Stratos Jets launches private air charter franchise program

Stratos Jets has soft-launched what it calls “the private air charter industry’s first franchising program.”

Executives at the Orlando-based broker say the goal is to remove the pain points for small-to-midsized brokers by enabling them to focus on servicing their clients and finding new ones.

Ideal franchisees will have at least $4 million in sales and have been in business for at least three years.

Stratos Jets President Joel Thomas says his brokerage is the new entity’s first franchisee.

Thomas adds, “Through our franchising model, we’re spearheading a critical consolidation that will result in a better customer and air carrier experience through streamlined coordination processes, greater information sharing, and a higher safety standard.”

He tells Private Jet Card Comparisons that the franchisor will provide full support from sourcing flights, quoting, trip management, and payments.

Franchise brokerages access the Stratos Flight Management System.

The native Salesforce technology platform provides the franchisee with an end-to-end suite of services.

It also allows franchisee clients access to all their current flight and past travel data through a secure client portal.

Profitable growth

The goal is that franchisees are free to build their business by letting the Stratos franchisor platform handle backend activities.

Thomas says that for small brokerages to grow, virtually all the profit goes into the costs of supporting non-sales functions.

He also believes midsized brokers will see the advantage of not having to staff backend support year-round in what can be a seasonally slanted business.

After an initial franchise fee, all other costs are transaction-based.

That means the only time the franchisee has expenses is after they sell a trip, says newly appointed COO Darren Engle.

Stratos collects payments and then remits monies to the franchisee after paying the operator and any fees.

Franchisees also benefit from his company’s reputation and credibility with operators. Stratos Jets is an Argus Certified Charter Broker.

Engle says the target is $100 gross revenues from franchisees within 18 months.

The company says the charter market is valued at $15 billion in annual sales.

Franchise agreements run for 10 years, with more details expected in the coming weeks.