Flying Private to the Party

I’m sure that we are not the only ones breathing a sigh of relief at the close of the first decade of the 21st century. While there were some great highs over the course of the last 10 years, 2009 proved to be the year that separated the true power players from the amateurs just getting their toes wet. Proudly reporting that we made it out alive and will live to see another prosperous day, we have bid adieu to last year and are ready to celebrate all of the successes that 2010 has in store. With the Super Bowl bringing sports fans to Miami on February 7, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics beginning on February 12, New York’s famed Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week taking up the tents at Bryant Park from February 11 to 18, and the 82nd annual Academy Awards taking place in Los Angeles on March 7, it will be a season full of celebrations. For our elite audience of jetsetters, we have the 411 on your best bets for arriving in style to strut the red carpets at each of these world-renowned events.

82nd Annual Academy Awards

Los Angeles
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center

This year’s awards show, though moved back one week, will retain its same locale at the famous Kodak Theatre. If you aren’t a resident of the City of Angels, might we suggest flying your Hawker 700 or Challenger 601 into the Van Nuys Airport (VNY). But before the pilot signals that it is time to fasten your seat belt, here are some of the stats:

Van Nuys Airport (VNY)

• The 730-acre property can be found on radars in the San Fernando Valley just more than 20 miles from LAX and approximately an hour from downtown Los Angeles, if the traffic is behaving that day.

• Owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports and dedicated solely to noncommercial aviation, so much traffic flies in and out of VNY that it is estimated to be one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world, with 400,000 annual takeoffs and landings.

• Welcoming as many major celebrities as Teterboro in New Jersey, the Van Nuys Airport offers five major FBOs: Castle & Cooke Aviation, Clay Lacy Aviation, Maguire Aviation Group, Signature Aviation, and Pentastar.

• Perhaps as famous as some of its celebrity passengers, VNY has shown up in episodes of Alias, 24, and throughout various seasons of HBO’s Entourage.