After Delta acquisition, aviation entrepreneur charts growth with new airline
Seven years after selling his private jet service to Delta Air Lines, aviation entrepreneur Jim Segrave is “getting the band back together” in Kinston.
His new charter company, LGM Enterprises, is doing business as flyExclusive at Global Transpark. And it involves many of the same employees that helped him build Segrave Aviation, purchased by Delta subsidiary Delta AirElite in 2010 for an undisclosed sum.
This time, however, Segrave is doing things a bit differently. “We own all our own planes, for one,” he says.
To cover the costs, LGM has closed on $315,000 in debt capital, part of an offering capped at $2.5 million, according to a securities filing disclosed May 3rd.
flyExclusive and its 20-aircraft fleet are included in the Floating Fleets section of FlightList PRO‘s multi-search platform along with all 232 floating fleet aircraft and 14 operators. Get your free 30-day trial here.
The 2-year-old firm already has a fleet of more than 20 airplanes, according to Segrave. He says flyExclusive adds a plane every two to three weeks.
While the first company had 17 different types of jets in its fleet, the new firm has just two. He says standardization means all of his pilots can fly all of his planes – giving him scheduling flexibility.
Editor note: The fleet currently includes 7 Citation CJ2 light jets, and 13 Citation Excel/XLS aircraft, all model year 2000-2008. flyExclusive was recently highlighted in a previous charter alert as now being approved for the ARGUS Platinum rating.
Segrave says the business model is working. FlyExclusive targets high net-worth individuals, business executives and families. Already, the company averages about 1,500 hours per month in the air, with about a $60 million annual run rate, he adds. The goal is to increase the fleet to 50 airplanes “as fast as I can do it,” he explains. “It will probably take me two years.”
The firm has 110 employees.
Article in Triangle Business Journal here
Previous Charter Alert about flyExclusive, 7/14/17
Sources: Article in Triangle Business Journal, public information
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