UP FRONT • BRIEFINGS
Briefings
Q&A
GABRIEL MEZA MADRID, JET LUXE
CEO and founder of aircraft charter and management firm Jet Luxe is setting new standards for service with its flight care team.
THE COMPANY, which was founded back in 2020 on the cusp of the Covid-19 pandemic, has seen a 54% market expansion over the past four years. Madrid puts the success of his still relatively young company largely down to its in-house flight care team. Made up predominantly of ex-airline professionals, Jet Luxe took advantage of the redundancies commercial carriers began making once the reality of pandemic-induced travel disruption set in.
CJI: What prompted you to launch Jet Luxe?
Gabriel Madrid (GM): In the beginning, I just wanted to build my business. We wanted to grow it, but as it was just me and my brother, we needed to make additions to the business that would allow us to grow without compromising quality.
At the time the airlines were letting a lot of people go. So I saw an opportunity because commercial airlines, on the whole, have amazing standards of training and service and I believed that could help us grow. Eventually we realised that the flight care team we built is the cornerstone of the company.
CJI: How did you differentiate Jet Luxe from its competitors?
GM: Most brokers offer you a plug-and-play solution — usually the operator. Then they will wing their other accounts and transactions in the background whilst offering that solution. We don’t do that. We took a different approach. We attained certification as one of eight companies in the world as an Argus certified broker. We also took a different approach to service, certifying all our staff with Forbes Travel Guide. Finally, we doubled down on our dedicated team of flight care agents.
CJI: Tell us more about your flight care team.
GM: Today, Jet Luxe’s flight care team handles deployment of Jet Luxe ambassadors, manages the procurement relationship with operators and oversees much of the day-to-day operations. The team is both the right and left brain of the company.
CJI: Do you see Jet Luxe as an incubator of talent?
GM: We think of ourselves as the creator of a web behind these young people, offering them protection as they grow into professionals. So today we have about 40 people on the sales team, and we see that we can increase this to 70. Working on this team is a fantastic opportunity for people new to the industry to take that first step into aviation and understand what they can offer to customers.
CJI: Where are you seeing demand at present?
GM: Mexico has added over 1,000 aircraft in the past five years. This is just Mexico, not including Brazil, Argentina or any other country in Latin America. We see two key areas for growth in this region: transparency and digitisation. The same goes for Africa.
Bring jets home
NEW PLANES TO ACCOUNT FOR HALF OF BOMBARDIER’S SALES BY 2030
ALL AIRCRAFT manufacturers are growing their services businesses, but Bombardier has really highlighted how important this is to the company. At its NBAA BACE press conference, the Canadian manufacturer forecast that by 2030 its sales will be equally split between new aircraft sales and service/defence. It has added more than 1m sqft of maintenance shop space in the past four years and has more coming including Abu Dhabi in early 2025.
Q&A
GABRIEL MEZA MADRID, JET LUXE
CEO and founder of aircraft charter and management firm Jet Luxe is setting new standards for service with its flight care team.
THE COMPANY, which was founded back in 2020 on the cusp of the Covid-19 pandemic, has seen a 54% market expansion over the past four years. Madrid puts the success of his still relatively young company largely down to its in-house flight care team. Made up predominantly of ex-airline professionals, Jet Luxe took advantage of the redundancies commercial carriers began making once the reality of pandemic-induced travel disruption set in.
Bring jets home
NEW PLANES TO ACCOUNT FOR HALF OF BOMBARDIER’S SALES BY 2030
ALL AIRCRAFT manufacturers are growing their services businesses, but Bombardier has really highlighted how important this is to the company. At its NBAA BACE press conference, the Canadian manufacturer forecast that by 2030 its sales will be equally split between new aircraft sales and service/defence. It has added more than 1m sqft of maintenance shop space in the past four years and has more coming including Abu Dhabi in early 2025.
CJI: What prompted you to launch Jet Luxe?
Gabriel Madrid (GM): In the beginning, I just wanted to build my business. We wanted to grow it, but as it was just me and my brother, we needed to make additions to the business that would allow us to grow without compromising quality.
At the time the airlines were letting a lot of people go. So I saw an opportunity because commercial airlines, on the whole, have amazing standards of training and service and I believed that could help us grow. Eventually we realised that the flight care team we built is the cornerstone of the company.
CJI: How did you differentiate Jet Luxe from its competitors?
GM: Most brokers offer you a plug-and-play solution — usually the operator. Then they will wing their other accounts and transactions in the background whilst offering that solution. We don’t do that. We took a different approach. We attained certification as one of eight companies in the world as an Argus certified broker. We also took a different approach to service, certifying all our staff with Forbes Travel Guide. Finally, we doubled down on our dedicated team of flight care agents.
CJI: Tell us more about your flight care team.
GM: Today, Jet Luxe’s flight care team handles deployment of Jet Luxe ambassadors, manages the procurement relationship with operators and oversees much of the day-to-day operations. The team is both the right and left brain of the company.
CJI: Do you see Jet Luxe as an incubator of talent?
GM: We think of ourselves as the creator of a web behind these young people, offering them protection as they grow into professionals. So today we have about 40 people on the sales team, and we see that we can increase this to 70. Working on this team is a fantastic opportunity for people new to the industry to take that first step into aviation and understand what they can offer to customers.
CJI: Where are you seeing demand at present?
GM: Mexico has added over 1,000 aircraft in the past five years. This is just Mexico, not including Brazil, Argentina or any other country in Latin America. We see two key areas for growth in this region: transparency and digitisation. The same goes for Africa.
Merger mania
RECORD YEAR FOR CORPORATE DEALMAKERS IN 2025
The last months of 2024 and the first weeks of the New Year saw the merger of Satcom Direct and Gogo, a vertiport acquisition by Atlantic and the acquisition of connectivity company Stellar Blu by Gilat Satellite Networks. But this is just a start. Private equity firms and a few sovereign wealth funds are looking at information memorandums from large fleet operators (including Vista Global – CEO Thomas Flohr pictured), a huge MRO and one of the biggest trip planning companies. Investors are also predicting mergers amongst manufacturers in the eVTOL market.
An Apple (Vision Pro) a day
PILOTS CAN TRAIN FROM THEIR HOTEL ROOMS
CAE’s groundbreaking new training app uses spatial computing to create a virtual flight deck. The training company plans to roll out the programme soon. “We believe that the system can have a significant impact for pilot training,” Erick Fortin, director of incubation, CAE tells Corporate Jet Investor. “We are still developing and now are getting feedback from pilots.”
The company has been looking at virtual reality training for more than a decade but has been held back by technology. The Apple Vision Pro has allowed it to build a functioning cockpit. Pilots can use an ‘exploration mode’ to touch and use specific controls. In ‘guided mode’ they can work through agreed procedures. Pilots can also use the virtual flight deck normally.
