After 10 years V2 Jets is launching its first guaranteed rate jet card alongside a dynamic pricing membership.
After a decade building its business through on-demand charter flights, V2 Jets has launched both a guaranteed-rate jet card and a dynamic-pricing membership.
The Obsidian Jet Card is available in 25- or 50-hour denominations with fixed hourly rates and guaranteed availability.
V2 Vault offers dynamic pricing and requires a deposit of either $100,000 or $250,000.
Obsidian was launched last month.
V2 Vault is being rolled out this week.
The charter broker was started in 2015 by Steven Rosenzweig and Guy Endzweig.
Rosenzweig cut his teeth at Apollo Jets.
Endzweig had been in financial services.
The pair knew each other growing up as their families vacationed at the same resort.
Managing Partner Alden Lebov (pictured right), a lifelong aviation enthusiast, joined the company as an intern while in college and has seen it grow to over $100 million in annual sales.
He says V2 Jets’ sales gains came organically, without private equity, by taking a consultative approach.
Lebov says, “Flying privately should be everything that you see in the movies, plus the additive bonus of reliability, concierge service, and truly delivering on that promise.”
Lebov continues:
‘A lot of other private aviation companies just sell you the flight. They’re not even talking to you on the day of the trip. If you’re working with an executive assistant, a travel agent, or an agent of some sort acting on behalf of their client, those people rely on service providers to keep them in the loop on travel day. (Rosenzweig and Endzweig) felt that a lot a of aviation companies weren’t doing that. That was really the bread and butter of why they started this.’
V2 Jets, Lebov says, has a strong business with road shows, live entertainment, celebrities, athletes, and via travel advisors.
Lebov believes the UHNW clients and their support staff will continue to value the personal touch over digital booking tools.
Lebov notes, “You look at travel agents, the ultra-high net worth individuals are still using luxury travel agents, whereas the people that are not ultra-high net worth, they’re using Expedia, Orbitz.”
He continues, “You look at CPAs and tax advisors as well, the ultra-high net worth individuals are using actual human CPAs, whereas the non-ultra-high net worth individuals are using TurboTax.”
Lebov predicts, “And my guess is that you will continue to see the same trend with the ultra-high net worth in private aviation.”
Accenture, PwC, and Salesforce veteran Samuel Tepper (pictured left), who joined earlier this year as chief growth officer, says technology will be used to support those who support end users.
Technology, rather than replacing human interaction, will help deliver itineraries and invoices more efficiently, process payments, upload passports, and update passenger manifests.
Tepper says, “The end users are certainly our clients, but then the EAs and chiefs of staff and travel directors and those folks, we’re making it absolutely easy to do business with us there.”
AI, he says, can analyze past travel habits to provide insights and recommendations for future flight planning.
The Obsidian Jet Card offers a 25-hour and 50-hour product.
The V2 Jets jet card offers several nice features.
It doesn’t charge taxi time.
There are four cabin categories.
Non-peak callout and penalty-free cancellation is 72 hours.
Guaranteed rates extend to the Caribbean and Canada.
Unused balance is refundable.
There are recovery insurance options.
At the same time, it is not meant to appeal to every flyer.
There are 62 peak days with a 168-hour callout and cancellation window.
Daily minimums are 120 minutes, though efficient flight minimums can be reduced to 90 minutes on a case-by-case basis.
Upgrading and downgrading are restricted to 50-hour buyers.
V2 Vault is a straightforward dynamic pricing membership with cancellation terms and a pass-through from the operator.
There is a $250 or $500 catering credit, depending on the deposit level.
Also, through year’s end, recovery insurance is included.
Tepper says that the launch of memberships isn’t a pivot.
Instead, it is a way to serve customers who want its high-touch service in a programmatic offering.
Lebov says V2 Jets isn’t dividing sales, reservations, and sourcing.
Instead, it has a client-centric approach with teams handling all functions.
Lebov says the idea of having the person who sells you the program also handle sourcing and communications for your flights is that they are best positioned to understand your personal needs and preferences.
That approach also enables V2 Jets to develop in-house talent who start assisting brokers and senior brokers before moving into broker roles.
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