When Newspapers Take Flight

By: Jennifer Saba Gannett's properties extend out to some far-flung spots. Places like Manitowac, Wis., where the company owns the Herald Times Reporter, aren't exactly the most commercial-air friendly locales.

So when McLean, Va.,-based executives plan visits to its papers or TV stations, they can call the flight department and book a seat on one of the company's planes. Gannett maintains three ? two jets, one prop ? all managed by Charles E. Hanner, who was recently appointed head of Flight Operations. He has been with Gannett for 33 years, starting in 1972 as a pilot.

Gannett's flight department started in the mid- 1930s as a way for founder Frank Gannett to hop around papers scattered throughout New York state. Today, the company uses the planes housed at Dulles airport not only for executive travel, but to ferry reporters to breaking stories or to bring supplies to Gannett employees in disaster-stricken towns.

Gannett isn't the only newspaper company that keeps planes on hand. Knight Ridder and Tribune each own a corporate jet. So does the New York Times Co., which notes proudly its work with the Corporate Angel Network to provide transportation to cancer patients who need to travel to the same destinations as executives.

Alas, not just anyone can jump on the Gannett bird. Permission is granted out of the office of the CEO, and planes are deployed only for business purposes.