Story ID: 447
FlyExclusive Grows Revenue, Improves Utilization
By: Amy Wilder
Caption: Company chief said operational transformation is gaining momentum
Word Count: 378
FlyExclusive reported $91.3 million in second-quarter revenue, highlighting growth in its fractional and jet club charter membership programs along with significant fleet optimization. Company CEO Jim Segrave said the company’s results reflect “a rapid transformation of the business that we’ve been working on for 18 months now.” The improvements, he added, “seem to be continuing very nicely—maybe even accelerating.”
Over the past year and a half, FlyExclusive has reduced its number of nonperforming aircraft from 37 to 13. “We evaluate that on a P&L based on all the airplane’s activity,” Segrave explained. He noted that better parts availability and overnight maintenance have improved reliability and returns to service.
Despite operating with 10% fewer aircraft, FlyExclusive flew 12% more total flight hours in the second quarter. Segrave attributed the gain to a disciplined approach to aircraft reliability and utilization, noting that “if you really want to be great, you do maintenance overnight when people aren’t using the airplanes.”
Originally intended to support the company’s fleet, FlyExclusive’s maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) and paint and interior businesses have evolved into revenue generators.
“We got into the MRO business to be able to control our destiny and do our own maintenance. But it’s become a profit center,” Segrave said. “Our paint and interior businesses were largely done to take care of our fleet,” he said. “We need to do 33 airplanes a year just to keep up with our fleet. That’s why I can justify a paint and interior shop just for that business.”
Now, outside customers account for much of the demand. “Our fleet only represents about 25% of the overall demand. Seventy-five percent of our paint business, for instance, is outside customers. We are sold out of our capacity to March at this point,” he explained.
Looking ahead, Segrave said the company plans to “start to build the fleet size fairly rapidly” after removing underperforming aircraft. “The trend of improvement is continuing,” he noted, adding that the third quarter has continued the positive growth trend. 
He credited the company’s expansion in MRO services, along with strong demand from both air charter members and wholesale partners, for sustaining momentum.