Executive Traveler June 2006
© Dale Leatherman 2006
A new service bridges the gap between fractional jet or hourly jet card memberships and flying commercial.
The horror of September 11, 2001, changed the way many Americans travel. No one knows that better than Gary Mansour, founder and CEO of the new Avion Private Jet Club, which is reinventing luxury travel between Los Angeles and New York.
Instead of chartering an entire plane, members share a scheduled flight on chartered corporate jets, paying only for their individual seats. While the cost is slightly more than double the commercial first class fare, it’s the most affordable program in private aviation, according to Mansour. It is also the only per-seat program approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The plan does not compete with fractional jet ownerships or jet card memberships; in fact, it is designed to complement them, filling the gap between those programs and commercial aviation.
Mansour is no stranger to high-end travel. For more than 30 years his Mansour Travel Company in Beverly Hills has catered to the entertainment industry and upscale business travelers--a $25 million business.
“My clients have always been very high end,” he says. “They pay me $10,000 annual retainers to handle all their travel arrangements. After 9-11 they stopped flying commercially to either buy fractional jet memberships or charter private jets. Since they already had me on retainer, I showed them I could do that for them better than their assistants.”
During the first year his company began arranging private flights for his clients, that segment of his business blossomed from $100,000 a year to $3.5 million.
“The idea for the Avion Private Jet Club actually came from my clients,” Mansour explains. “For instance, a single wealthy woman with homes in L.A. and New York mentioned she’d be happy to share a charter. At first, I thought that people sharing would want to know who else was on board, but it wasn’t a problem. They counted on my client base to be the sort of people they would be comfortable traveling with.”
When Mansour saw that sharing charters was a workable plan, he took the next step of forming a “country club in the air” with exclusive membership, luxury amenities, convenience and considerable savings. Since March 6, 2005, there have been two scheduled flights per week—L.A. to New York on Sunday, back on Wednesday. There will be four flights by early summer, and Avion has the clearance for eight scheduled flights a week. The club also puts on extra flights when members want them for occasions such as the Academy Awards.
“Avion has more than 60 members now, and they are all pied pipers talking about the club,” says Mansour. “They are the cream of the crop, a broad spectrum ranging from Norman Lear to architect Frank Gehry. Sherry Lansing and Steve Tisch use the flights regularly. Among the members are A+ actors who used to charter private jets. . . .
Contact me to read the entire story or to discuss second rights or a rewrite. daleatherman@cs.com