Blue Star Jets

Vegas
June 2006

Vegas

Blue Star Jets offers planes of any size, from tiny fliers perfect for a quick jaunt to massive Airbuses complete with a full crew, chefs and all the amenities of home.

Despite growing competition, Todd Rome’s Blue Star Jets has excelled in delivering high-end, chartered air flights to those who want a customized flying experience.

Todd Rome – Under his wing, Blue Star Soars

In 2000, when Wall Street dynamo Todd Rome decided to reinvent the air charter business, he encountered a lot of skeptics but he had no competition at all. At that time, aircraft charters were pretty well limited to large corporations and the mega-rich and were based on the concept of fractional ownership with its concomitant high acquisition cost, hefty monthly membership fees and onerously long contracts.

It was Rome’s vision to create a different business model and bring hassle-free private travel to the masses – that is, the very, very affluent masses. Private jet travel in any form still ain’t cheap. Rome named the new company Blue Star Jets, opened an office in New York and prepared to fulfill the company’s daring slogan: ”Any Jet, Any Time. Any Place.”

The competition in the filed has become fierce, but six years later Blue Star Jets is still on top of the heap because, as Rome explains, “We’re a Gen-X company. We’re all young, spirited and creative enough to think outside the box.” For sure, this is the only jet charter company that offers its clients just about every luxury service they could possibly desire, from Botox and Restylane treatments before boarding to massage, hairstyling, manicures and pedicures offered on board. Their partnership with Exhale Spas actually allows you to order a fully integrated menu of spa services to relax you in flight before your feet leave the ground. You may also indulge yourself with a yoga session with a private instructor or have yourself fitted for a custom-tailored suit. In short, if you can think of it, they can do it.

Blue Star Jets also offers concierge service, limo service, helicopter service and a personal travel consultant to arrange your trip and to see to your whims. With more than 4,000 aircraft on call, ranging from itty-bitty to jumbo jets, Blue Star Jets guarantees that your plane will be awaiting your arrival within four hours of your call, no matter where you may be at the time. What is more, the plane will be in immaculate condition and fully stocked with your favorite drinks and edibles. If you can afford it, they will supply one of the huge flying-condo jets with two or three bedrooms, a salon and a full kitchen with a staff that includes a chef so you and your family and friends may fly around the world with all the comforts of home.

While you may have believed that one always gets what one pays for, there has recently been an outcry from disgruntled private-jet-flyers who are complaining bitterly about lousy food, worse service and even, in the more borderline companies, suspiciously inexperienced pilots and flight attendants. Not at Blue Star Jets. Every aircraft and crew is governed by the most stringent FAA guidelines and is among the safest in the air. As for cuisine, Rome himself is a dedicated foodie and so considers catering of prime importance, a service rather than a moneymaker. “We’ll stock a galley from Nobu in New York or Miami,” he says, “or bagels, and nova in New York, stone crabs in Florida, lobster in New England, and caviar anywhere you want it.” There’s even a kiddy pack if you are bringing the kids along, with toys, games and child-oriented food, although Mom and Dad have been known to dip into the M&Ms or make off with the cotton-candy stick.

Presentation is also important to Rome, so meals are served by a flight attendant on elegantly set tables with china, crystal, silver and linen cloths and napkins. The way this all works is really simple, because the other motto of Blue Star Jets is “Fly like you own it and pay like you don’t”. The client buys a SkyCard, which is used as a debit card. The cards are available in various denominations, from a Blue card at $50K to Black (which will match your AmEx Centurion card, creating an all-black section in your alligator wallet) for $1 million. The cost of your trip is calculated upon an hourly rate depending on the size of your aircraft, and that amount is deducted from your card. Some trips may even be had at bargain prices – as little as 50 percent of the normal hourly rate because of the high volume of bookings made by Blue Star Jets. That’s it – there’s one set price and no hidden charges.

Apparently, daring as it was, the concept was brilliantly right for the time and circumstance. Blue Star Jets currently employs about 400 people, does around $150 million a year, and is still growing rapidly with new offices about to open in several European cities, but one of the hottest routes leads to Las Vegas.

Blue Star Jets has more flights checking into Vegas than any other airline. The casinos use them to get their high rollers into town as well as their star performers. Ordinary folks – at least ordinary folks with a great deal of discretionary income – are chartering jets to take their families to Las Vegas for vacations. There are enough guys traveling from L.A. to Vegas that Blue Star practically runs a shuttle service between the two cities. However, the most far-out visitors are the Chinese gamblers who fly between Macau and Las Vegas on regular milk runs at somewhere over $200K per trip. No wonder the private jet charter business is booming.

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