Need a Private Jet in Orange County? Here You Go.

For the guy who has everything but his own private jet:

JetSuite, a charter jet firm, has moved its headquarters to Orange County, with plans to double its workforce to 140 over the next year, the company ‘s chief executive said Wednesday. Its grand opening is today at John Wayne Airport.

Chief Executive Alex Wilcox said Orange County was the company’s top choice because so many of its 70 employees already live or are near here and it’s one of the three primary markets for its jet charter service. Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley and Las Vegas are the company’s other two top-demand markets.

“We never saw our pilots or clients (because they flew from outside Long Beach),” said Wilcox, explaining one of the reasons for the move. “And nobody wanted to live in the Valley.”

He said the staff has 30 non-pilot employees and the rest are pilots. He expects staffing to double in both categories over the next year.

It was not an easy launch. The privately-held company started at the height of the recession in 2009, when companies were cutting all possible costs, including travel. Wilcox worked with two others out of a two-bedroom apartment before moving to offices in Long Beach. In the last year, however, Wilcox said the company has grown 10% to 15% per month.

The company has 11 Embraer Phenom 100 four-passenger jets for hire and aims to be the Southwest Airlines of the private jet market, he said.

But JetSuite is targeted at a different traveling clientele — rich people and companies. Wilcox says about half of its travel is business and the rest is for pleasure. One of its recent promotions was for the Coachella Music Festival to fly you and three friends to “avoid the traffic” for $3998. One way.

I learned to fly at Orange County Airport back when private jets...or any jets...were fairly rare at that airport. It was still pretty much a general aviation field in 1978 with a couple of commuter airlines providing some regional service, mostly in propjets. I'm not sure I'd like to fly a Cessna 152 around there today the way I did back then. I'd be afraid some guy with his tail on fire would run me down.

And yes, that photo is me in 1978 getting ready to take a Cessna up on a pleasure flight over Orange County.  That was before the world was in color.