Million Air Spring 2024

INFLUENCE THE BIG INTERVIEW

Below fl yExclusive's campus based in Kinston, NC

Opposite page, clockwise Jim Segrave; Cessna Citation Sovereign; fl yExclusive is based at Kinston Regional Jetport

Jim Segrave on being part of a larger cause

fl yExclusive’s founder, chairman and CEO speaks to Doug Gollan about the company’s private journey to become a public company

While jets from its nearly 100-jet fl eet frequently visit New York, Palm Beach, Aspen, Scottsdale, Los Angeles and other pro fi le destinations, the place fl yExclusive calls home is in the rural eastern region of North Carolina. Thearea is dotted by farmlands, woods and lakes. Once upon a time, the region was known for manufacturing furniture and clothing. Of course, that was before many of those jobs moved overseas. It made it di ffi cult to stay in the area and, in fact, the population of Lenoir County is about the same as 60 years ago. “We have children whose parents started with me 25 years ago, and my goal is that this is a place where their children can come if they choose”

Fewof fl yExclusive’s customers visit Kinston Regional Jetport, where the company is based. However, its feature as one of the longest runways east of the Mississippi at 11,500 ft and positioning about halfway between New York and South Florida, one of private aviation’s busiest fl ight paths, provides an ideal location. In fact, it is the second time that the former military base has served as headquarters for a private jet operator. It’s where Jim Segrave started Segrave Aviation in the mid 1990s before selling it to Delta Air Lines in 2010. After the airlines merged it with Delta AirElite

to form Delta Private Jets, Segrave eventually left, but so did the buyer. Delta consolidated operations in Cincinnati, once again leaving Kinston feeling the pain as jobs moved away. But this time would bedi ff erent. Segrave, whose family has called the area home for more than 150 years, saw the empty o ffi ce spaces and hangars as well as former employees who were anxious for something new. In 2015, he launched fl yExclusive. Since then, the company has grown to be the fi fth-largest private jet operator in North America as