Lawsuit alleges Fly Alliance overpromised, overcharged management client

A new lawsuit alleges executives of Fly Alliance and related companies overpromised on how much charter revenue a former management client would receive.

The aircraft owner alleges it was overcharged for other services and provided invoices without proper documentation.

The filing for Zap Aviation, LLC, was made in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida by The Arnold Law Group and GKG Law on June 22, 2023.

The subject of the lawsuit is N2HC, a 1996 Gulfstream IVSP.

Named as defendants are Nxt Jet, Inc. d/b/a Wing Aviation Group, LLC., Fly Alliance Charter, LLC., Kevin Wargo, Chris Tasca, and Marcello Rubano,

Wargo and Tasca are cofounders, with Wargo serving as CEO, Tasca as President, and Rubano as Senior Sales Associate.

Fly Alliance ranked last year as the 18th-largest U.S. private jet operator based on fractional and charter flight hours.

According to the filing, Zap bought the Gulfstream from the defendants.

That was followed by Zap and Nxt entering into an aircraft lease and charter agreement for tail number N2HC in August of 2022, according to the filing.

Zap deposited $1,200,000 with Nxt to prepay for maintenance as part of the Aircraft Charter Agreement.

Plaintiff alleges that the airplane had been part of Fly Alliance’s charter fleet prior to August 2022, when the parties entered into negotiations where Zap would buy the Gulfstream and then lease it back to the operator to use in its charter and jet card programs.

“Having previously operated the Aircraft under Nxt’s aircraft charter program, Nxt was fully aware of its potential profitability under its aircraft charter program,” the lawsuit argues.

Unmet expectations

The deal called for Zap to receive 90% of charter revenue. It is alleged Wargo, Tasco, and Rubano represented the aircraft would “net $100,000 a month.”

Wargo represented Zap would “net $70,000 in a bad month,” the filing states.

Zap was also promised the use of its airplane with seven days’ notice.

According to the lawsuit, “During the period when Nxt was operating the aircraft under its aircraft charter program, rather than netting $100,000 per month as represented by Nxt, instead Zap suffered losses of approximately $100,000 per month.”

It further alleges that monies provided for maintenance were used for other purposes.

Zap also says it was charged $148,778 for maintenance while failing to itemize what was actually done.

Zap says it was also charged $58,554 for crew expenses without documentation.

It alleges despite providing proper notice; its airplane was scheduled for another customer in one case.

Fly Alliance, Zap says, charged it $64,108 for the flights that would have cost about $17,000 with its own airplane.

Zap said when it terminated the agreement on Feb. 7, 2023, there was $791,403 in the prepaid maintenance account, which the defendants have not returned.

It also says it was overcharged for severance to the crew.

The lawsuit claims, “Zap suffered damages in excess of $1,000,000 as a result of Nxt’s false and fraudulent representations.”

Wargo tells Private Jet Card Comparisons, “Nxt Jet Inc confirms it has followed all terms of the contract for services.”