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With tailwinds gradually picking up, Directional Aviation Capital’s principal Kenn Ricci announced his OneSky Flight’s Flexjet unit will expand its European presence in 2021.
Before the Covid-19 Coronavirus crisis, plans had called for a launch this month during the annual EBACE exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland.
Aircraft manufacturer Bombardier founded Flexjet in 1995. It focuses on fractional ownership and leases of private jets and also has a limited jet card program.
Since 2012, it has been part of the Directional Aviation family of companies created by private aviation entrepreneur Ken Ricci, including Sentient Jet, PrivateFly, Tuvoli, FXAir, jet re-manufacturer Nextant Aerospace and jet sales company Sojourn Aviation, as well as others. Its operating unit is OneSky Flight, LLC.
In 2021, OneSky Flight acquired helicopter operators in the U.S. and U.K. and rebranded them under Halo. OneSky also placed an order for 200 eVTOLs from Embraer-backed EVE. The goal is to create door-to-door private aviation solutions for customers of Flexjet and other OneSky brands.
Separately, a SPAC led by Ricci priced at $200 million launched on the NASDAQ in November 2020.
The company has billion-dollar orders for Embraer’s Praetor 500 and 600, the upcoming Gulfstream G700. It also had an order for 20 of the now-discontinued supersonic Aerion AS2 private jets.
The company is based in Cleveland and ranks second behind NetJets based on fractional share operators’ flight hours.
Flexjet serves customers located in North America and in 2020, expanded to Europe.
In March 2021, it launched a jet card program in Europe based on the Embraer Legacy 500.
In October 2022, it announced plans for a SPAC IPO.
As part of its SPAC merger, OneSky Flight will be renamed Flexjet, Inc. Constant Aviation will join the flight providers (Flexjet, Sentient Jet, FXAir, PrivateFly, Sirio, and Flair Jet) in the public company. Tuvoli, 4Air and others will remain privately held.
Directional Aviation is its controlling shareholder. It is part of OneSky Flight, which includes Sentient Jet, FXAIR, PrivateFly, and Tuvoli. An IPO of OneSky is planned for 2023, when it will be renamed Flexjet, Inc. and trade as FXJ on the New York Stock Exchange
