LOS ANGELES, April 21, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- JetSuite Air CEO Alex Wilcox launched his private aviation business during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression by implementing lessons learned working with successful airline entrepreneurs including Herb Kelleher, Richard Branson, David Neeleman, and Vijay Mallya.
As keynote speaker today at the Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA) conference, airline industry veteran Mr. Wilcox told conference attendees how he was able to successfully capitalize his luxury start-up business by drawing on experience from some of the airline industry's biggest successes and most effective brands.
A veteran of the airline industry, Mr. Wilcox started as an intern at Southwest in 1995 and rose through management positions at Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue to become President of Kingfisher Airlines (India) in 2004.
"Southwest Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, JetBlue and Kingfisher Airlines, each in their own way, have taught me the three steps to business success," said Mr. Wilcox.
"Step one, ask people what they really, really want. Step two, give it to them. Step three, tell people you're giving it to them. Accomplish that with all your constituents -- your investors, your staff and your customers -- and you'll make it."
Mr. Wilcox left Kingfisher in 2006 to build his own aviation business, taking several JetBlue colleagues with him. By applying a simpler and more efficient model to private aviation, he launched JetSuite in 2009.
His philosophy revolves around his own "three C's": credibility, confidence, and communication.
"What can you do that no one else is doing? And how can you turn that into a compelling story which says that your prospective business deserves support?"
JetSuite is the first and only to offer the all-new Phenom in a jet card program, the industry's most affordable. The company currently operates a fleet of seven Phenom 100s and will double the fleet by the end of the year. The company has committed to 70 of the brand new aircraft which can provide nonstop service for up to four passengers, their luggage, pets, golf bags, skis and snowboards throughout California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Baja, Mexico, and one-stop service to all points west of the Mississippi river.
JetSuite currently has five base airports within its "Suite Spot" markets, at Long Beach, Hawthorne (western Los Angeles) and Oakland, CA, Henderson, NV (Las Vegas) and Scottsdale, AZ (Phoenix). In 2010, the company will add additional bases in the southwest U.S.
For more information on JetSuite, please visit www.jetsuite.com, or call (866) 779-7770.