solairus aviation blog

‘I’ll be right back with your chocolate-covered strawberries,’ said the butler. Ten minutes later, there he was, with a small plate of two perfect berries. Every night, guests at the Windsor Arms Hotel are surprised with a different treat at turndown! There are no mints on your pillow here! It’s a wonderful treat whilst you’re curled up in bed, basking in the most delicious aroma that can be smelled throughout the hotel.

Into the candlelit lobby the next night, to our delight we returned to a warm suite with a beautifully decorated plate of biscotti, adorned by a picture of a wine glass, made of chocolate.

It’s not just the special evening treats which makes a charter jet trip to Toronto memorable. Windsor Arms Hotel is an ode of neo-Gothic architecture. Set in the heart of Toronto’s cultural centre amongst the city’s oldest buildings, this charming hotel offers spacious suites, elegant dining and superb spa facilities… fit for a King or Queen! How about a dip by the fireside indoor pool?  After a hard day of shopping in the hub of Yorkville at the designer boutiques, and pottering around the museums and art galleries, this is a perfect place to unwind, relax and put your feet up!

During your charter jet trip, you must experience afternoon tea or dine at Prime, a steakhouse that is a popular choice of the locals. Tea at the Windsor Arms has been a complete afternoon of indulgence for guests.  There’s a selection of teas from Russian Caravan to Sencha to a delightful range of yummy sandwiches and seductive-handmade pastries… you can even select the tea room that best suits you! Choose from the purple room, swathed with deep purple valances or a more traditional French-style setting. Regardless of what you choose, high tea here will certainly be experience to remember!

There is so much this charming hotel offers and is perfect for both business or pleasure charter jet trips. Have fun!

Any private jet vacation to the fabled island of Manhattan begins with imagination. Everything is available at the snap of a finger. It is inconceivable that you should arrive in this wonderland in anything less than formidable style.

As you can imagine, a chartered private jet flight to Manhattan is exciting but it also affords a particularly freeing experience. For starters, simply ignore the schedules of the airlines. Set your itinerary and then change it at the last minute if you so desire. Nothing can come between you and your convenience.

Secondly, completely bypass the traffic and crushing lines at any airport. Most private jets fly out of less congested regional airports where security and confidentiality are prized. There is never any need to check your person or you bags!.

The trip, itself, is also under your absolute control. Meals, beverages and entertainment will easily surpass those on the best commercial airlines and can be completely customized to your needs. Every private jet trip to the center of New York City is special but here are a few suggestions.

For a Special Couple - Five Restaurants in Five Days

It has been suggested that the business of N.Y.C. is business but we disagree. It is, in fact, in the business of pleasure. If you are looking to wine and dine that special person who loves everything culinary, a trip to the Big Apple and its magnificent panoply of five star restaurants is the answer. The restaurants of Manhattan include the likes of such legendary establishments as Bouley, La Grenouille, Le Bernardin, and Aureole. Paris, Tokyo and London rival but do not exceed the culinary delights of this singular city.

Private jet travel is a singularly rewarding experience. It sets the bar high for the ensuing vacation but it also provides extreme comfort, ultimate convenience and unsurpassed safety and security. Start you vacation with your loved one on the best possible footing. There are no limits to the destinations or adventures to where a private jet charter can take you.

With nearly 50 private jets in Solairus Aviation’s fleet, the Client Services, Flight Operations, Accounting , and Maintenance departments know how to process a new contract quickly and effectively to get our latest Solairus clients flying safely as soon as possible.

In this two part article, we'll learn how Solairus' departments work together to get a new private jet added to the fleet. To read part 1, please click here.

Here's how they do it:

ACCOUNTING by Mark Dennen

Accounting’s role in bringing on new private jet  is setting up workable policies and procedures while providing customer service to employees and clients.

Once the management contract is signed, accounting creates a new bank account for the private jet and works with the client to provide the required documents to  bank personnel. The operating deposit requirement is then sent to the client with their new bank wire instructions.    This quickly puts into motion the internal requirements for properly accounting for the aircraft’s costs by the following tasks:

- Establishing the tail number in the accounting software system.

- General Ledger accounts are set up for the bank account, operating deposits.

- Getting the employees set up on ExpenseWatch for electronic expense reporting.

- Facilitate with base personnel and vendors in getting accounts set up specific to the private jet.

- Vendor database is updated with new vendors utilized by the private jet for processing payments.

- Fuel cards ordered by client services and cards to be sent by accounting to base personnel.

Once the private jet has been on-boarded, the accounting department works very closely with flight operations, client services, payroll, and HR to ensure all flight support personnel have a full understanding of the essential procedures in providing the post-flight paperwork, base approval of vendor invoices, and expense reports and time sheets for contract crew members. Employees are then instructed to address accounting issues and submit paperwork to their designated accountant for the private jet. 

MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT by Rene Cervantes

Solairus Aviation’s Maintenance Department plays a vital role in ensuring that all fleet aircraft are operated and maintained to the highest industry standards. Safety, regulatory compliance, and passenger comfort are the primary responsibilities and focus of the maintenance department. The process starts with an intensive inspection of the private jet and the associated maintenance records, and a complete maintenance history is validated to ensure conformance with domestic and international regulations. Additionally, safety equipment and aircraft provisions are reviewed and passenger entertainment and convenience items are appointed at the aircraft owner’s discretion. Concurrent with the compliance inspection, a dedicated maintenance technician is selected to oversee and perform ongoing scheduled maintenance inspections. Qualified candidates are put through a rigorous process to ensure that only the most qualified individual is selected. The maintenance department also assists in establishing the required vendor accounts necessary to operate and maintain the aircraft.

To read part 1, please click here.

With nearly 50 private jets in Solairus Aviation’s fleet, the Client Services, Flight Operations, Accounting , and Maintenance departments know how to process a new contract quickly and effectively to get our latest Solairus clients flying safely as soon as possible.

In a two part article, we'll learn how Solairus' departments work together to get a new private jet added to the fleet.

Here's how they do it:

CLIENT SERVICES by Linda Holmes

Once the executive management team initiates the contract negotiation process with the prospective managed client, a CRO, Flight Coordinator, and Client Services Director are all assigned as the main points of contact for the life of the account. As Solairus’ start-up coordinator, Rosanna Rutherford works with the team assigned to the new account and initiates the internal on-boarding process.

With the CRO’s approval, a heads-up notice is sent to all office personnel to confirm Solairus is close to having a contract signed. This is an important step in the private jet on-boarding process as there are many tasks that must begin prior to having the contract signed. Once the CRO confirms that the management contract has been signed, the new contract notice is sent out to all personnel that sets an extensive three page, multi-departmental checklist in motion. A start-up conference call is conducted to streamline communication and ensure each department is aware of their specific role in the start-up procedure, all client/crew expectations, and the timeline/sequence of events.

Client services’ role is to work closely with the CAM and crew (if there is one assigned) and welcome them to Solairus while acting as the liaison between departments. In addition to providing the CAM and crew with company information and tools for success, client services sets up the initial training classes and works as the point of contact for the CAM on anything and everything that they may need. If the aircraft does not have an assigned crew, client services works with part time pilots and vendor companies to temporarily staff the aircraft while recruiting and hiring the long-term crew.

FLIGHT OPERATIONS by Tom Benvenuto

When Flight Operations receives the go ahead for adding a private jet, there are multiple tasks which must be accomplished to get the aircraft on the Part 135 certificate or approved for Part 91 operation in a timely and orderly fashion. The first thing Flight Operations looks at when adding a new aircraft is crew staffing. Are we dealing with an aircraft that has a dedicated crew, or are we starting from scratch where we have to go out and hire all new personnel? Sometimes it takes a considerable amount of time in order to find qualified and competent pilots that fit the client profile. This can often be the most difficult obstacle in the process as we need to find the right chemistry between client and crew.

Once the crew is selected, we have to get them trained. Typically training involves company indoctrination and simulator training in order to qualify the individual as a crew member on a Solairus aircraft. The time frame for “spooling-up” a crew can take anywhere from 30 to 90 days depending on whether it is a 91 or 135 aircraft and whether the crew came qualified on the aircraft already. If the aircraft is not on the 135 certificate, obtaining the required Letters of Authorizations, RVSM, and Special Airspace Authorization is necessary, which can take weeks of working with the FAA.

Careful consideration and attention to detail are extremely important in making sure all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed in order to expedite the process of adding a private jet to the Solairus Aviation team.

Click here to read part 2, Accounting and Maintenance!

Solairus Aviation Dispatcher, Darren Nolan, recalls his recent opportunity to fly with Solairus Pilot, John Kibler, in one of the company's Citation CJ3s!

The world looks pretty amazing from 45,000 feet above sea level. I had the amazing opportunity to see this wonderful view last week when John Kibler, private charter jet pilot of one of our Citation CJ3s, invited me along for a flight from Novato, CA to Sun Valley, ID and back. I had taken flight lessons about 13 years ago in a Cessna 152 out of the very same airport, which was the last time I sat in the cockpit of any airplane. Up until this point, my only experiences riding in a private charter jet have been in the cabins of commercial airliners, so this was really quite a special experience for me.

After we taxied onto the runway at Novato, John pushed the throttles to full takeoff power and I was truly awed by the acceleration that these private charter jets have. This was no slow, lumbering takeoff roll like you would expect to feel in a fully loaded 747; we accelerated fast and were airborne in what seemed like a few seconds. The climb-out was not trivial by any means either as we reached our initial assigned altitude, once again, in a matter of seconds. Having only flown a Cessna 152, I had no real appreciation for how busy the cockpit is during the takeoff and climb-out of a jet. If can't multi-task, then flying charter jets is not for you.  John flew the airplane, worked the radios, and manipulated the flight computer like the pro he is making it look easy the whole time as we leveled off at 45,000 feet. One of the major advantages to flying so high is that you get over just about all the busy airline traffic and can fly straight to your destination rather than going waypoint by waypoint, which can add extra time to your flight. The avionics on this particular airplane were impressive as well. It’s an all “glass cockpit”, meaning the instruments are displayed on computer screens rather than gauges, dials and gyros. We were able to pull up the approach plates on the center screen and plan our descent long before the air traffic controller (ATC) actually instructed us to begin descending. The weather in Sun Valley was not great and there was some question as to whether or not we could actually land there – something we would not learn until we were on final approach. Things got busy again after ATC instructed us to begin our descent. Even though the runway and airport were obscured by clouds John was able to fly the private charter aircraft in on instruments and seconds before we reached our minimum “decision height”, the runway appeared from behind the clouds and John made a perfect “10” landing.

Needless to say, it was quite an experience and I'm proud that I work for a private charter jet company that employs and trains pilots of John's caliber for the dozens of flights we make everyday.

Are you the type of person that demands luxury and comfort? Is convenience and saving time high on your priority list? Would you like to fly exclusively by yourself or with your friends, family, or business associates? If you answered yes to these questions, then a private jet may be the perfect solution for you.

Private jets are ready and available when you are, you literarly control the departure time! You will not have to search, hope, and pray to find a flight that fits into your schedule. You will not have to get to the airport, two to three hours prior to your flight and become a part of the cattle-call security line; the unpacking and packing of your laptop, keys, cell phones and cameras, and the removing of your belt, jacket and shoes. You will be able to pull directly up to your plane, fully clothed, with your luggage in tow and take off on your schedule. Plus, private jets are also able to land at smaller airports closer to your destination, saving you even more time on your trip

You can attend a meeting in Los Angeles for breakfast, a meeting in Houston for lunch, and then still arrive back home for dinner in Chicago, all in one day!

Private jet charters also offer unprecedented comfort and privacy. You will fly with a variety of requested amenities including open wet bars, gourmet meals, and even in-flight movies of your choice. With on-board WiFi, satellite phones, and faxes, you will be able to conduct business during your flight as well.

A private jet charter is the only way to travel when you insist upon the very best. If luxury, comfort and style are what you prefer, then a private jet charter is defintely for you.

Solairus’ uniquely experienced charter jet sales team represents decades of knowledge in coordinating a diverse range of private travel requests for corporations and individuals through our global network of aircraft.  Our unbeatable personal service and rigorous commitment to safety make Solairus the clear choice for discriminating travelers.

To learn more about charter jet travel, click below to sign up for our upcoming private aviation seminar.

Solairus Aviation exhibited at booth 1035 during this year's S&D conference at the San Diego Convention Center from January 15-18, 2012. Conference attendees met ten select members from Solairus' executive management team, private jet charter sales, flight coordination, dispatch, and marketing departments. Solairus Aviation team members Craig Zirzow, Ryan Hernandez, and Eric Wildt share their personal highlights below.

Craig Zirzow — Senior Director of Charter Sales:

The 2012 S&D conference proved to be another successful step in furthering Solairus’ name with prospective private charter jet clients.  First off I would give high marks to our Marketing Manager, Eric Wildt, for his efforts with our conference program and new booth design.  A consistent theme developed from other exhibitors, competitors, and customers who had positive comments on our booth for its professionalism and clean design.
 
The event itself had a consistent flow of traffic and good attendance over past years.  I would give feedback to NBAA to create small blocks of time that are ‘exhibit only’ times, so that private jet charter clients and attendees have more time to spend on the show floor. Overall, it was a great conference to stay connected and to meet all new industry contacts.

Ryan Hernandez  — Flight Coordination:

This was a successful Schedulers and Dispatchers conference for me as it really opened my eyes to where we stand as a company within the private jet charter community and how our standards/procedures stand up to our competitors.  It was extremely beneficial to meet with vendors we currently use and to put a face with a familiar contact, learn more about their services, and gently remind some current vendors that we'll continue to expect the best service they have to offer to our private jet charter clients.  Attending the meet and greet parties, making new contacts, and promoting Solairus to people new to the industry was fantastic as well.

I also attended several classes, including “Understanding the Value of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) within the Scheduling/Dispatching Function”. This class covered creating SOP's and using risk analysis within your SMS program. We also overviewed the FAA and ICAO requirements of a SMS and covered the four pillars of  Safety Policy, Safety Risk Management, Safety Assurance, Safety Promotion. 

I really enjoyed attending this conference and took a lot away from it. Hope to go back next year and represent Solairus again!

Eric Wildt — Marketing Manager:

After having attended a number of NBAA functions over the last few years, I was especially proud of how well Solairus Aviation has been received by the business jet community and with our private jet charter clients as well. Every event, the increasing amount of attendees that come to our booth that already know who Solairus is and what we're all about really shows how successful our team has been in getting the word out about our company's commitment to service and safety. With a steady stream of visitors to our booth all week, we also received a lot of great feedback from our tongue-in-cheek anti-iPad giveaway promotion. People loved the joke and fought hard to earn our $1000 Visa gift cards!

S&D always kick starts the special event calendar for us and this year Solairus will be attending and sponsoring business aviation and private jet charter events across the nation, with a few select appearances overseas as well. At Solairus, we know that private aviation is a people business. That is why we try to attend as many special events as possible. We want to speak with our vendors, clients, and stakeholders in person to ensure that our relationships stay strong, communication flows freely, and objectives and expectations remain exceeded.

So with that in mind, we look forward to seeing you at our next event soon!

Solairus Aviation Chairman and CEO, Dan Drohan, was recently interviewed by Craig Hanson of SUCCESS Magazine about Solairus' inspiring beginnings, the inspiration Drohan receives from his staff, and where the aircraft management and private jet charter company is heading in the near future.

"Getting the new business off the ground began with the philosophy, “If we build it, they will come.” With the belief that the strength of relationships between private jet charter clients and employees is a key element to success, Drohan has a sticker on his letter opener tray reading, “Willingness without action is fantasy.”

The management and private charter jet industry is still well below pre-2007 levels, but Drohan has seen “a significant uptick in aircraft acquisitions in the last eight to 10 months. This allows for growth without having to take business from each other.”

In addition to strong client relationships, two other factors have helped Solairus thrive: the , the resurgence of “financial road shows.” Companies seeking money and support in anticipation of going public need to charter planes to make calls on potential investors; as the economy improves, they’re increasingly chartering Solairus planes to conduct these intense, fast-paced “road shows.”

To read the complete article on successmagazine.com, please click here.

Petaluma-based Solairus on growth trajectory

By Jenna V. Loceff, Business Journal Staff Reporter

Establishes private jet charter fleet in Florida, now has 200 employees, planes on both coasts

PETALUMA – Charter jet company Solairus Aviation has tripled in size under its new name and continues to expand its offerings and coverage.

The 200-employee company was born out of the closure of Sunset Aviation, a 16-year-old venture that was shut down last year in the wake of its parent company’s bankruptcy. It had emerged from that event with 60 employees.

After one year in business, Solairus has established a charter jet fleet nationwide. A  Falcon and Hawker and a new Gulfstream G550 are available to charter customers. The Gulfstream, a large-cabin, ultra-long-range business jet is the newest addition to the 50-plane charter jet fleet.

“This is the second Gulfstream G550 to join our charter certificate in the last nine months – I am very proud of our team and everyone who made this happen,” said Solairus VP of Business Development Craig Zirzow. “The East Coast is a major area of focus for us right now. With one G550 based in San Francisco and the other in Florida, we can now offer our clients even more flexibility and convenience when planning their long-range trips.”

To read the entire North Bay Business Journal Article, please click here.