FlyExclusive’s first year as a public company comes at a time of big political and economic shifts for the aerospace market, as well as the global economy. CEO Jim Segrave told AIN that in spite of that, the air charter company is still enjoying high demand.

“So, from a demand standpoint, we still have…way more trip quote requests and demand coming in the door than we can possibly fly. So it still, for us, is not a demand issue,” he said. “It is really more about an availability issue, and availability translates to dispatch availability up time on maintenance and, of course, making the pilots so you’ve got every airplane that's available to fly. So that’s really still the focus today.” 

Segrave was also reflective of how things have changed since his company became public: “The level of accountability being a public company is intense and I wouldn’t say there’s anything that happened that I was surprised about over the last year of public, but the level of intensity is extreme and it puts lots of pressure on you. I think the business is doing a better job because of it.”

He is also optimistic about the company’s jet card program that was launched five years ago and now has more than 1,000 members. “It’s kind of in a place now where it’s got a life of its own,” Segrave said. “People know it, people prefer it, it’s simplified, it’s priced right.” 

FlyExclusive operates a fleet of approximately 100 light to large-cabin jets.