A direct message from Alta Jets founder Nicholas Disiena to Los Angeles Kings star Anze Kopitar ended up in the back of the net.
A direct message on Instagram from Nicholas Disiena to then Los Angeles Kings star Anze Kopitar propelled his nascent career as a charter broker and ultimately led to the formation of Alta Jets in 2020.
Disiena’s interactions with the NHL star also led him to launch the Alta Jets Deposit Program, which he bills as “a smarter alternative to the traditional jet card.”
As Disiena tells it, he was working for another broker and, after being on staff, continued as an independent contractor.
Disiena was taken aback by how brokers price trips based on whatever markup they thought they could get.
At the same time, the Orange County, California native was, like all brokers, prospecting for new customers.
To his surprise, a direct message on Instagram to Kopitar led to a response.
Disiena says he was a big Kopitar fan, and the hockey star put him on the spot immediately by asking whether he was a Kings or Ducks fan.
Disiena says Kopitar “was dead serious.”
Luckily, he had a picture of himself with his father at a Kings game, and from there, he was able to build trust.
After initially working with Kopitar’s agent and support team to book flights, he says they were impressed by the aircraft’s quality, pricing, and service.
“Overnight, because he started referring (essentially) the entire LA Kings team,” Disiena says.
In launching Alta Jets, Disiena says he wants to fill a gap in well-heeled Orange County, where he says there are no well-known local charter brokers.
Disiena says the deposit program formalizes what had been his standard markup: $1,500 or 8%, whichever is higher.
For now, Alta Jets has Disiena, an assistant, and one independent contractor.
However, he says the key is being both available and local, and having relationships with local operators.
“All of our business has come from word of mouth,” he says.
The local focus helped him get named to a list of local power players by an Orange County lifestyle magazine.
So far, the press coverage has yielded his current girlfriend.
Her mother recognized him from the article at a yoga class.
Disiena’s next focus is on opening a retail location.
He envisions it as a place where people can drop by to relax, talk about travel and private jet charters, or hang out.
In a twist, Alta Jets doesn’t provide free quotes.
To get a quote and an analysis, you pay a refundable $500 if you don’t take the quote.
If you book the charter, it’s applied against that price.
By adding that extra layer, Alta Jets, he says, has a high conversion rate with operators, something that allows him to stand out in an industry where some brokers spam thousands of requests that rarely turn into business.
However, building Alta Jets hasn’t been a straight line.
Disienna said he had been trying to build an instant booking platform for two years.
Last year, he decided to switch back to his previous formula: a personal approach with the fixed markup.
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