PrivateFly CEO Adam Twidell on new products and his new owner

A year after its acquisition by Directional Aviation’s OneSky placing it alongside Flexjet and Sentient Jet, PrivateFly is gearing up for more growth after a merger with Skyjet and launching its City Pairs product

Last September Kenn Ricci’s Directional Aviation snapped up tech-driven U.K.-based private jet charter broker PrivateFly as it prepared for more expansion in Europe.

In the year since, Directional folded its own broker Skyjet into PrivateFly, launched fixed-rate pricing between key European cities, expanded it to select U.S. routes, and signaled its intention to grow here with the appointment of former NetJets and XOJET executive Gregg Slow as president of North America.

Private Jet Card Comparisons recently caught up with PrivateFly co-founder and CEO Adam Twidell during Revolution.aero in San Francisco where he talked about the deal, the year since, what’s ahead, and synergies with Directional’s OneSky siblings Flexjet and Sentient Jet. Below is a condensed and edited version of the interview.

Skyjet rebrands, integrates with PrivateFly; Slashes Explorer membership price by 47%

JetSmarter

Through the end of April, the former Skyjet Explorer pay-as-you-go fixed rate jet card is being discounted to $5,000

Directional Aviation’s OneSky, which owns Flexjet and Sentient Jet, said it has merged its Skyjet brand into PrivateFly, which it had acquired last September. Skyjet was acquired by Directional in 2014 as part of Bombardier’s divestiture of its fractional share arm Flexjet. The Skyjet team is being merged into PrivateFly under Adam Twidell, the co-founder and CEO of PrivateFly.

Crunchbase ranks PrivateFly #2 on its list of “50 Successful Companies with Minimal Funding” behind YouTube

The company was founded by former RAF and private jet pilot Adam Twidell and his wife Carol Cork, a former executive with Conde Nast

 

With total funding of just £2 million and revenues today of over $30 million, PrivateFly snagged the number two spot on Crunchbase’s list of “50 Successful Companies with Minimal Funding.” PrivateFly sells jet cards and on-demand charter and has been expanding its U.S. presence with its takeover last year of Bird Dog Jet. 

How Much Does Age Matter When It Comes To Chartering Private Jets?

When shopping for private jet charter, older jets are often priced lower than newer jets. Some Jet Card Membership programs offer lower rates for older model aircraft.  Are you giving up anything in safety?

 

Will you have fewer amenities? Does it matter when the airplane was last refurbished? PrivateFly CEO and former RAF pilot Adam Twidell who still flies business jets provide Private Jet Card Comparisons readers with his viewpoint in this guest column. 

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