Launched in May 2015, Horizon Air Charter rolls out what it calls the industry's first monthly Flight Equity pay-as-you-go jet card program.
According to a company release, Horizon's "flyNEXT" program allows retail clients pay a nominal monthly fee from which they accrue "Flight Equity" (usable flight hours), and pay for flight or consulting services as they require them.
Horizon's "flyCORP" program allows corporate travel clients to earn unlimited cash back through their bookings much like a mileage-rewards or cash back credit card.
Horizon Air Charter CEO Luis Barros and Managing Partner Robert Rosenberg, both have histories at charter operator Starbase Aviation. Beginning with a small but expert set of charter brokers, a marketing support team and a few dedicated investors, Barros says: “Horizon Air Charter is determined to become the varsity level purveyor of charter aviation for knowledgeable flyers.”
Luis Barros, Horizon Air Charter CEO
Mr. Barros devoted his early career to true operational, first-hand working knowledge within the aircraft industry. He spent many years on the operational side of the industry before moving to sales, which is a unique trait among professionals on the brokerage side of the industry. It has provided him valuable insight that helps to set Horizon's vision and service apart from almost all other private charter companies.
"I have built my foundation upon delivering the finest quality service by focusing on the operational aspect of air charter," Luis Barros said. "Many other brokers focus on sales as their first priority but my goal has been to ensure that each and every trip runs smoothly and delivers the highest level of service and safety for every client."
Rob Rosenberg began his aviation career after years helping build his family's business, where he developed exceptional sales and management skills. Upon entering the private aviation industry Rosenberg quickly became one of the top charter sales executives in the central U.S. Rob and Luis met during Rob's early years in private aviation and formed a partnership that is set to establish a new framework for the private charter industry.
"Every client deserves the utmost respect, quality, safety, and comfort with their private charter experience," Rob Rosenberg says. "Understanding FAA safety standards, industry best practices, and general trip practicality is what sets Horizon apart and I'm proud to be part of this team."
http://www.horizonaircharter.com
Delta Air Lines is cooking up what may be one of the most appealing flight upgrades yet: one that allows you to bag a commercial flight altogether and board a private jet.
The new upgrade program, targeted at what Delta calls “high-value customers,” will cost $300 to $800, depending on destination. Beginning as soon as this week, passengers who have achieved elite or “medallion” status in Delta’s SkyMiles frequent-flyer program will be eligible for the upgrade offers. But officials stress that the initial number of private jet flights will be small and focused mainly at Delta’s East Coast hubs.
“This is truly a groundbreaking new approach from both industry standpoints,” said James Murray, vice president of operations at Delta Private Jets (DPJ). “Nobody else can do what we’re talking about doing.”
The upgrades could also help Delta quell one of the thorniest—and costliest—problems in private aviation, known as “empty legs,” or the need to reposition a jet without having a customer headed to that particular location. These inefficient flights account for roughly a third of all private jet flights, despite years of effort by the industry to minimize them. The advent of greater tracking data and new software analytics tools is likely to help private jet operators reduce their empty legs even further, said Erik Snell, president of Delta Private Jets.
Source: Delta Private Jets via Bloomberg
Initially, only Delta’s top customers—those at the highest "Diamond Medallion” level, which is met when people spend $15,000 at Delta and travel at least 125,000 miles or 140 flight segments per year—were going to be invited to purchase the upgrades. But the company has spent several months tweaking its model and decided to expand the pool of potential customers by opening it to people at the lowest elite tier, those who travel 25,000 miles or 30 segments annually, and who spend $3,000. Most of the upgrades will involve travel scheduled the next day, although Delta Private Jets said it would have some flights that offer travelers as much as 48 hours’ notice.
Earlier this year, Delta Private Jets filed for a patent on the scheme of how to transfer passengers from a commercial carrier to a private jet operator. DPJ, a wholly owned subsidiary that calls itself the fourth-largest U.S. operator of private jet flights, has received regulatory approval to fly Delta passengers on 160 domestic routes, although it plans to begin mainly with flights among Atlanta, New York, and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, near the unit’s Erlanger (Ky.) headquarters.
Over time, Delta Private Jets officials said the program might expand, potentially deploying part of the private jet fleet toward regular upgrades on certain routes, complementing Delta’s commercial service. And depending on passenger reception, Delta may begin marketing the option of a private jet upgrade as commonly as it touts airport lounges, first class, and other amenities for the most lucrative travelers. Still, “Delta operates a whole lot more flights than we have [private] airplanes,” Murray said, which means an upgrade to a private jet is likely to remain a niche offering.
Yet, the “empty legs” problem of a vacant cabin won’t ever be eliminated. That’s one reason executives at the Delta unit were keen to see if they could match up routes with their mainline parent and harvest some of Delta’s most profitable customers—many of whom might not have flown privately before but could afford to.
Read the full article in Bloomberg Business...
The full Delta Private Jets fleet is available only in FlightList PRO.
Announced today, European based charter brokerage Victor, acquires U.S. broker YoungJets to lead expansion in North America. YoungJets founder and CEO David Young will also join to serve as Victor's senior vice president of the U.S. market.
In addition, according to Victor the company has secured $5M in funding from investor customer. This second closing round augments a previously announced $8M, making a total of $13M invested in private equity from its own clientele during the last 90 days. The funds will be used for customer acquisition and scaling of the technology to meet growing demand. As the company continues to expand it will be pursuing institutional funding later this year.
Veteran aviation executive Levent Edepli, formerly of Sentient Jet, Jet Edge and more recently Jet Linx, has also joined Victor to oversee logistics and operations for North America. Edepli, as Victor's vice president of operations and customer service for North America, will focus on developing and managing supplier relationships and operational excellence. He spent 10 years at Sentient Jet co-managing the sourcing department for member flights and establishing a large, customized vendor network.
"Victor is focused on expanding its global business in a manner that maximizes operations efficiency and customer service expertise at market entry; and the addition of our funding, the YoungJets team and Levent does just that," said Victor CEO Clive Jackson. "David Young has an incredible reputation in the entertainment industry and brings a specialized team that expertly handles complex travel for high-profile jet charter clients. Bringing both David and Levent into the executive ranks further rounds out our management team with world-class talent in the aviation market."
Unity Jets Emphasizes The Privacy of Private Aviation
By Molly Duffy, Miami Herald, July 5, 2015:
Kevin Diemar is the president and CEO of Unity Jets, a small but successful boutique private jet brokerage firm that is based in west Kendall. | PATRICK FARRELL MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Kevin Diemar’s cellphone rang one recent evening. It was 9:30 p.m.; Pamela Rodriguez was frantic. Her boss, a Miami philanthropist, wanted catering service on his 7:30 a.m. flight from Miami to Anguilla the next morning.
“No problem,” said Diemar, CEO and president of Unity Jets. “I’ll take care of it.”
The next morning, the philanthropist and his two traveling companions were eating bagels and yogurt as their plane left the tarmac.
Diemar founded Unity Jets, a boutique private jet brokerage firm headquartered in west Kendall, with a plan to simplify private aviation and eliminate upfront and membership costs associated with fractional ownership and jet card programs.
“You see hundreds of ads for luxury watch companies, and I always think to myself, ‘I’m the only one who can give these people what they’re really looking for — which is time,’” Diemar said. “It really is like a time machine.”
The trip-by-trip charter and payment model has paid off... [continued - Miami Herald online]
Aircraft charter brokerage Air Charter Service has announced the opening of its seventh European operation, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Andy Christie, the company’s Group Executive Jets Director, commented, “We recognized the necessity for an office in Switzerland a few years ago and felt that now was the right time to make the move, having established an already strong Swiss client base through our French and German operations."
“We chose Geneva as it is an important hub for private aviation and a popular destination for many of our clients - we will benefit from having people on the ground here. A lot of our current clients are based here too and we are now not only closer to them, but we are also able to reach more new potential customers that we couldn’t before. Having a locally registered company and bank accounts will hopefully help us to win more clients that prefer a local service, as we have done with many of our other offices."
Andy Christie, ACS Group Executive Jets Director
“We have brought in experienced staff, who have been working out of our London, Paris and Frankfurt offices over the past six months, in the run up to opening the doors earlier this month.”
The Swiss office is ACS’s 19th global office, with two more planned in the coming nine months.
EmreAir Charter Solutions (EA Jet Charters), an air charter broker based in Teterboro, NJ, has agreed to an acquisition by charter operator Altius Aviation.
Headquartered in Syracuse, NY and operating throughout the Northeast with locations at the Portland Jetport, ME, the Manchester Airport, NH and the Essex County Airport, NJ, Altius Aviation operates 7 aircraft for charter including turborops, light and midsize jets.
Henry Laughlin, President & CEO of Altius commented: “We are delighted to
welcome the team from EmreAir Charter Solutions to the Altius family.
Throughout the negotiations it became very apparent that the EmreAir assets
and personnel would create significant synergy throughout our activities. The
net effect to Altius is accelerated growth and a better experience for both our
retail charter customers and the broker community”.
Speaking from Teterboro, NJ, Omar Diaz, Director of EmreAir stated: “Merging
our experience and passion with Altius Aviation is a logical next step for the
EmreAir team. Altius has proved to be a highly capable operator with significant
nationwide growth potential. We look forward to the future as we achieve our
goals with both Altius and the Laughlin Group companies”. The acquisition will
see the founders of EmreAir become equity stake holders in the larger company.
Altius Aviation LLC is part of the Laughlin Group family
owned aviation company. Founded in 1949, group activities span FBO
operations, maintenance, special missions design and install, avionics STC
development, airline handling, de-icing, aircraft charter and aircraft sales.
Altius operates seven aircraft for charter based throughout the Northeast US; two Learjet 60, a Learjet 31, King Air B200 and three Pilatus PC-12.
The full Alitus charter fleet is ONLY available in FlightList PRO.
"Is the private jet charter market ready to be disrupted?" Forbes.com just published an in-depth article analyzing the current jet charter market, players, technologies and future.
Many charter companies - operators and brokers - are named in the article which is a look at leveraging technologies to make a more efficient consumer market, and the actual practicalities and complexities of booking and managing individual charters. Author Doug Bollan also relates his experiences trying to search and book a charter through different methods.
This is a very interesting read for anyone involved in the jet charter market today as well as private charter consumers.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/douggollan/2015/05/13/is-the-private-jet-market-ready-to-be-disrupted/
Julie Black of Chapman Freeborn has been elected to join the council of the Baltic Air Charter Association (BACA). The appointment took place following a recent meeting of the BACA council at the Baltic Exchange in London. Julie, who is UK head of VIP charter at Chapman Freeborn, has been in the aviation industry for more than 20 years and brings a wealth of aviation experience and vitality to the association.
Julie Black of Chapman Freeborn, Air Charter Broker
Julie's aviation career began as a graduate in the marketing department of London City Airport, and was followed by roles at Regional Airports Limited at London Biggin Hill Airport. In 2003 Julie was invited to join Chapman Freeborn and quickly developed into an excellent charter broker, specializing in music and entertainment. In 2011 Julie was asked to take responsibility for the development and management of the Chapman Freeborn UK VIP team.
About her new role on the BACA council Julie commented, “I'm really excited to join the BACA council. The unique air charter industry has never been so vibrant and challenges abound for all sectors. I consider it a key message to help promote the value of the brokering industry to customers and suppliers alike and to widen the profile of the air charter industry.”
BACA is a worldwide association of air charter professionals. As the world’s largest Air Charter Association, BACA was founded nearly seventy years ago for its members of Air Charter Brokers and operators from around Europe and the rest of the world. BACA's principal objective is to promote integrity and ethical business practice in the aviation industry.
Full press release
Private Jet Charter Broker Aura Jets has partnered with two of Ocean Properties resorts to offer jet setters a unique experience of sunrise on Cadillac Mountain in Maine followed by sunset in Key West, Florida - all in one day.
Travelers will spend the first night at the boutique West Street Hotel on the water front in downtown Bar Harbor, minutes from Acadia National Park. Guests will rise early for a short ride to the top of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the North Atlantic seaboard, then return to town for a custom breakfast. Then 3-1/2 hours later after a private flight down the coast, travelers arrive in Key West. A boat ride to Sunset Key, a secluded 27 acre island oasis in Key West, transports everyone to 'island time' and a later famous Key West sunset.
The Sunrise to Sunset Private Jet Escape is completely customizable with Aura Jets and travelers can choose their length of stay in each destination. The private jet escape is available June 1 – October 18, 2015. Rates start at $36,000 for a same day transfer and includes:
One night accommodation at West Street Hotel, Bar Harbor
One night accommodation at Sunset Key Cottages, a Luxury Collection Resort, Key West
Private Aura Jets charter flight from Bar Harbor, Maine to Key West, Florida (jet can seat up to six passengers)
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The new upgrade program, targeted at what Delta calls “high-value customers,” will cost $300 to $800, depending on destination. Beginning as soon as this week, passengers who have achieved elite or “medallion” status in Delta’s SkyMiles frequent-flyer program will be eligible for the upgrade offers. But officials stress that the initial number of private jet flights will be small and focused mainly at Delta’s East Coast hubs.
“This is truly a groundbreaking new approach from both industry standpoints,” said James Murray, vice president of operations at Delta Private Jets (DPJ). “Nobody else can do what we’re talking about doing.”
The upgrades could also help Delta quell one of the thorniest—and costliest—problems in private aviation, known as “empty legs,” or the need to reposition a jet without having a customer headed to that particular location. These inefficient flights account for roughly a third of all private jet flights, despite years of effort by the industry to minimize them. The advent of greater tracking data and new software analytics tools is likely to help private jet operators reduce their empty legs even further, said Erik Snell, president of Delta Private Jets.
Earlier this year, Delta Private Jets filed for a patent on the scheme of how to transfer passengers from a commercial carrier to a private jet operator. DPJ, a wholly owned subsidiary that calls itself the fourth-largest U.S. operator of private jet flights, has received regulatory approval to fly Delta passengers on 160 domestic routes, although it plans to begin mainly with flights among Atlanta, New York, and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, near the unit’s Erlanger (Ky.) headquarters.
Over time, Delta Private Jets officials said the program might expand, potentially deploying part of the private jet fleet toward regular upgrades on certain routes, complementing Delta’s commercial service. And depending on passenger reception, Delta may begin marketing the option of a private jet upgrade as commonly as it touts airport lounges, first class, and other amenities for the most lucrative travelers. Still, “Delta operates a whole lot more flights than we have [private] airplanes,” Murray said, which means an upgrade to a private jet is likely to remain a niche offering.
Yet, the “empty legs” problem of a vacant cabin won’t ever be eliminated. That’s one reason executives at the Delta unit were keen to see if they could match up routes with their mainline parent and harvest some of Delta’s most profitable customers—many of whom might not have flown privately before but could afford to.
Read the full article in Bloomberg Business...
The full Delta Private Jets fleet is available only in FlightList PRO.
The new upgrade program, targeted at what Delta calls “high-value customers,” will cost $300 to $800, depending on destination. Beginning as soon as this week, passengers who have achieved elite or “medallion” status in Delta’s SkyMiles frequent-flyer program will be eligible for the upgrade offers. But officials stress that the initial number of private jet flights will be small and focused mainly at Delta’s East Coast hubs.
“This is truly a groundbreaking new approach from both industry standpoints,” said James Murray, vice president of operations at Delta Private Jets (DPJ). “Nobody else can do what we’re talking about doing.”
The upgrades could also help Delta quell one of the thorniest—and costliest—problems in private aviation, known as “empty legs,” or the need to reposition a jet without having a customer headed to that particular location. These inefficient flights account for roughly a third of all private jet flights, despite years of effort by the industry to minimize them. The advent of greater tracking data and new software analytics tools is likely to help private jet operators reduce their empty legs even further, said Erik Snell, president of Delta Private Jets.
In addition, according to Victor the company has secured $5M in funding from investor customer. This second closing round augments a previously announced $8M, making a total of $13M invested in private equity from its own clientele during the last 90 days. The funds will be used for customer acquisition and scaling of the technology to meet growing demand. As the company continues to expand it will be pursuing institutional funding later this year.
Veteran aviation executive Levent Edepli, formerly of Sentient Jet, Jet Edge and more recently Jet Linx, has also joined Victor to oversee logistics and operations for North America. Edepli, as Victor's vice president of operations and customer service for North America, will focus on developing and managing supplier relationships and operational excellence. He spent 10 years at Sentient Jet co-managing the sourcing department for member flights and establishing a large, customized vendor network.
"Victor is focused on expanding its global business in a manner that maximizes operations efficiency and customer service expertise at market entry; and the addition of our funding, the YoungJets team and Levent does just that," said Victor CEO Clive Jackson. "David Young has an incredible reputation in the entertainment industry and brings a specialized team that expertly handles complex travel for high-profile jet charter clients. Bringing both David and Levent into the executive ranks further rounds out our management team with world-class talent in the aviation market."
Aircraft charter brokerage Air Charter Service has announced the opening of its seventh European operation, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Andy Christie, the company’s Group Executive Jets Director, commented, “We recognized the necessity for an office in Switzerland a few years ago and felt that now was the right time to make the move, having established an already strong Swiss client base through our French and German operations."
“We chose Geneva as it is an important hub for private aviation and a popular destination for many of our clients - we will benefit from having people on the ground here. A lot of our current clients are based here too and we are now not only closer to them, but we are also able to reach more new potential customers that we couldn’t before. Having a locally registered company and bank accounts will hopefully help us to win more clients that prefer a local service, as we have done with many of our other offices."
EmreAir Charter Solutions (EA Jet Charters), an air charter broker based in Teterboro, NJ, has agreed to an acquisition by charter operator Altius Aviation.
Headquartered in Syracuse, NY and operating throughout the Northeast with locations at the Portland Jetport, ME, the Manchester Airport, NH and the Essex County Airport, NJ, Altius Aviation operates 7 aircraft for charter including turborops, light and midsize jets.
Henry Laughlin, President & CEO of Altius commented: “We are delighted to
welcome the team from EmreAir Charter Solutions to the Altius family.
Throughout the negotiations it became very apparent that the EmreAir assets
and personnel would create significant synergy throughout our activities. The
net effect to Altius is accelerated growth and a better experience for both our
retail charter customers and the broker community”.
Speaking from Teterboro, NJ, Omar Diaz, Director of EmreAir stated: “Merging
our experience and passion with Altius Aviation is a logical next step for the
EmreAir team. Altius has proved to be a highly capable operator with significant
nationwide growth potential. We look forward to the future as we achieve our
goals with both Altius and the Laughlin Group companies”. The acquisition will
see the founders of EmreAir become equity stake holders in the larger company.
Altius Aviation LLC is part of the Laughlin Group family
owned aviation company. Founded in 1949, group activities span FBO
operations, maintenance, special missions design and install, avionics STC
development, airline handling, de-icing, aircraft charter and aircraft sales.
Altius operates seven aircraft for charter based throughout the Northeast US; two Learjet 60, a Learjet 31, King Air B200 and three Pilatus PC-12.
The full Alitus charter fleet is ONLY available in FlightList PRO.
"Is the private jet charter market ready to be disrupted?" Forbes.com just published an in-depth article analyzing the current jet charter market, players, technologies and future.
Many charter companies - operators and brokers - are named in the article which is a look at leveraging technologies to make a more efficient consumer market, and the actual practicalities and complexities of booking and managing individual charters. Author Doug Bollan also relates his experiences trying to search and book a charter through different methods.
This is a very interesting read for anyone involved in the jet charter market today as well as private charter consumers.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/douggollan/2015/05/13/is-the-private-jet-market-ready-to-be-disrupted/
BACA is a worldwide association of air charter professionals. As the world’s largest Air Charter Association, BACA was founded nearly seventy years ago for its members of Air Charter Brokers and operators from around Europe and the rest of the world. BACA's principal objective is to promote integrity and ethical business practice in the aviation industry.
Full press release
Private Jet Charter Broker Aura Jets has partnered with two of Ocean Properties resorts to offer jet setters a unique experience of sunrise on Cadillac Mountain in Maine followed by sunset in Key West, Florida - all in one day.
Travelers will spend the first night at the boutique West Street Hotel on the water front in downtown Bar Harbor, minutes from Acadia National Park. Guests will rise early for a short ride to the top of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the North Atlantic seaboard, then return to town for a custom breakfast. Then 3-1/2 hours later after a private flight down the coast, travelers arrive in Key West. A boat ride to Sunset Key, a secluded 27 acre island oasis in Key West, transports everyone to 'island time' and a later famous Key West sunset.
The Sunrise to Sunset Private Jet Escape is completely customizable with Aura Jets and travelers can choose their length of stay in each destination. The private jet escape is available June 1 – October 18, 2015. Rates start at $36,000 for a same day transfer and includes:
Private Jet Charter Broker Aura Jets has partnered with two of Ocean Properties resorts to offer jet setters a unique experience of sunrise on Cadillac Mountain in Maine followed by sunset in Key West, Florida - all in one day.
Travelers will spend the first night at the boutique West Street Hotel on the water front in downtown Bar Harbor, minutes from Acadia National Park. Guests will rise early for a short ride to the top of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the North Atlantic seaboard, then return to town for a custom breakfast. Then 3-1/2 hours later after a private flight down the coast, travelers arrive in Key West. A boat ride to Sunset Key, a secluded 27 acre island oasis in Key West, transports everyone to 'island time' and a later famous Key West sunset.
The Sunrise to Sunset Private Jet Escape is completely customizable with Aura Jets and travelers can choose their length of stay in each destination. The private jet escape is available June 1 – October 18, 2015. Rates start at $36,000 for a same day transfer and includes: