By Joe Martin, Reporter- Houston Business Journal, 11/3/15

A new private jet service based out of Florida is expanding its operations to Houston with a regular flight to and from Dallas.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based JetSmarter Inc. operates a global network of 3,200 aircraft in 170 countries. The company is focusing on the Dallas-to-Houston route because of the high volume of daily travelers between the cities, said CEO Sergey Petrossov.

Sergey Petrossov, CEO of JetSmarter Inc., which just launched a regular flight to and from Dallas.

JetSmarter charges an annual fee of $9,000 to be a member. From there, members get access to regularly scheduled shuttle flights from market to market, like the one from Houston to Dallas. In addition, if the regularly scheduled flights don’t work, members are able to create an entirely new flight — for the up-front cost of $1,900, which includes access to four guaranteed seats. Members do have the ability to charter an entire jet for themselves, as well.

The flight to Dallas departs from Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport on Tuesdays at 7 a.m., with a return flight to Houston at 8:30 a.m. On Thursdays, JetSmarter flies out of Hobby at 6 p.m., with a return flight at 7:30 p.m.

The service works through a smartphone app, where members can look at flight availability and create a new flight, entirely from their smartphone.

For now, the JetShuttle flights from Houston only fly to Dallas, but sometime in 2016, the company expects to have more flights to and from other Texas destinations as well as outside the state, Petrossov said.

“Consumers hate travel because of the airport experience. It’s not fun like the golden age,” Petrossov said. “What we’re trying to do is bring aviation back to the elevated experience where it’s fun and exciting.”

In July, Dallas-based Rise announced daily flights to and from Dallas, as well.

Article at Houston Business Journal