Jet Edge Growth Gathers Momentum in 2018

At a time when most people were still feeling the lingering effects of a deep recession, Bill Papariella saw opportunity in acquiring a four-airplane operation called Jet Edge International. After about a year, Papariella guided the business into profitability with 12 airplanes in its fleet. Today, the company has 52 managed aircraft based throughout the U.S. and is further expanding with 32 additional aircraft slated to join the fleet this year. The growth of the business is a function of multiple components that have helped the company retain an edge on the competition, including timing, market position, and Papariella himself.

Papariella struck while he thought the iron was hot in 2011 when he acquired Jet Edge along with his business partner, Richard Bard. “I don’t think this story could happen again. It was a function of the time. We were coming out of a deep recession. After I left NetJets, there was a great opportunity for me to sell my way through the recession and really pick up market share and it worked,” said Papariella.

As the company has evolved, Papariella explained, “It’s a good economy in theory now, so imagine what the smaller shops are not going to be doing in a downturn. These guys are running off razor thin margins if they are profitable at all. You have to consider what they are not going to be doing because they can’t afford it." Papariella recognized early on that providing value to aircraft owners needed to be accomplished in a profitable manner.

“You have to create a platform that allows you to reinvest, and you need to get to scale. At scale, you have a lot of bandwidth to do what is right for the company and drive costs down for the owner,” said Papariella. “If I’m buying $15 million worth of training, I can get it cheaper than the company spending $500,000.”

Jet Edge offers supplemental charter management, aircraft sales, and maintenance capabilities for aircraft owners. The company is not solely a charter business but rather an end-to-end platform, explained chief revenue officer Jonah Adler. “The primary focus of the business is managing aircraft for aircraft owners. Those aircraft are our core assets. One of the values that we offer to owners is the ability to charter their aircraft and generate income to offset the cost of aircraft ownership,” he said. Jet Edge guarantees charter time for aircraft owners “on a non-institutional basis, case by case” and “this has been a key driver in our growth,” explained Adler.

Papariella’s network and focus on large-cabin aircraft operation has “placed Bill in a position where if there is unique value on the market, when people need to know they have a buyer for an aircraft in 24 hours, Bill will get those phone calls. This really generates value for owners. Bill doesn’t match an aircraft that has been sitting on the market for six months to an owner, and because of that he has become known as the aircraft value guy,” said Adler.

The company’s lack of debt is also an advantage that has contributed to Jet Edge’s ability to experience accelerated growth. “We’ve never taken investments here. We have no debt. We’ve never built debt. This company is operating in the nine figures without debt. It puts us in a category where we can weather a lot,” explained Papriella.

According to Papariella, Jet Edge experienced extreme growth between 2014 and 2015 followed by growth along with optimization and refinement from 2016 to 2017. Adler further explained, “revenue and charter have followed fleet growth hand in hand at 38 percent year over year. Maintenance isn’t proportionate, but has achieved 60 percent total growth over the past three years.” This year is “all about accelerating growth and maintaining extraordinary attention to the details by really looking at every area of the business and cleaning it up,” said Papariella.

Now at VNY, Company Looks East

Jet Edge’s new headquarters at the Van Nuys Airport serves as evidence of Papariella’s dedication to ensuring that no devils exist amongst the details he wants to continue to refine. One of these details is attention to Jet Edge’s high-net-worth clientele. A former Hollywood executive turned business aviation professional, Papariella has developed a sense of resourcefulness, strict attention to budget, and understanding of such a client base. This combination has fueled the decision for Jet Edge to focus on operating large-cabin aircraft, which the company believes best serves the needs of its clientele by providing comfort and long range. “To fulfill the requests of these clients, you have to be very resourceful. 'No' is not an option if it is a reasonable, legal request. You need to figure it out, and it’s not always easy, it’s dynamic,” said Papariella.

The new facility, which is under lease through Signature Flight Support, offers increased privacy for Jet Edge clients. “It is really difficult for the paparazzi to take photos here, and we have the ability to provide in-hangar boarding for celebrity clients. We can control the experience for the owner,” said Papariella.

Finding the building, however, was a taxing endeavor for Jet Edge. “You don’t just find these buildings. You have to be the best of the best to get them. We were spending a lot of money in fuel, parking, and everything else at our old location, and the fuel companies started to notice. I told them that whoever finds me a place to live wins,” said Papariella.

The Jet Edge headquarters offers Class A hangar space along with modern amenities and resources for employees and clients. “This building indicates where we’ve gone as a company from a growth standpoint and allows us to scale. We have more space for our aircraft, and the facility allows us to scale and attract our employee base,” said Papariella.

The business is expanding its infrastructure footprint with operations expected to extend to the East Coast at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York, as well as at Teterboro, New Jersey. Jet Edge is also preparing to receive seven Embraer Legacy 650s, five Bombardier Globals, 14 Gulfstream GIV-SPs, four G450s, and two G550s this year, bringing the total fleet   to more than 80 aircraft.

“This isn’t a hobby for us. We want to apply real business principles and grow Jet Edge responsibly. I want to double the [current] Jet Edge fleet to 100 aircraft by 2020,” said Papariella.