WEBVTT - Sentient Jet CEO on Private Aviation Trends 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.640 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser from Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:07.240 All Right, folks, let me give you some primary research 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.280 on the aviation business here in the Northeast. I live 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:15.160 very close to Newark Airport and to Marstown Municipal Airport, 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:16.880 and I can tell you that the traffic coming out 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:19.119 of Newark is just a fraction of what it was 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.640 pre pandemic. But the planes zipping in and out of 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:26.120 the jets, primarily zipping in and out of Marstown Airport, 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:30.400 remains very busy. Let's talk about private aircraft travel. We 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:33.519 can do that with Andrew Collins, President and chief executive 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:36.200 officer of Sentient Jet. He joined us on the phone 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.360 from Boston. Andrew, thanks so much for joining us here. Again, 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:42.600 just from my little sample here in New Jersey, it 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:46.960 seems like private jet travel remains very active. Give us 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:51.000 a sense of how it's evolved during this pandemic. Sure, 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.360 thanks for having me on. It's great to be back. Um. Listen, 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:58.280 the pandemic has obviously been you know, something very unfortunate 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.720 for the world. Uh, it is a specially hit commercial airlines. 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:05.120 As you pointed out, I think yesterday, which would have 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.160 been a peak travel day, they saw half of what 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:10.600 they would normally see go through you know, your t 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.560 s A checkpoints. Meanwhile, private aviation, you know, our business 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:18.880 right now is up ten in flight volume year over year. 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:23.319 So people are looking to avoid crowds and they are 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:28.039 seeking alternative solutions. And what we've seen was a bit 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:30.280 of a dip at the beginning of the pandemic and 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:34.520 then a curve upward in growth, uh, you know, progressively 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.600 each month as more and more people and especially people 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:42.319 that haven't really flown privately before, start to discover, um, 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:44.399 you know, some of the benefits of being able to 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.680 avoid exposure points and being able to control the crowds 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:51.320 and and travel privately. So and it just seems to me, 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:53.520 and maybe I'm just a tune to this because I 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:57.000 like aviation, but I just see more and more companies 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:01.720 offering more and more types of private travel options, whether 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:05.080 it's a you know, a shared plane, you know, cards 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.040 with mileage on it. It just seems to be so 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:12.079 many more options for consumers. Has that driven the demand 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:14.919 for this, I guess private jet travel all over the 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.520 last ten twenty years, So, you know, it's an interesting 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:23.480 point ball, which is you know, accessing private jets has 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:27.520 gotten incrementally easier over the years. We invented something called 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.919 the Private Jet Card and we lead the category globally. 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:33.359 You just pre purchased twenty five hours of time. It's 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:37.200 one way to access private jets. Other models include fractional 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.640 where you purchase part of an asset a jet or 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:44.880 you charter a jet on demand, and it's become much 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:48.359 more prevalent for business models and unique business models at that. 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.400 And I see a lot of creativity in the space. Look, 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:55.400 we think that you know, our model has really, you know, 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:59.360 hit kind of a wheelhouse moment here, and people just 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:02.960 need to fly and they need flexibility, and something like 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.440 a jet card, you know, provides that you don't have 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:08.400 to go through kind of the arduous process of purchasing 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:10.600 an asset or purchasing a jet. But I think it 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.040 really boils down to your profile. And there's certainly a 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:17.040 lot of great companies in the space. And uh, again, 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:19.480 you're right, it's it's been something that I think we've 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:23.120 seen the models and and and the actual addressable market 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.519 expand over time. What's an hour on a sentiment jet 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.840 go for these days? So on a sentient light jet. 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:34.840 You're starting at about for one way flying, um, and 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.040 it can go up from there. And we offer light, mid, 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.600 super mid, and large cabin aircraft. And you know, as 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.200 the name denotes, once you start approaching large cabin, it's 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:48.240 about flying you know, ten to twelve people and going uh, 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:51.000 you know, fairly long distances and such. But it's a 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:54.840 very flexible model. And you know, within ten hours advanced notice, 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:57.920 we can January and the forty eight contiguous United States 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.600 on a jet. What a hey, what are the types 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:02.560 of flights that people are buying here? Are they just 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:06.920 going to their vacation homes and getting away from the cities? Yeah? Great, 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.160 great question and something We've really been observing a couple 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.000 of things that I'm seeing trend wise, So due to 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:15.200 the pandemic, as I mentioned, you're seeing a lot of 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:19.080 new entrants. Normally we would see people that about a 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.480 third of our customers are a third of our our 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.120 client purchases in a given month would be new clients. 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:27.640 It's actually flipped. It's two thirds now new clients, one 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:31.760 third returning clients. Um, they're going to warm weather destinations. 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.680 You can imagine that West Pond Beach, parts of Florida, 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:40.159 the Caribbean, or you know, spaced out destinations for social 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:43.800 distancing and activity. Aspen is a big one, Montana's another one. 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.320 Um And the thing that we've also noticed is there's 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:50.480 been a drop in around trips. So people that can 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:55.120 actually you know, work virtually and school virtually are going 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.560 places and they're staying there. And and this is the 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:00.799 first for for our business because we're used to seeing 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.360 people kind of go out and back in a few days. Uh, 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:05.400 and that's one of the beauties of private aviation, but 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.000 they're actually taking one ways out and staying for for 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:11.960 quite some time. Andrew, you know, one of the issues 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:15.359 when we saw this pandemic come we obviously saw air travel, 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:17.880 you know, drop off a cliff. And now as people 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:20.320 start to think about how air travel is going to 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:24.240 come back, there seems to be a consensus that leisure 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:28.760 travel will come back rather quickly while they robustly, but 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:33.800 business travel maybe structurally uh smaller, or people will travel 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.680 less than they did before the pandemic. How are you 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:39.159 guys at sent In thinking about that and how's that 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:43.320 changing your strategy? I think we're thinking less zoom and 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:47.920 more jet That's okay. But I think at the end 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:51.680 of the day, you're right, personal travel is really fueling 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:56.320 our business right now, and I think that's going to continue. Um. 0:05:56.440 --> 0:06:00.000 We are having our biggest sales month in company history 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.760 in twenty one years this month, so there's a lot 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.479 of forward purchasing and pent up demand. I do think 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.600 we are a precursor to kind of you know, predictively 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:13.640 seeing where the consumers going. I would tell you on 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:17.039 the business side, the flying that we think we're gonna 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.240 see is really you know around folks that are transactional, 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:23.919 small deal teams. You know your investment banking, you know 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.440 your consultants, you know those type of folks where in 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.600 person just is a necessity, right. You know, you can't 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:32.640 just do due diligence in a data room. You're gonna 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:35.800 have to do it in person at times. So I 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.160 do think that there is a competitive landscape out there 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:42.479 that's going to need um things like private travel. I 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:45.240 think to get back to the business travel, that first 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.240 class business travel on the commercial side, it is going 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:50.960 to take time. Um, but I do think you're gonna 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:54.280 see a personal curve kind of grow and and my 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:58.599 guess is probably midyear really start to unleash. So what 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:02.800 type of four I guess view do you have on 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:05.880 your revenue are to help far out to people typically 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:11.760 book time. So you know, look, we're top line right now, 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.960 we're about a three million dollar company. UM, My guess 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:19.400 is we will probably grow somewhere between twenty and um 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:23.760 in one barring you know, any sort of uncontrollable or 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:26.880 unforeseen thing like a macroeconomic dip or something like that. 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.520 But the way that we're forecasting and looking out, that's 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.800 what we see again, a lot of it fueled by 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:37.120 you know, that personal level of travel. Um, I will 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:39.560 say that that you know, I have to believe that 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.080 is going to bring back a really healthy set of 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:47.680 revenue streams over time, both for commercial as well as 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.040 for private. And as you guys were just talking, we 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:53.520 need airlines, we need private aviation, we need people back 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.600 up flying and doing things. For lack of a better 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.720 way of saying it, Andrew, where do you source your planes, 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.560 source your crews? And how has that changed or how 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.280 do you think that may change, you know, post pandemic. 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:12.000 Great questions. So we've actually created a certified process that 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:15.160 we've developed. It's cost us millions of dollars to do. 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:19.400 We certify the best jet operators in the business. We 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:23.600 only use about of the operators out there. Um, all 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:27.440 crews are certified. We go through a proprietary database of 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.880 millions of records per flight to make sure that everything 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:34.199 is is where it needs to be. But where it's 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:36.600 changed And I don't even want to say change because 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:38.959 I feel like we've been doing this, But where we've 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:43.000 enhanced visibility is around kind of that health journey and 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:46.960 those protocols. I don't think we're going to get away from, 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:51.360 you know, the true sanitization that's happening. We certify now 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:55.640 are are ground providers to make sure that environments are 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:59.400 clean and sterile, to make sure that crews or drivers 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:03.280 are math socially distanced. Uh, there are pre flight checks. 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:07.240 There's a number of things. I don't see that going away, right. 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:10.200 So even as the pandemic, I think the best word 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.760 I've heard dims because it doesn't just disappear in a 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.120 binary sense. I think you're going to see these things 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:18.800 remain and they really resonate. I mean I have to 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.600 say that. Um, there's a reason that a lot of 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:23.880 people are coming off the sidelines to fly with us, 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:25.800 and a lot of it has to do with how 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:29.120 we've looked at sourcing our aircraft and sourcing our crews, 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:32.520 and and looking at those health protocols. So, you know, 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.240 one of the issues for the airlines. I guess at 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:37.840 some point they're gonna have to try to, you know, 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:40.680 get the message across the people that it's actually safe 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:42.160 to get on an airplane. And that kind of brings 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.600 it back to an issue. I don't recall too many 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:49.760 stories of super spreader events emanating from air travel. I mean, 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:51.960 give us a sense of what, you know, ten months 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:55.760 of hindsight here, how is air travel faired relative, you know, 0:09:55.800 --> 0:10:01.199 in terms of spreading the virus. So I feel like, um, 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.719 there's been you know, an unjust kind of bias, especially 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.760 placed on commercial where you know, you're kind of led 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:11.760 to believe that it's unhealthy to fly on a commercial aircraft. 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.480 I don't believe that's true. I believe there's exposure points. 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:16.920 I do think in the commercial journey there's a lot 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:20.840 more than say flying privately. But in general, you know, 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:24.920 you've seen the highlighted pieces where you know, perhaps somebody 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:27.240 was on an aircraft and then other people were infected 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.120 at a commercial level, but they have not been to 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:33.640 the extent or almost to the manic nature by which 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:37.080 they've been you know, discussed or talked about. UM. So, 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.199 I don't think that air travel is really going to 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:42.959 end up being something in hindsight where you're going to 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:46.120 see a lot of super spreader events. And I do 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.640 think that, you know, if there's a silver lining to this, 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:54.400 the exposure of just how much work goes into you know, 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.920 cleansing and sterilizing aircraft and putting people into a safe environment, 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:01.560 I think is really gonna emanate from this, and I 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:03.600 think that's going to be something that you know, our 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:07.079 industry should be held accountable for. All Right, Andrew, I'm 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.000 asking this question on behalf of our our Bloomberg colleague, 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.600 Tom Keene. What's the top of the line aircraft that 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.520 you offer and what will that do for me? How 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:18.520 far will it take me? How many people can I 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:21.040 bring along? All that kind of fun stuff? So we 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:23.360 can put you on like a Global Express. We could 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:26.520 put you on a gulf Stream six fifty. You could 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:29.880 go transatlantic. You could put you know a dozen people 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:33.760 on board, uh and feel very spacious and comfortable. You'll 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:37.120 have a flight attendant and a crew and you could 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.920 pretty much go where you want to go um without 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:42.839 you know, any sort of fuel stops. So that's really 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:47.240 the we call that the large cabin aircraft. And and 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.280 and that's one that you know, Tom would certainly enjoy 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.600 and and probably feel like you really conquered the universe. 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:56.400 And one of those So is your business? Is your 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:00.160 business global or is it primarily domestic? So it it 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:03.480 is global. We purchased a company in Europe. UM we 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:07.920 do fly internationally. We have set rates internationally. That said, 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:12.079 about eight percent of our business right now is within 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:15.480 the forty eight contiguous United States, but that is declining 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:20.240 rapidly as we push on into different international waters. Andrew, 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:22.319 thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Just the 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:25.560 fascinating business and it really interesting to see how your 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.079 business has evolved here during the pandemic. Andrew Collins, he's 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:32.440 president and chief executive officer of Sentient Jet. He joined 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:33.960 us on the phone from Boston.