FlyExclusive plans return to 100-plus aircraft fleet within a year

FlyExclusive intends to have more than 100 aircraft in service within roughly a year, according to founder and chief executive Jim Segrave, up from about 80 today. That would put the North Carolina charter provider third among US operators by fleet size, behind fractional leaders NetJets and Flexjet.

The company spent two years shedding capacity, removing 40 older aircraft that were not performing well. Its fleet now centres on Cessna Citations and Bombardier Challengers, including 11 Challenger 350/3500s and a Citation mix built around the CJ3 and the larger Ascend and XLS. New CJ3 Gen 2 aircraft are due to arrive next year, and the last two HondaJets inherited through the 2025 Volato transaction will leave by the end of 2026.

Segrave said the company is adding aircraft carefully rather than chasing volume alone. He described the goal as combining growth with attention to customer service, noting that the operator is smaller than its two larger rivals and intends to compete on experience. "We are back in growth mode and adding the right airplanes in a disciplined way," he said.

FlyExclusive listed on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2023 and posted revenue of $376 million last year. This month it opened new corporate offices in Raleigh; the site adds to, rather than replaces, its original Kinston base, which stays as the maintenance hub. The company is exhibiting at the NBAA-BACE show this week.