One of my best friends is getting married in Barcelona next summer and the plan is to fly to Ibiza after and keep the party going. Any recommendations on a private charter company I can use that can transport 80 people? Thanks in advance!
Long post but I’ll keep it real.
I’m a Supply Chain Management senior at University of Houston-Downtown graduating December 2026. Most people in my major end up in logistics, manufacturing, or oil & gas. I’m going a different direction — private aviation.
The way I see it, supply chain and charter brokering aren’t that different. You’re sourcing the right asset, vetting vendors, managing cost variables, and coordinating moving parts under time pressure. The difference is the asset flies. My background gives me a systems-thinking lens that I think most people coming into this industry don’t have — I think about repositioning costs, operator relationships, and trip economics the same way I’d think about a supply chain network.
I’ve been self-studying the broker side seriously for a few months — aircraft categories, range-first selection logic, the on-demand booking process, operator vetting, jet card structures, international permits. Before reaching out to anyone in the industry I wanted to actually know what I was talking about.
As part of that, I built a working web app called the DFW Charter Estimator — it’s a lead capture and quoting tool designed around the Addison Airport market. It lets users select aircraft category, input passenger count with accurate limits, get a rough estimate, and includes a CO2 emissions output with carbon offset tiers. Built it to learn the product side of aviation and to have something real to show people, not just a resume.
My long-term goal is vertical integration — brokering first, then acquiring operator stakes, eventually owning a Part 135 certificate and building toward a fractional program. The blueprint I study is Kenn Ricci’s. What he built with Directional Aviation — starting as a broker, rolling up operators, building fractional programs, and stacking cash-flowing assets instead of chasing one big exit — is exactly the model I want to replicate at a smaller scale in the DFW market. He’s the reason I got serious about this industry.
Right now I’m based in the DFW area, a member of NTBAA, and starting to build relationships at Addison Airport. I’d love any feedback on the estimator, advice from people who broke in without a pilot’s license, or just to connect with others who are obsessed with this industry the way I am.
Link to the estimator: https://dfw-charter-estimator.lovable.app
Happy to answer any questions. Thanks for having me.
I may have an opportunity to move to bermuda (from the northeast US) and work there, but need to get my husband and two dogs there as well. Dogs are well behaved but one in particular has anxiety, which is why they can absolutely not go in the cargo hold of a plane (theyre 50lbs each)
What kind of cost am I looking at in general. Just need to know ballpark to budget
Does anyone here have any advice?
Law student in the UK here. Honestly, I don’t think traditional legal practice is for me long term. I’m much more interested in private jet brokerage/business aviation because I enjoy networking, sales, client relationships, travel, and fast-paced work.
Problem is I have zero aviation background and no industry connections.
How do people realistically break into private jet brokerage? What skills matter most, and what’s the best way to enter the industry at 20?
Would appreciate honest advice from people actually working in the field. Also I’m willing to get any work experience or internship.
Hello everyone - I am looking to arrange an emergency on-call charter option for a late weekend in June. I will be staying in the Wildwood/Cape May, New Jersey area while my wife is nearing her due date, and I may need rapid transportation back to the Pittsburgh area on short notice in the event she goes into labor early. The flight would be for 1 passenger with minimal luggage and would be one-way only unless otherwise needed. Please let me know if anyone has any connections or can help out with this situation. Thanks all!
Hi Everyone,
I’m in the middle of a career change and wanted to see if my qualifications would match well with pursuing employment as a jet Broker.
So I bring some aviation knowledge, sales ability, UHNW relationship building, and operating a business as skills to the table. Posses a bachelor’s degree and a certificate in engineering. Also i grew up in New York, lived in Boca Raton FL from my 20’s till mid 30’s . Currently in Jacksonville but still can gain contacts from my old stomping grounds and often visit.
I’m going to try and make this as short and concise as possible. I will just place some bullet points on my experience and business ownership, To try and make it short and sweet. Just adding some context as to understand why I worked at each place also. Any feedback back, thoughts, opinions, and constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you in advance and thank you for a moment of your time. Hope everyone has a wonderful day and evening ahead of them.
1.Financial advisor: 3 years 1 as a trainee . 40 million assets under management. By today’s inflation numbers would be $72 million. Left to run family business and care for ill parents.
2.RealEstate business/ Property Management : ran a portfolio for 11 years growing it from 4 to 15 million.
3.Aided a freind develop and execute deployment of enterprise sales of an SAAS software for property management and negotiation his exit.
4.Worked at TSA as an inspector for 4 years. Night shift allowed me to still care for parents and wanted to work.
consulting business for night club promotions and VIP sales several years.
5.DoD pneumatic systems mechanic. Worked in f-18’s, p-8’s, trainer craft, f-35 and helo’s. Hours allowed max time with family.
Once my dad passed and I had a second back surgery I decided to hang up the wrench.
6.worked at IRS as a recruiter. Remote position allowed me to still care for my mother. Who now has passed as well. Also this position allowed me to open two business since I was home.
7.Aided a friend establish a pipeline to sell very high value comics in his business from collections he had purchased.
8.businesses owned : night club promotions, night club consulting, recruiting business, M&A. All business are currently exited from and have been sold. Though I have kicked around an idea of just using one active llc that is a shell just for fun and creating a pod cast/vodcast.
I’m planning on relocating from Southern CA to Las Vegas in the next few months. Commercial flights don’t have the times I need to travel. So my option is a 4.5 hour drive with a sprinter and a driver or flying private. I would be flying from Vegas to Palm Sorings and back once a week pretty much for the next year. I was looking at a few charter companies with quotes around 11-13k per round trip. I don’t mind a turboprop, but was wondering how do I find the best price? Can I get a discount if I commit to 6 months or a year ahead of time? It would average about 120 hours of flying per year. Thanks for any expertise in this area.
I’m in my early 30s and have been working in corporate sales for a while now. My friend works around private jet charter and executive travel, and after hearing some of his stories it honestly made me curious about the aviation industry.
For people already working in this space, what’s something you wish you knew before getting into it? Any advice would help. Thanks!
Dear aviation professional and mods,
I’m a college student currently researching operational workflows in private aviation for a project for my Aviation Admin degree.
One thing we’ve been exploring is whether private aviation operators, brokers, or fleet managers...etc would find value in a simple daily text briefing that summarizes important market activity and tracks all critical kpis from the previous day, things like fleet movement, utilization shifts, route activity, demand changes, aircraft availability patterns, etc. And also suggests actions to take to keep up or stay ahead of the market.
We’re trying to understand whether this is actually useful in real workflows or if existing tools already solve the problem well enough.
Would something like this realistically be valuable to you as an aviation professional or your team?
And if not, what operational information do you wish was easier to track daily in private aviation?
Would genuinely appreciate any feedback. From professionals, enthusiast or mods.
PS: I would really appreciate if this post doesn't get taken down for any reason I might have overstepped unknowingly. I never used reddit and I just made an account because my mentor suggested it as the best way to find valuable insights. Thank you everybody and the moderators. I truly appreciate your help.
hi all,
Planning a trip from the West Coast to Puerto Vallarta at the end of this year.
It’s a 3 1/2 to 4 hour flight - we’re looking to do it for three passengers two adults one child
Been quoted for a CJ3 - and wanted to get people’s takes here and see what they feel about that size on a four hour flight.
We’ve been on a CJ2+/Phenom100 before for about 1.5 hours and it’s decent, but this flight is a little bit longer so I wanted to get some opinions if any. Plus, I don’t think either of those can make it in one shot without a refueling stop.
thank you!
So my coworker waltzed into the office on Thursday looking annoyingly well rested and mentioned she'd spent the weekend in Miami. I assumed she'd found a good deal on Ryanair like a normal person. She had not. She'd flown private. For less than I paid for my last easyJet seat which was basically a middle seat next to a guy eating a warm pasty.
Apparently it was something called an empty leg or deadhead flight private jet that needs to reposition somewhere and sells the seats off cheap rather than fly empty. She was very casual about it which made it worse.
I've been searching about this for a few hours now trying to figure out if this is actually a thing normal people can do or if it's one of those "technically possible but practically you need to know a guy who knows a guy" situations.
Looking into a career change from commodities trading/imports and previous tech sales background. I’ve always had an interest in aviation and would be working under very seasoned industry executives at a reputable company. My region of the US is also favorable.
I’ve done a lot of research, the market is on paper growing, organizations are moving away from personal fleets. However, I understand I may not be considering other factors. I’d appreciate any insight as I consider, especially as my job now is very stable - high activity.