FLYEXCLUSIVE • PROFILE
The last mile on floats
Delivering an elite seamless travel experience to the very last mile is the aim of flyExclusive’s new Cessna Caravan service. Words: Fayaz Hussain
Liquid assets: flyExclusive's amphibious and land plane Caravans will ease clients' journeys.
FLYEXCLUSIVE
The last mile on floats
Delivering an elite seamless travel experience to the very last mile is the aim of flyExclusive’s new Cessna Caravan service. Words: Fayaz Hussain
PROFILE
Liquid assets: flyExclusive's amphibious and land plane Caravans will ease clients' journeys.
YOUR SMOOTH flight in the sleek business jet from the city was perfect. You can’t wait to reach the holiday island. It’s only a boat ride away. But what if the sea is choppy? Fractional and charter operator flyExclusive has the answer. (It’s not a packet of sea sickness tablets).
In June this year, flyExclusive launched new Cessna Caravan and amphibious Caravan services for its private jet users. The aim is to ensure clients reach their exclusive luxury destinations in the maximum possible comfort. So, clients visiting Fisher Island, off the Florida coast, or the Exuma Islands in the Bahamas, with its chain of 365 cays and islands, can expect door-to-door service without the inconvenience of choppy water crossings.
For flyExclusive CEO Jim Segrave, this is just the right time for this new service. It aligns with his ambition of crafting complete travel experiences with an unparalleled level of personalisation. “There was a clear gap in the market – and the time was right to introduce a service our customers have been asking for,” he tells us.
The new service complements flyExclusive’s existing portfolio of private aviation solutions including its fractional ownership programme, jet club and charter services. Segrave sees this as a natural step forward in his company’s mission.
“There’s tons of our customers that are talking about last mile,” explains Segrave. “A lot our customers are flying to Florida and they’re going to the islands and the Bahamas and jumping across constantly.”
Segrave says clients can now transition seamlessly from one of their Citation jets in Fort Lauderdale or Miami onto a Cessna Caravan that can touch down in water next to their yacht, or one of the smaller islands with limited or no access for business jets.
At its core, the company operates on a simple premise: make private aviation as accessible as possible. This idea forms the basis for its two flagship products, the Jet Club and Fractional Programme. Both represent different entry points for what Segrave calls a “subscription model”.
There’s a growing trend for this model especially among the younger generation. “I see the younger crowd being more interested in subscription-based products rather than buying whole aircraft,” he says. “They’re very interested in the fractional space.”
It’s a preference flyExclusive has capitalised on to fuel recent growth. The company’s Jet Club has matured into a programme with more than 1,000 members and makes up for a major chunk of the company’s customer base. Meanwhile, the company’s fractional programme, only one-year old, already has 100 members and is growing fast.
“If we look back to how Jet Club evolved when we started it five years ago, the first year of it was a slow kind of growth,” Segrave recalls. “As Jet Club matured and customers understood the product and the salespeople understood how to sell it, the service really skyrocketed. We’re feeling the same trend and the same momentum today with that fractional programme.”
“More than half our growth comes from referrals. Satisfied customers are becoming our best marketing channel.”
Jim Segrave, CEO, flyExclusive.
But there are a lot of subscription models in the market. Many players have failed to deliver on the growth which once looked very promising. However, flyExclusive, says it is not just launching a service. What sets its business apart from the competition is the obsessive focus on personalisation, he claims. By using technology and analysing customer data, FlyExclusive aims to replicate full ownership experience for their subscription customers.
“What we want to do as an operator is to make the experience as close as possible to an owner, to a fully owned experience,” Segrave explains. “This means pilots who know not just passengers’ beverage preferences but also their family members’ names, anniversary dates and even their pets’ names.
“You can have customers who are willing to share their location on the day of the flight or hours prior to the flight where we can see them coming to the airport, the pilot can see that moving across the screen [of their mobile phone],” Segrave describes. “So, the pilot doesn’t have to be sitting in the lounge waiting to be paged to look for a customer.”
It is a lot of work, admits Segrave, but this level of personalisation has generated a power referral engine for the company. “We’re getting more than half of our growth from referrals,” he says. “Satisfied customers are becoming our best marketing channel.”
This is also driven by flyExclusive’s customer base. The company’s customer demographics show most passengers use flyExclusive services for personal travel with the average age becoming ever younger.
Reaching your island paradise in the Bahamas is a lot easier by private aircraft, according to flyExclusive.
“It’s probably shifting to a younger base of people as there are more younger people who want to avoid the airlines and enjoy the convenience of flying when they want to go on their own schedule with their own families,” says Segrave. “There’s no shortage of clients; as you read about all the time the world developing more and more billionaires out of cryptocurrency and other things.”
Plus, the preference of this younger demographic aligns with flyExclusive’s subscription-based offering. Instead of choosing full aircraft ownership, they prefer the reduced commitment of buying a fraction of a jet or going the club membership routes. Segrave expects this shift towards subscription products to continue. “I see that space being strong for a long time to come. And it seems to be the trend of where the new buyers are going to.”
The company is positioning itself as a Textron operator. Nearly 80% of its fleet consists of Textron jets including Citation CJ3s and Citation XLS+ aircraft. (In September, the company added its first Cessna Citation XLS Gen2 to its operating certificate). But it is also adding Challengers to its super-mid fleet.
Segrave’s shift towards Challengers is the company’s latest bet on growth. With six Challengers already on its fleet and plans to increase those to “low double digits by end of the year”, Segrave sees this as an opportunity for him to serve clients who have outgrown light jets but want to avoid the complexity of heavy jets.
Helping clients arrive at their island destination refreshed is the aim of flyExclusive’s new Cessna Caravan service.
“Younger people want to avoid the airlines and enjoy flying when they want to ...”
The company’s growth strategy centres around scaling their proven models. With its Jet Club already mature and delivering strong referral growth and the fractional programme gaining rapidly, Segrave expects both these offering to flourish.
“I expect our club programme to continue to grow rapidly. I also expect a fractional programme, as it really gets its feet underneath it over the next year or so when we get in the full inventory available to sell, I expect it to really be the kind of a shining light of the company for us going forward,” he tells us.
Other factors are also providing tailwinds such as the return of bonus depreciation tax benefits. This has contributed to pent-up demand amongst potential buyers who were waiting for clarity. “The backlog of people who are now in discussions with us is as big as we've ever had it,” says Segrave.
In addition to these tailwinds, Segrave’s growth strategy is designed to further strengthen the company’s market position. The company is eyeing a listing on the Russell 2000 Index – a pre-requisite for index funds to purchase the stock.
“We currently have a very low volume trade stock. We want to increase our volume, we want to increase our visibility and that will allow us to raise funds,” Segrave explains. To qualify for the Russell 2000 Index, the company has eliminated its lock-up restrictions. At the time of writing, Segrave hopes for a listing in the upcoming quarterly review scheduled for the end of September 2025.
Following inclusion, Segrave says an increased trading volume and an uptick in share price will make future capital raises less dilutive for the company. So, the company will be better positioned to finance its planned growth.
It’s a strategy which, supported by technology and flexible subscription models, will put the company at the forefront of growth in business aviation, hopes Segrave. From the company’s luxury Cessna Citation service to its new last-mile travel in a Cessna Caravan land plane or amphibious aircraft, Segrave wants to deliver clients a seamless, elite travel experience – not simply aircraft ownership.
flyExclusive is adding Challengers to its fleet for the super-mid category of clients.
flyExclusive is adding Challengers to its fleet for the super-mid category of clients.
Putting paradise within easy reach
Visiting Ambergris Cay, part of the Turks and Caicos Islands, is now much easier.
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AMBERGRIS Cay, a secluded private island nestled on the Caicos Banks 600 miles south of Miami, has long drawn visitors who value its pristine waters, natural setting and luxury accommodations. But now, reaching the island resort and home ownership community has become much more convenient following a reclassification of its international airport.
Visitors to Ambergris Cay can now fly in private aircraft, up to 92ft (28m) in size directly into Ambergris Cay International Airport – one of the longest runways in the Caribbean. This innovation follows the airport’s upgrade to Tier 1 status.
Previously visitors could fly into the island’s 5,700ft (1,740m) airport only if they owned the aircraft in which they travelled – either directly or as part of a fractional ownership scheme. Only Part 91 flights were allowed to fly directly into the island.
But those travelling on charter aircraft – designated as Part 135 commercial flights – were required to land at an FBO near the main airport on the island of Providenciales. The visitors would then board one of the private island’s fleet of four aircraft, including a Cessna Caravan and a Twin Otter, starting in early November for the short flight to Ambergris Cay.
Andreas Naegele, vice president of hospitality explains how the investment to reclassify the island’s airport has boosted the service to clients. “We want to provide our visitors and residents with a more seamless journey in arriving at Ambergris Cay,” he says.
“Arrive effortlessly via a direct charter flight to our private island resort, bypassing the need for transfers from Providenciales. Guests can now step onto their charter jet in Boston, Miami or New York and step off directly onto our island paradise of Ambergris Cay,” adds Naegele.
Ambergris Cay is home to a collection of sophisticated one and two-bedroom bungalows and 10 expansive 3- to 11-bedroom villas located across the island – with hints for more accommodations to premier late 2025/early 2026. Those interested in joining or expanding their footprint as part of the private island’s home ownership community can select from 20 homesites for custom builds or five turnkey villas.
