Jet Excellence Plots Course for Growth with Citation Xs

Jet Excellence is expanding its wholesale charter model around a growing fleet of Cessna Citation Xs, a direction CEO McQueen Campbell said is rooted in operating economics and scale. He emphasized the importance of matching cost structure to aircraft type and noted that rising operating expenses have altered the economics of light and midsize jets.

“Fuel was $3.50 a gallon, so every input cost we’ve got was less then,” Campbell told AIN. “The cost per hour for a pilot has gone up a lot…it’s gotten much tougher to make money in the light and the mid jet class versus the super mid.”

The air charter provider already had several Citation Xs in service before the opportunity arose to acquire additional aircraft linked to Vista-associated operations, according to Campbell. “We were already growing. We had seven Citation Xs already. This just gave us a chance to grow faster.” The larger fleet has also helped the company gain the scale it needs, he added.

Much of Jet Excellence’s expansion has centered on wholesale relationships, which Campbell described as involving strong ties with brokers and jet card providers. At the same time, he said the company is not aiming for rapid expansion at the expense of quality. “We’re not trying to be the biggest. We’re trying to be the best.”

Looking ahead, Campbell emphasized building out operations internally. “We’ve got to continue to build our team…to work the size of the fleet that we’ve got now,” he said.

Campbell said Jet Excellence’s geographic focus remains consistent. “We’ve already been going down to the Caribbean, to the Bahamas, to Mexico, to Canada, into Central America,” he said, adding that the company intends to finish integrating its recently added aircraft as a priority. “Once we do that…we’ll assess when there’s an opportunity in geographic areas that we haven’t traditionally been going.”

Jet Excellence is a rebrand from BellAir following its acquisition of Red Wing Aeroplane and  adding 19 Citation Xs. Wheels Up executives Michael Vargo and Zach Palmer recently joined the company as COO and v-p of commercial strategy, respectively. Jet Excellence now operates 27 Citation Xs under long-term leases and aims to build its fleet to more than 30 aircraft, alongside several other Citations, Hawker 800XPs, and a Beechcraft King Air 350.