Van Nuys Aviation Firm Adding Planes, Growing Fast

Jet Edge International added two new aircraft to its fleet this month — a regular activity for the burgeoning aviation business. The aircraft charter and management firm has been open at Van Nuys Airport for less than a year. Since then, the company added two to three aircraft per month for a total of 16, grown its employee base, established partnerships with XO Jet and CitationAir, and has a foothold in the Chinese market. The firm is on track for $30 million in revenue in 2012. Jet Edge President Bill Papariella credits the company’s business model — which he claims is different than those of other charter and management companies at the airport — for its growth. Jet Edge combines experience in aircraft sales and ownership, a maintenance and repair station, and access to the XO Jet fleet, he said. “We are taking what we learned from the fractional business and building it into a boutique level and adding an elevated service approach,” Papariella said. Jet Edge began operations last August out of 130,000 square feet of hangar and office space on Saticoy Street formerly used by Raytheon Corp. Papariella and four business partners own Jet Edge along with Bard Capital Group, a Denver private equity firm. Papariella and his partners — D.J. Hanlon, David Pritchard, Stephanie Greer and Kevin Schwimer — worked together at NetJets, the national fractional aircraft operator owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The team looks for planes to put under management and aims to attract clients that offer a significant book of business, Papariella said. Since mid-May, Jet Edge has added a Gulfstream 450 and two Gulfstream 200 jets to its fleet and another three planes are expected this month. The owners are moving to Jet Edge from other aircraft management firms. Jet Edge prefers to manage aircraft with amenities that high-end passengers expect, such as a Wi-Fi connection, private lavatories, folding divans for sleeping, or a full bar. If the plane lacks certain features Jet Edge will request they be added. “That will help keep the clientele that we want to keep,” Papariella said. Jet Edge said it’s also looking to build its business by offering a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility to its clients as well as other aircraft owners. To achieve that, Papariella turned to Jim Hansen and Western Jet Aviation, a repair and maintenance business on the airfield since 1999. Hansen is founder and executive vice president with Jet Edge. Western Jet had exclusively worked on Gulfstream aircraft, but as a Federal Aviation Administration certified repair and maintenance facility, Jet Edge will add in other aircraft types. Aircraft owners will benefit by the close ties with the maintenance and repair facility and from the relationships with the management and charter clients, said Jeff Kohlman, a principal with Aviation Management Consulting Group in Colorado. “There is a lot of value to having those synergies together,” Kohlman said. The partnership with XO Jet is beneficial to Jet Edge because it gives clients access to aircraft other than Gulfstream models. XO Jet, in return, can send its clients to Jet Edge for its large-cabin jets and make the maintenance facility part of its network. The Los Angeles market is the second in the U.S. for XO after New York, said Stephen Lambright, senior vice president of marketing and business development for the San Francisco-based aviation company. The agreement with Jet Edge will have the Valley firm as an agent for XO and represent all of its aircraft and enhances the services XO provides to its clients, Lambright said. “They have a solid reputation and they come with years of experience,” he added. Jet Edge has a similar agreement with CitationAir to be that aviation firm’s extended sales team in the Western U.S. and Canada. CitationAir, a subsidiary of Cessna Aircraft Co., provides fractional flight time and charter services.