball, you would just hoard everything you can. But that. It doesn't exist either.
Kelly Scanlon: A young entrepreneur who started something with basically nothing but an idea, uh, and started very small, one project at a time in order to finance the next one.
Jeffrey Altendorf: Just get that goal, get that vision, go for it. I mean, anything's possible. Be creative. That's the main thing. You know, I'm always looking at things in multiple different ways. Um, you know, I never look at a deal one way and that's the way it's gonna be. I always have an exit strategy. Um, I always think you need to be creative and how you're gonna attack that and.
What do you do if Plan A is not gonna work? Is there a plan B? I mean, that's always been the way I've, I've, I've done my business.
Kelly Scanlon: So when you have a decision to make and you can't quite figure out what you wanna do, you're weighing so many options. How do you get past that? How do you finally make the decision?
Jeffrey Altendorf: Well, sometimes you wait too long and then, and then you just have to make a decision. I've been down that road several times, especially lately. I mean, you know, you think you have the time and the energy to do. Say plan A, and you really don't. A year goes by and you're thinking, okay, I need to do something here, and I probably should have done this a long time ago.
And sometimes it, the opportunity just presents itself. And, uh, so then you just run with it and, and you hope that's the right decision.
Kelly Scanlon: Well, Jeff, it sounds like you have created a wonderful business and you have a strong vision for the future, and I hope you achieve it. And I really appreciate you being on the show today to share all this with us.
Jeffrey Altendorf: Thank you.
Joe Close: This is Joe Close, president of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Jeffrey arf, co-founder of Team A for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC. Jeffrey took us inside this specialized niche of aircraft parts and described how a single dismantled jet launched his global business, pre-selling parts, boldness, and entering global markets and vision in scaling with Banking partnerships.
We're all keys to helping Team Aero move faster, expand inventory, and grow into the international company it is today. Jeffrey's journey is a reminder that ingenuity and determination can fuel remarkable growth. At Country Club Bank, we know those same ingredients. Capital guidance, and trusted partnerships are vital for entrepreneurs throughout Kansas City.
Thanks for tuning in. This week we're Banking on New Kansas City Country Club Bank Member FDIC.