The Corporate Jet Investor Podcast

Dan Drohan, founder and CEO, Solairus, takes us through his acquisition of Clay Lacy's aircraft management and charter businesses.
He talks through the road to 500+ managed aircraft, extending Solaris's client aviation manager model across the combined fleet and defending against rival operators circling Clay Lacy clients.
Drohan also reflects on how the deal came together through his relationship with Clay Lacy's Brian Kirkdoffer, and why — despite the numbers — this was never about chasing scale for its own sake.

Apologies for the sound quality on the CJI side. Our mic has died.

Kaye Gitibin spotted something nobody else cared about. Private jet passengers were landing at FBOs across America and being handed dirty, smoke-stained cars dragged over from commercial airports. So he started GoRentals — one location, seven cars, zero ad budget.
Thirty years later he runs the only Forbes five-star car rental company in the world, at over 300 FBOs nationwide. His secret? He never called it a car rental company. It's hospitality. The car just comes with it.

Alan Walsh didn't come from aviation. He spent 20 years in tech before a chance meeting with Flexjet's Andrew Collins led him to Sentient Jet in 2019. Seven years on, he runs the largest jet card company in the US, with 7,000 card owners and a 90%+ retention rate. 

His philosophy is simple: obsessive service. Sentient answers every call, real human, no phone tree, within 15 seconds, 24/7. The World Cup just delivered their busiest summer yet, with 40% week on week growth. And with high net worth individuals in the US projected to grow 50% over four years, he sees no slowdown ahead.

Kerstin Mumenthaler, CEO of Axis Aviation, joins us to explain why her company sees itself as an asset manager, not just an operator.
She breaks down Axis's multi-AOC setup across Switzerland, Austria, San Marino and South Africa, why a proprietary governance platform — not flying — is the real product, and the strategy behind the upcoming US expansion. 

Kerstin also discusses the AXAero group's full pilot-to-owner ecosystem, why radical billing transparency is changing how owners trust their operators, and the career path that took her from airline pilot to crisis management consultant to running a fast-growing fleet of 50+ aircraft.

In our latest episode we are joined by Yann Nado, business development director at multi-service business aviation company Global Jet Concept.
With 22 years in business aviation sales, Yann's passion was sparked not by aircraft but by the clientele he serves. A champion of transparency and long-term partnerships, he specialises in large-cabin aircraft management, sales and charter. 
We discuss a focus on high-growth African and Middle Eastern markets, how the company has gone paperless, development of in-house software for fuel optimisation, HR, client reporting and AI-driven budget modeling and why despite high fuel prices, aircraft acquisition demand remains strong. Plus much more besides.