FlyExclusive Follows Competitors To SPAC IPO With A ‘Larger Cause’

FlyExclusive this week announced it would follow Directional Aviation’s Flexjet, Inc. and Wheels Up Experience onto the New York Stock Exchange with a SPAC merger. Its deal is with EG Acquisition Corp., which raised $225 million in its initial public offering in May 2021. The pre-transaction equity value of $600 million is expected to provide up to $310 million in proceeds. While it’s easy to group the three private jet companies together, a visit to Kinston, North Carolina, where FlyExclusive is based and discussions with its Founder and CEO Jim Segrave, as well as other executives, make clear its reasons for becoming a publicly traded company are as different as chalk and cheese.

It’s true the trio wants to compete with other major players in the flight provider space, such as Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets, Inc. and Vista Global’s VistaJet and XO. What the presentations and interviews reveal is they are each plotting divergent flight paths.

Wheels Up, which went public in July of 2021, is trying to aggregate demand and create an Airbnb-like marketplace for charter customers, selling flights beyond its own fleet onto the long tail of third-party operators much like Expedia.

For Flexjet, being publicly traded allows it to add more private terminals at busy airports and long-range jets to its fractional fleet as it seeks to expand internationally and perhaps do bigger deals in a frothy M&A market. Its Chairman Kenn Ricci notes four recent transactions exceeding $500 million, including Vista’s purchase of Jet Edge. In 2013, the cost to acquire Flexjet from Bombardier was just $185 million.

For his part, Segrave tells Forbes that taking the company he founded in 2015 public provides “generational opportunities” for his “work family” in eastern North Carolina. It’s where his family has lived since the 1800s, and it’s also an area that, in recent decades, has seen factories and businesses close or move away. Segrave says in deciding on the SPAC, he eschewed both private equity or selling the company in full, something Ricci, also a lifer entrepreneur in business aviation, says he too passed up.

The FlyExclusive credo is in part to be “part of a larger cause.” That means making the company and Kinston, with its picturesque rural landscapes, proximity to the ocean and low cost of living, a destination for top talent. It also means supporting the community. One example includes tabbing Social House, a small-batch producer of high-end Vodka to provision its growing fleet, currently at 90 jets, but projected to reach to 154 airplanes by 2024. Segrave says he hopes the national exposure will help the spirits company as it seeks to expand its business.

During the National Business Aviation Association’s annual conference in Orlando this week, Segrave noted, “We evaluated (what to do) a lot…When you think about a private equity investment… they’re looking for an exit. When they’re making an investment, they’re saying, ‘In three to five years, I want to exit.’ I’m not looking for an exit. I’m trying to build a generational company that the children of the current team would be proud to come work in this company in the future. I’m looking to build a business that’s profitable, that’s successful, that delivers world-class services, is a career destination for people, not a stepping-stone, and ultimately, a generational company,” adding, “I don’t mean for my children, although that would be nice if that happened. I mean generational for the people that work here, their children, and their children that would be somewhere they’re proud of.”

In fact, FlyExclusive sandwiched its SPAC announcement between a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new 48,000 square feet hangar at its home base and an order for 14 more jets from Textron Aviation, its second this year. They are part of a new fractional ownership program it is launching that requires hefty deposits to secure airplanes years in advance of being delivered.

Segrave says FlyExclusive and Kinston are the poster child for what’s good about the often-targeted private jet industry. He ticks off statistics from No Plane, No Gain that business aviation is responsible for over a million U.S. jobs and generates more than $200 billion in economic impact. He points out that, like many American towns, Kinston long ago lost scheduled airline flights, in its case, despite having the longest runway east of the Mississippi River. He calls private aviation “an essential service for rural America. It makes a massive difference in bringing new investment and business into rural America. Again, bringing it back to us, we’re super proud that we are part of that community and have high-paying jobs, and that we’re growing a business.”

Government statistics show the average household income in Lenoir County is under $40,000, compared to the national average of $70,784. However, median value of owner-occupied housing units is just $95,700 compared to $229,800 nationally. A 3,473-square feet, four-bedroom Cape Cod style home with in-the-ground pool is listed at $249,900. If that sounds like a place you might want to put down roots, there’s also significant talent from nearby military bases who want to stay in the area after exiting the service. While many companies are struggling to find workers, resumes are flying in at FlyExclusive.

In the past seven months it has hired 150 maintenance technicians and expects to add 100 more in the coming months. Headcount overall is expected to grow from the current 800 to over 2,500. All new jobs are in Kinston, save for pilots, who are home-based, and a small technology hub, opened last year in Raleigh that taps into Research Triangle talent.

Last year, FlyExclusive opened its own paint and refurbishment facilities, something President and Chief Operating Officer Tommy Sowers says is part of the company’s goal to become “the most vertically integrated private aviation company.” That means flying 99% of its jet card members on its airplanes, with its pilots, serviced by its mechanics, painted and refurbished, you guessed it, in-house. Next is its own pilot training facility, including full simulators. Controlling training slots eliminates a major bottleneck that for the industry has left jets sitting idly while those guys with the stripes on their shoulders still need to be paid.

By the numbers, FlyExclusive is the smallest of the three SPACs. While revenues this year are projected at $360 million, up from $135 million in 2019, its investor deck forecasts $729 million in 2024. It had a net income of under $2 million in 2019 and 2020 and made $7.9 million last year. It projects a net income of $9.6 million this year, $38 million next year and $102 million in 2024. On an EBITDA basis, it forecasts a profit of $32 million this year, doubling to $64 million in 2023 and then $130 million.

Stock pickers may not care about restoring jobs in rural America. However, Segrave says the strategy of flying customers on his planes, instead of chartering from other operators, and the vertically integrated approach from pilot training to maintenance and even painting its airplanes enables FlyExclusive to both save money (it also expects to earn $20 million in work from outside clients when it is not busy with its own fleet) and deliver a higher quality product to its well-heeled customers.

Of course, in the current market, a good story is no longer enough. While both FlyExclusive and Flexjet are profitable, Gary Prestopino, an analyst who covers Wheels Up, warns, “(The) market is moving away from risk on assets such as UP that are losing bucket loads of money. Anything that came out of a SPAC is getting slaughtered.”