Our History

Airport Orbit, Inc. (formerly Lenz Travel Airport Shuttle which operated under The Cultural Studies Academy, Inc.) is a family-owned business (The Lenz Family, of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania) that has been the premiere shared-ride provider in the transportation industry since 1983. Now its own corporation, since 2004, and servicing six surrounding counties, Airport Orbit, Inc. continues to offer door-to-door pick-ups, drop-offs, one-way and round trip transfers as a fully insured, certified and licensed (under the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission), on-demand service.

Lenz Travel Airport Shuttle 1999

AIRPORT TRANSPORTATION: Airport Orbit is the only specialized ground transportation service of its kind operating to/from the Pittsburgh International Airport and Downtown Pittsburgh Amtrak & Greyhound Bus Stations with a fleet of vehicles servicing all of Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Lawrence, Mercer, and Venango counties in Western Pennsylvania.

CAR SERVICE: Airport Orbit’s SPROCKET POINT-2-POINT TRANSFERS car service for private and corporate needs features transfers within half hour minimum time frames (no maximum time). Transfers may originate from any point in Pennsylvania and be destined to any point in Pennsylvania.

With a fleet of well maintained, shiny clean, colorful vans and sedans; professional in-house booking agents; friendly, polite drivers focusing on safe, comfortable, convenient conveyance, our philosophy was built and continues to successfully regulate upon professional, friendly, uncompromising quality; efficient, economical service; and reliable responsiveness with urgency to any problem that jeopardizes these standards. We operate transfers 24/7, 365 days a year!

Airport Orbit & SPROCKET Point-2-Point Transfers, Slippery Rock

This is how it all began... by Dr. Henry Lenz (and Linda Lenz)

Back in 1962, when I was teaching German Language at Johnny Appleseed High School in Mansfield, Ohio... (that school doesn't even exist anymore.) Linda and I were invited to dinner by some of the parents of my students. On our way there Linda and were talking about and wondering why we had even been asked to join them. This wasn't our crowd really, I was still getting my Ph.D. and just a high school teacher and Linda was at home with the girls... they were doctors and lawyers and professionals. But, we were happy to be invited (and looking forward to a nice evening out). We had a wonderful evening and after a delicious meal, over coffee and dessert one of the men called out, "Henry, I guess you are wondering why we invited you here tonight." (Everyone was in a hush and looking at us.) Well, I was startled and didn't know what to say and thankfully before I came up with something he continued.. "We've all talked and we all really want our children to travel to Europe, to learn about the people, the culture, the language....and we've all decided that YOU are going to be the one to take them there." (Well, we were shocked, amazed, we didn't know what to think...how exciting!) Long story short, they had everything set up, the one that was an attorney had all the legal forms written up, the one that was an accountant had all the money and accounts set up, the kids were excited, and Linda and I were, well, ready for one of the greatest adventures of our lives! They sent me over in the fall of 1962 to organize things and we took our first group over in 1963. That first year the program was in Mayrhofen (a small village near Innsbruck), but the following summer we moved it to Salzburg, and we've been there ever since.

The Lenz Family (while in the Toronto Airport) in 1967...pictured in order from left to right is Henry, Linda, Susan (oldest daughter), Wanda (second daughter), Susan Feller (Henry's niece from Toronto just in visiting the family at the airport), Erica (third daughter), in back is Margaret Lenz (Henry's mother, who traveled with them when the girls were younger) and in front is little Sonya (fourth and youngest daughter, now President of Airport Orbit).

Now, about 15 years later, when those kids were out of college and out in the real world, they got in touch with us and asked us to plan another trip for them, but this time, they wanted to "see more of the world". (And that is when we started doing our other tours, not only the study program, but non-study yet still educational type tours to wonderful places like the Orient, Egypt, Greece, cruises, etc.) So we got on the ball, and ready for our next great adventure! (The girls came along, we took them everywhere with us, on safari in Kenya, to Spain, Sonya was practically born on an airplane! It wasn't always easy, but it was always an adventure! The Cultural Studies Academy isn't just what we do, it's who we are.)

Well, we operated our tours and the Salzburg Summer Program (now known as the European Summer Study Program in Salzburg, Austria) just fine in the late 70's and early 80's, and the girls were growing up and traveling with us all over the world! Then Wanda (our second daughter) decided that college wasn't for her (even though she was taking wonderful courses and getting good grades) and she wanted to go to Travel School. She graduated at the top of her class and we could not have been more proud. Around that same time, we were having problems booking our group tour's flights with the airlines and agents, things were changing in the airline industry (as they always do), and Wanda was ready, so we opened Lenz Travel Services, in 1982, right on Main Street in Slippery Rock! At the time, we didn't really expect much business from the locals and figured we would be fine with Wanda managing the travel agency and booking our tours for us... but low and behold the town wanted to travel! When we opened our doors to the public we found we were so busy that we had to hire another full-time travel agent! (It was great, we all worked in the office, even Sonya would come in after her classes in the middle school and file brochures.)

It wasn't long before good friends and neighbors started coming into the agency and booking flights to visit their relatives in distant States and even to other countries. I found several of them were ladies from our street that used to babysit our girls. They were so pleased to finally have a way to buy their airline tickets and more so, to get help from Wanda...who planned their trips to every last detail. Their only dilemma was on how they would find a way to get to and from the airport in Pittsburgh (it's about an hour and fifteen minutes drive from Slippery Rock). Of course they had always been there for Linda and I to watch the girls, so I started driving them. It was fine for a while, but before I knew it word got out and more and more of these seniors started coming in and booking trips and needing rides to the airport! (It got out of hand, he was teaching full-time, running the International Education department on campus, directing the tours AND driving all these little old ladies back and forth to the airport!) So we decided that the town needed a transportation service!

(It started out in 1983, with one company car and Henry. There was so much paperwork involved with the P.U.C. and getting our approvals, it took about a year before we were operational. We did maybe two or three runs a week and serviced just the Slippery Rock and Grove City local areas. Once in a while Wanda would drive an evening run to the airport. Frequently I made runs to the airport. But it didn't take long before we needed a 'real' driver. That was back even before car phones. It wasn't easy, but we managed.) That was the start of the shuttle service, back with the old Pittsburgh Airport. Since then, the service has really grown, there is a new Pittsburgh International Airport and Sonya has done a great job with everything. She has a fleet of vehicles, about 15 part-time drivers, cell phones, does the e-mail, goes all over six counties, has a car service, has the voicemail messaging service, has the websites, is on the Facebook... the works! Of course she has done a great job, we taught her a good work ethic and what we knew, after all she was there when the shuttle service began! And when she needed to separate the tour company and travel agency from the shuttle service (in 2004) she changed the name of the shuttle service to 'Airport Orbit, Inc.'... but people still call it 'The Lenz Shuttle' and that's just fine with me. (In the 90's the travel industry changed yet again. Airlines cut commissions being paid to travel agents and finally just eliminated them all together. We went through many transitions in our office. When we started we didn't even have computers...all the airline tickets were written by hand! It was years before the internet! But the businesses are still 'us'... with Sonya... she maintains our The Lenz Family philosophy...each tour she conducts, travel arrangement she tickets, and transport she convoys makes us proud.)

Sonya Lenz, President of Airport Orbit, Inc.