Flexjet is a provider of fractional jet ownership, leasing and jet card services. Directional Aviation, the private investment firm founded by aviation entrepreneur Kenn Ricci, has owned Flexjet since 2013. Headquartered in Richmond Heights, Ohio, Flexjet is led by Ricci, its chairman, and by Michael J. Silvestro, its chief executive officer. Flexjet is one of the largest fractional private jet companies. The company employs more than 600 pilots serving 2,100 clients.
History
Founded in 1995, Flexjet entered the fractional jet ownership market as a division of Bombardier Aerospace, the world's largest business aviation manufacturer and itself a division of Bombardier Inc. By 1998, Flexjet, doing business as Business Jet Solutions, had 41 aircraft, including the Learjet 31A, Learjet 45, Learjet 60 and Challenger 60, serving more than 200 clients. At one time, Flexjet offered not only fractional ownership and jet card but also aircraft charter services. Flexjet entered the charter market in 2000 when Bombardier Aerospace acquired Skyjet, which pioneered the online booking of private jet charters. Under Bombardier, Skyjet became one of the first companies to offer a membership program; eventually, the program became the Skyjet Card. By 2002, Flexjet had seen 20 percent annual growth since its founding. It employed more than 1,000 people, half of them flight crew members, and operated a fleet of 105 aircraft to serve 640 owners. At the time, Flexjet held an approximately one-sixth of the total fractional market, which then amounted to 650 aircraft and 3,500 owners. Flexjet saw its first substantial profit in 2006, with sales of fractional shares up 28 percent and revenue up 30 percent compared to 2005. It maintained the approximate 16 percent share of the fractional market it had enjoyed four years earlier. During this period, the company began expanding its range of aircraft, including the Learjet 40 and 45, 60, 60 XR, Challenger 300, Challenger 604 and Challenger 605. In 2008, VistaJet acquired the firm's non-U.S. operations, then branded as Skyjet International, and absorbed its operations. Subsequently, Flexjet consolidated the remaining domestic charter services under its own brand. The financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent recession had a substantial impact on the private jet industry, forcing cutbacks and retrenchment at many carriers. Flexjet weathered the downturn and, by the spring of 2013, was again reporting robust sales, with fractional share sales increasing 108 percent year over year in the first quarter. Flexjet began bringing back pilots who had been furloughed during the downturn. In September 2013, private aviation investment firm Directional Aviation announced that it would acquire Flexjet from Bombardier for $185 million in cash. At the same time, Flexjet placed orders with Bombardier for 85 jets valued at about $1.8 billion, with options for up to an additional 160 jets that could bring the contract's value to $5.2 billion. In 2014, Flexjet exited the charter market. As part of the first consolidation of its aviation companies, Directional Aviation moved the charter brokerage operations of its Flexjet and Sentient Jet companies to the Skyjet brand. Skyjet would concentrate solely on charter services, with Flexjet continuing to offer fractional programs and Sentient Jet offering jet card programs. Currently, Flexjet offers three programs: Fractional ownership, lease, and the Flexjet 25 Jet Card. In 2015, Flexjet also launched Red Label, an offering under which each aircraft has a dedicated flight crew, customized interiors, and seating configurations and the industry's youngest fleet. Each of the aircraft under Red Label is less than five years old. Other developments included the 2016 opening of the company's first exclusive private jet terminal, in Naples, Florida, followed by the opening of similar facilities at West Palm Beach, Florida and Westchester County Airport, New York. A facility at Love Field in Dallas, Texas is expected to open during 2019. Flexjet also announced the launch of intra-European service in 2016, establishing the infrastructure for its offering initially through the acquisition of United Kingdom-based charter and management company Flairjet, enabling operations within Europe. In 2018, a European affiliate of Directional Aviation's OneSky acquired a controlling interest in Milan, Italy-based Sirio S.P.A., a private jet operator and aircraft management firm. More recently, OneSky acquired United Kingdom-headquartered PrivateFly, a digital booking service for private jet charter flights.
