RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio – Kenn Ricci was on vacation in Mexico with his youngest son in early 2020 when the magnitude of the COVID pandemic hit him.
“I said to Austin, ‘I think you’re seeing the end of Dad’s business,’” said Ricci, a Cleveland native and the chairman of Flexjet, the second-largest provider of private jet services in the United States.
Instead, the pandemic did the opposite, jump-starting a period of explosive growth in the private flying industry, which continues today.
Flexjet, headquartered at the Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights, unveiled the newest luxury aircraft in its fleet last week to an enthusiastic crowd of onlookers.
The $96 million Gulfstream G700 is an ultra-long range jet, designed to take Flexjet’s clients (or “owners,” as they’re called) across the country and around the world in luxury.
“Our goal is to have our brand, our experience, anywhere in the world,” said Andrew Collins, co-CEO of Flexjet.
The company sells fractional ownership in private jets — similar to timeshares for condominiums, but for private aircraft instead of real estate.
New owner buy-in costs anywhere from $1.5 million to $48 million, depending on the aircraft and the annual hours of flying desired.
The average upfront cost is $10 million, according to Ricci, with monthly fees and an hourly flight charge on top of that. For that amount, customers can request their own private aircraft with as little as 10 hours’ notice.
Ricci noted that there’s already an ownership waiting list for the company’s three new Gulfstream G700s, the largest and most luxurious aircraft in the Flexjet lineup. The planes feature a dedicated bedroom, lie-flat seats, a circadian lighting system to minimize jet lag and a flying range of more than 7,000 miles.
The aircraft can seat up to 15, although Ricci said few flyers bring that many passengers on board.
Before the pandemic, the company was operating about 200 flights per day. That figure plummeted to eight daily flights during the darkest days in March and April 2020.
But it didn’t take long for the business to rebound, as well-heeled travelers looked for ways to fly without the hassles or health risks of commercial flight.
Today, Flexjet flies approximately 400 flights daily, including about 40 trips every week to Europe.
Before the pandemic, members of a group that Ricci called the “frugal wealthy” could afford private flights but didn’t.
“But when your health is in jeopardy, you have every excuse in the world to fly private,” he said.
Mike Silvestro, co-CEO of Flexjet, said today’s customers have gotten younger, like to fly in larger planes and travel farther.
“The demand for this business gets stronger every year,” he said, noting that the average age of a new customer has dropped about 10 years, to the low to mid-50s.
“The younger generation likes experiences more than things,” said Silvestro.
With its newest aircraft, Flexjet is hoping to distinguish itself from its competitors.
Its biggest rival, Columbus-based NetJets, is a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, with a fleet of nearly 700 aircraft and more than 9,000 employees.
Earlier this year, Flexjet announced that an investment group backed by Paris-based luxury giant LVMH was buying a 20% stake in the company. LVMH brands include Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy, Tiffany, Givenchy and numerous others.
“We’ve been trying to position ourselves into a luxury brand,” said Ricci.
With the new G700 planes, Flexjet now owns 330 aircraft, which serve a customer/owner base of about 2,000.
The company employs about 5,000 people, including more than 1,500 in Richmond Heights. Those include pilots, cabin attendants, maintenance crew and office staff.
The company opened a new 51,000-square-foot, $50 million sleek headquarters building in 2023 on the campus of the Cuyahoga County Airport. Inside the company’s Global Command Center, massive digital screens track every Flexjet plane in the air and across the globe.
The building was expanded earlier this year, when Flexjet opened a new owner services center, with dedicated staff devoted to resolving every customer request, large and small. And the company is already in the planning stages for another expansion, which will include an auditorium and new offices for human resources staff.
Flexjet also has properties throughout the United States and overseas, operating private terminals in Dallas; Naples, Florida; White Plains, New York; Teterboro, New Jersey; Van Nuys, California; and other locations.
The company will open its first dedicated terminal in Europe next year in Farnborough, west of London.
Ricci, who grew up in South Euclid and is a pilot by training, said he’s never considered moving the headquarters out of his hometown. He called the company “a 42-year overnight success story.”
Ricci also credits Flexjet’s longevity in Cleveland to the fact that the state of Ohio taxes fractional jet purchases at a much lower rate than a typical sales tax.
“We have been doing this in Cleveland since 1998,” said Ricci. “We started with three employees. We grew up here.”