Springfield-Branson National (SGF) is a commercial airport where you land amidst grazing cattle and freshly baled hay. But 50 miles down the road, in Monett, MO, we’ll find one of the S&P 500’s leaders in financial technology.
With four jets flying a total 2,200 hours a year, and a Beechcraft Bonanza, we also knew the Jack Henry travel team would be busy. When we suggested a Thursday in early August, Chief Pilot Michael Whannell said, “Sure, we’ll just have a YMCA tour at 11 a.m. that day.”
The day we arrived, the travel department was hosting two dozen YMCA summer camp kids and starting a 10-year inspection of one the Embraer Phenom 300s, a job that will take over 700 hours (about two months). Maintenance Director Terry Leech’s technicians had logged the first hour before we unpacked the cameras, and by the time we left that afternoon, they had removed all the seats.
Business Aviation Insider last visited Jack Henry in 2017, and at the time, the department was already a model of safety culture, strategic thinking and collaboration with the company leadership. They were one of the first flight departments to adopt FOQA monitoring and to be certified IS-BAO Stage 3.
“The nature of business travel at Jack Henry has changed. We are now, effectively, an extension of the sales team.”
CHRISTIE DAWSON, Supervisor of Travel Operations, Jack Henry
Proud, But Never Satisfied
“It’s really humbling to see what we’ve achieved,” Whannell said, looking back at the profile from 2017. “It’s those incremental investments. We’ve never measured success by our last performance. We’re always asking, ‘What can we get better at?’”
Since we last visited, Jack Henry reduced turnover even further, adopted more sustainable operating procedures and improved safety by ensuring pilots get more duty rest.
They upgraded their software to capture more data on passenger utilization. Personnel on every team (maintenance, flight and scheduling) have added professional credentials. And they are preparing for their first fleet upgrade in over a decade. By 2025, two Phenom 300s will be traded for two Praetor 500s.
A massive project – they will take delivery of the two new airplanes over six months while crews go to initial training. Training slots reserved a year in advance. The upgrade is driven by a forward-looking analysis of the company’s need for longer range and more space inside the cabin, plus safety enhancements.
Driving that need: more customer trips. In the last seven years, Jack Henry sales associates have increasingly used the airplanes to bring customers to Monett for in-depth presentations.
“The nature of business travel at Jack Henry has changed,” said Christie Dawson, supervisor of travel ops. “We are now, effectively, an extension of the sales team. In the Praetor, they’ll be able to expand that meeting beyond the campus, to have those sales presentations in the aircraft. Compared to a light jet, it’s more of a flying boardroom.”

Jack Henry technicians work on a 10-year aircraft inspection that will eventually take more than 700 hours to complete.
Proactive Schedule Management
The increase in customer trips has made scheduling much more complicated, said Dawson. Add to that the wider diaspora of employees, spread out during the pandemic’s days of remote work, and several years ago, the travel department was feeling the strain.
“We always want to say yes to our passengers,” said Dawson. “We never say no, because we also manage booking on the airlines. But trying to keep everybody moving was pushing our team close to the breaking point.”
So, in the middle of the pandemic, with some time on their hands, they decided to rethink how they accept trip requests, and schedule the aircraft, flight crews and passengers. To start, Pilot Josh Owen took it upon himself to pull data on utilization, crew duty hours and passenger flights completed.
It began a two-and-a-half year project involving the entire department – and many counterparts within the corporate office – resulting in what Jack Henry calls Proactive Schedule Management.
“It’s really humbling to see what we’ve achieved. … We’re always asking, ‘What can we get better at?’ ”
MICHAEL WHANNELL, Chief Pilot, Jack Henry
“I love talking about Proactive Schedule Management, because it aligns what our people want, in the travel department, with what the company wants,” said Brian Hunter, travel vice president. “So, it’s a great way of managing resources. We have a certain budget. We have a certain level of utilization we can provide. That level is determined by our staffing and number of aircraft.”
By establishing clear expectations, “we get better at using our resources,” said Hunter. “It flows from one of our company values, which is transparency.”
Collaboration & Transparency
Earlier, when demand for the aircraft surged, Hunter’s team was overheating – within their safety margins, but only just. And it was putting pressure on their workforce. If they had to, pilots were flying six days in a row, maintenance and line techs were standing by at all hours.
Their new system solves that, aiming to stabilize the aircraft at 200 flight hours over a rolling four weeks – while actually increasing the total number of high priority trips flown. It is all built on a detailed list of trip categories and priority ratings.
“We worked with the company leadership, the executive admins and the sales teams to develop our Trip Category Chart,” explained Whannell. “It’s 64 different categories, but ultimately, it’s about deciding which trips, and which groups, have priority over the other – when the aircraft can’t be in two places at once.”
For example, a support team flying to fix a critical issue for a customer would take precedence over a group of associates traveling between Jack Henry offices.
“I love talking about Proactive Schedule Management, because it aligns what our people want, in the travel department, with what the company wants.”
BRIAN HUNTER, Travel Vice President, Jack Henry
Developing those priorities took a tremendous number of discussions, between the travel team and different users within the company. “It gives us support from the leadership when we have too many requests at one time,” said Hunter, “and we built it through communication and collaboration.”
Since implementing it, Proactive Schedule Management has improved safety (with more reliable duty rest) and quality of life. It provides assurance to the CFO, that the travel team is working within its budget month after month.
And with upgrades to the scheduling software, Dawson’s team is able to combine more passengers on the same flight and reduce empty legs. “It’s more work, the logistics,” she said, “but we’re getting more trips in and still flying the same number of hours.”

Jack Henry's travel team hosts facility tours often, including this group of children from a local YMCA.
Attacking Workforce Challenges
The other area where we could tell Jack Henry had improved was attacking the pilot and mechanic shortage from every angle. They have emphasized retention, by providing more schedule stability, investing in professional credentials and moving to collaborative hiring in maintenance.
“It’s an ownership-driven interview with my whole team,” said Leech. “Then everybody gets a vote on hiring that candidate. By doing that, we create an environment where we all want the new hires to succeed.”
“… we create an environment where we all want the new hires to succeed.”
TERRY LEECH, Maintenance Director, Jack Henry
The travel department has also stepped up their internship program and apprenticeships with local community colleges. And their talent pipeline extends all the way to grade school.
“We probably host a tour every month,” said Whannell, nodding toward the YMCA campers crawling inside the Bonanza, twisting every dial, alongside a beaming Leach. “And I think any flight department can do that. If you’re not looking to build out your staffing beyond the team you have today, I think you’re missing the mark. Business aviation would benefit by ensuring the doors area is always open.”
Cost-Cutting Innovations Drive Sustainability
In NBAA’s first profile of Jack Henry’s flight operation, in 2017, we learned how they implemented a single-engine taxi procedure to extend the life of their brake pads. It was a cost-cutting measure, inspired by FOQA data and intended to save on parts and fuel.
It benefitted the bottom line, but as the company leadership began listing responsible use of aircraft in its annual emissions report, they saw how it also benefitted the environment.
“I think one of the key components of sustainability is understanding that what’s good for the business and what’s good for the environment are not necessarily mutually exclusive,” said Chief Pilot Michael Whannell. “You can have good business practices that manage help costs, they help manage fuel consumption, and in turn, they lower carbon emissions overall.”
In the intervening years, Jack Henry has also begun requesting flight idle descents from ATC when returning to their home airport in Monett, MO. Another fuel-saving practice: They use LED lights and electric GPUs.
“Some of those practices we put in place a while ago, for operational efficiencies,” Whannell said, “but it’s also important to recognize their impact on sustainability, as things you’re doing right. I’m very proud that our company talks about responsible use of aircraft.”
Snapshot
Aircraft: Four Phenom 300s and one Beechcraft Bonanza
Base: Headquartered at Missouri’s Monett Regional Airport (HFJ)
Personnel: 14 pilots, 8 travel counselors, 4 maintenance technicians, 3 line service technicians and 1 admin