Van Nuys-based scheduled and chartered private jet service operator Aero Technologies Inc. is making a big bet on a small niche market: high-end travelers who are willing to pay more to fly to avoid the hassles of commercial airports for their vacation destinations but don’t want to pony up the really big bucks to charter their own plane.

Aero Technologies, which does business as just Aero, was founded in 2019 by Uber Technologies co-founder Garrett Camp initially as an “Uber for jets,” a platform matching up customers with private jets. But during and after the pandemic, it has morphed into a two-tier operation: one a semi-private jet service offering premium seats on private aircraft making scheduled flights and the other a more traditional charter jet service.

“The aim was to fill the gap between first class on commercial jets and private charter service,” says Aero Chief Executive Ben Klein. “We offer all the conveniences of private charter service at the price of a first-class ticket.”

It can cost $20,000 to $30,000 to charter a private plane for regional flights, while a first-class ticket aboard a commercial airline typically runs anywhere between $1,000 and $3,000. Also, Aero steers clear of major commercial airports, Klein says, so that customers can avoid spending lots of time dealing with hassles those airports entail.

Getting its start

In 2021, Aero established its flagship terminal at Van Nuys Airport and launched nonstop scheduled flights year-round to Aspen, Colorado, and Los Cabos, Mexico, with seasonal flights to Sun Valley in Idaho.

In the second half of last year, Aero added services to Napa, Las Vegas and Thermal Airport in the eastern Coachella Valley.

In January, Aero launched services three times per week between Van Nuys Airport and Salt Lake City, just ahead of this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, 30 miles to the east.

This month, Aero is starting flights between Teterboro Airport (a general aviation airport in New Jersey, 12 miles from Manhattan) and Aspen, Colorado.

Klein says scheduled flights to more destinations are under consideration for launching in the next couple of years. He notes that customer demand has been most intense for service between Los Angeles and New York, even as that route is now heavily served by commercial airlines.

As of now, he says, Aero derives about 55% of its revenue from selling seats aboard these scheduled private jet flights. (He declined to give a revenue figure.) The remaining 45% of revenue comes from traditional charter service, often for the same customers.

All the flights use ER-J135 jets manufactured by Brazilian company Embraer, the third largest civilian aircraft maker behind Boeing and Airbus. This aircraft typically seats about 30, but Aero has reconfigured the interiors to seat 16 passengers, meaning there’s considerably more legroom and space for more luxury amenities.

“We offer more space and privacy,” Klein says.

He also notes that this seating configuration is particularly advantageous for touring music bands and their equipment – at a much cheaper price than a band would spend on a charter flight.

One of trio of major players

Aero is not the only company offering scheduled private jet service-by-the-seat.

According to Doug Gollan, president and editor of Private Jet Card Comparisons, which offers a buyers’ guide to program offering cards, memberships and fractional ownership of aircraft, there are two other significant players in the market: Dallas-based JetSuiteX Inc., or JSX as it’s better known, and XO, a subsidiary of United Arab Emirates-based Vista Global Holding. Both are significantly larger operations, with JSX having at least 47 aircraft serving 22 destinations across North America.

Gollan says this is a particularly difficult market to make money in.

“Anything that’s a good experience for consumers in aviation and is affordable is usually very hard to make it work economically, and this market is no exception,” he says.

Also, Gollan says, the biggest drawback is the lack of frequency on these scheduled flights.

“Commercial airports offer several flights per day to many of these destinations, so if you miss one or want to time your arrival, it’s relatively easy to do so,” he says. “And as for charter flights: you go when you want to. Aero flights are at most once per day to a specific destination, which offers very little scheduling flexibility.”

Gollan says that companies like Aero need to have robust higher-margin charter flight operations to balance out the limitations of scheduled flight service.

Kein says that for its charter flights, Aero uses the same Embraer planes, which can be easily adapted to provide high-end charter service.

On the ground, Klein says that a major focus has been on building partnerships with high-end hotels such as the Waldorf Astoria and Four Seasons chains in the luxury destinations Aero serves. One example is a recently announced partnership with the Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Los Cabos.

“With these partnerships, our guests can get preferred pricing, both at the hotels and aboard our airline,” he says.