When it comes to air travel, there is nothing more luxurious than flying private. It’s a privilege reserved for the lucky few— CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, billionaires, celebrities, and the socially elite.
Photos by Ella Gagiano
We turned to Greg Woods, president of Cirrus Aviation Services, one of the largest private jet charter companies based in Las Vegas, to give us insight into traveling in the lap of luxury. Cirrus Aviation Services offers luxury corporate and leisure jet charter worldwide. Strategically located in one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world, Cirrus Aviation’s team of aviation professionals can custom tailor your private jet needs according to the size of your party, destination, and routing. Partnered with distinguished names in the luxury travel industry, guests can enjoy access to concierge companies and other lifestyle professionals for the ultimate travel experience not found in brochures.
Here is what the travel expert had to say.
Q: Can you tell us about Cirrus Aviation and the luxury services you provide?
We are a management and charter company. For people with aircraft we take care of every detail from the difficult things like regulations, maintenance, staffing and long term planning to the simple but important things like making sure the aircraft presents well, is stocked right and that little touches are provided to the clients. We view our management clients as partners and we operate more like a fractional flight department than a traditional charter company so our partners see far superior financial results than they would under traditional charter/management models. On the charter side, we are certified to operate anywhere in the world, though most of our business is in the South West of the United States and now that we operate heavy jets, between the West Coast and Hawaii.
Q: What sets Cirrus Aviation apart from other private charters?
I get asked this fairly frequently and it’s not straight forward to articulate. We notice it most when our fleet is all booked or isn’t appropriate for a specific mission and we engage with other operators to provide supplemental lift for us. Getting quick, accurate responses is surprisingly difficult. I think it’s about our people, their training and their attitude. For example, the head of our sales and operations department is a licensed dispatcher and teaches at the College of Southern Nevada in the aviation program. So, all our sales and operations personnel are trained as dispatchers, which allows them to respond to clients quickly and accurately. I think it is important our team understands our client’s motivations, needs and fears. We spend time teaching and discussing client perspective so our team can hopefully anticipate concerns or at least respond in a concise reassuring manner. I’m also a huge believer in adopting other ideas. If anyone on our team runs across an idea that is smart and could make us better, we will adopt it in one form or another. The culture of training, understanding perspectives and adopting ideas is encouraged throughout the company and I think that makes the difference.
Q: What are some popular destinations clients are booking for this summer?Our local clients like to escape the heat so Lake Tahoe, Orange County, Napa, Cabo, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver all come up. We have several clients that enjoy fishing trips up in Alaska and the Queen Charlotte Islands. Last year we had a couple of groups visit all the major national parks in the country spending a couple of days at each one.
Q: Can you cater to larger groups?
Currently, our largest aircraft holds 12 people. However, we can outsource to the airlines and other air carriers with large aircraft holding up to 180 people. Those aircraft vary from all first class to all economy seating depending on the need.
Q: Are you able to accommodate last minute requests?
Yes. The fastest turn time is usually on our fleet out of Las Vegas where we can often be wheels up in less than an hour from receiving payment. In other locations or when we have source an aircraft we become more constrained as we are bound by what the other air carrier can do.
Q: Do you have a memorable travel story you can share with us with a client?
We don’t generally talk about specific stories. Client privacy is of foremost concern, but there are a couple of conservative examples I’m comfortable speaking about. For a client flying to dinner on Valentine’s Day, we built an extravagant flower display inside an aircraft, partially hide gifts around the plane and of course had champagne and chocolate on board. For another client and friend, who was flying to a Neverland themed charity event, our pilots sported Peter Pan hats and we played the movie ‘Peter Pan’ in the aircraft during the flight. Everyone had a great time and pictures from the flight are on our walls. I find the little things like that and the reactions we get from our employees, friends, clients, and partners are the most memorable part of our job.
Q: Were you always passionate about travel? What attracted you to the travel industry?
Yes. I’ve always loved travel and have been to many places in the world. When I worked as a computer engineer designing internet backbone and super computers in Vancouver. I loved escaping from the rain in the winter and generally planned month-long vacations between January and May. I traveled to places in Africa, Asia, Central America, and all over the south pacific. I ended up running this company because of an odd sequence of events that saw my father pushed out of a similar company and caused me to join with him to rebuild his retirement. What seemed terrible at the time turned out to probably be the best thing that could have happened. This is our company. While we had to start again from nothing, our company is now about 10 times larger than theirs and while I am purposefully restricting our growth to a manageable level, their business is shrinking. It feels good to say they bet on the wrong horse.
Q: What is one of your ultimate favorite destinations you would suggest a client to book?
I think that depends entirely on the client and their current desires. There are many great places to visit depending on what the client is looking for in their next excursion.
Q: Any exciting developments or news you would like to share with us?
We are adding new aircraft models and are opening our first satellite base in the Los Angeles area. These are the first steps that will allow us to expand our business model.
Cirrus Aviation Services operates from the Atlantic Aviation Executive Terminal, across
from MGM Grand.
275 East Tropicana Ave, Suite 210
Las Vegas NV, 89169
For more information or to book a flight please visit
www.cirrusav.com
or call 702-448-2366