Northern Jet Orlando Its All About People And Safety
As promised Chris and I returned to Orlando Executive Airport to see our friends at Northern Jet. This time we brought a video crew from Aviation Marketing Experts. We had the opportunity to see a couple of aircraft up close. We learned, for Northern Jet Orlando its all about people and safety.
Here’s a link to the first video on YouTube.
The video crew sat down for an interview with Ricky Guagliardo, Sales Manager, in their spacious top floor conference room.
Conference Room With Panoramic View
What is so impressive about Northern Jet is the fact that they have their own private terminal. And it’s not just a terminal, it was previously the Sheltair Aviation Services FBO location. It’s unusual for a private jet charter company to have their own private terminal. Most use a shared FBO location.
As part of the video production, we got to be onboard with two of the pilots while they readied a flight, on a Citation CJ3, bound for the Bahamas.
Special thanks to pilots:
- PIC: Robert Basile
- SIC: David Chiles
What we learned from our second visit was how important safety is at Northern Jet.
Captain Basile told us he never feels pressured to take off as safety always comes first. Co-Captain David Chiles commented that working for Northern Jet was like being in a family. I did want to mention that the pilots had no advance notice of our visit or that they would be participating in the production. This underscores how genuine they really were.
It’s clear that beyond safety, Northern Jet strives to make the customer experience an extraordinary one.
We have visited many operations on our travels, this one really stands out for so many positive reasons.
We’d like to thank everyone again for granting the video crew such a level of access and for all the hospitality. As we saw, Chris really enjoyed the selection of snacks that are provided on the flights.
Northern Jet Orlando Its All About People And Safety
Our Visit to Orlando Executive Airport To See Private Jet Charter Companies
Chris and I went back to Orlando to check out a couple of area airports. Our friends from Aviation Marketing Experts (Blue Island Digital) are also based there. We have done work for them, including writing for their newsletter. Our visit to Orlando Executive Airport to see private jet charter companies turned out to be quite a surprise.
Our plan was to stop at Stratos Jet Charters but instead we found Northern Jet at their location. As we soon learned, Northern Jet is a recent merger of SpeedBird (Orlando, FL) and Northern Jet Management (Grand Rapids, MI). We also found out that Stratos had moved to the other side of the airport (more on that later).
We were delighted that the Sales Manager, Henrique “Ricky” Guagliardo talked to us. We are always amazed how courteous, even busy, people can be to share their story when they are passionate about it. That was the case with Ricky. Like us, we could tell, he loved his work.
We learned a little about the new company and how in many ways it sounded like a match made in heaven. Both SpeedBird and Northern Jet Management operate their own aircraft. One based in the Southeast and the other in the Midwest. This creates great aircraft positioning. SpeedBird clients are mostly on demand and Northern Jet Management has a strong card membership program.
Great fleet of popular jets:
As Ricky explained, the new company now has a combined fleet of over 40 jets, including:
- Cessna Citation CJ3s
- Learjet 40/45/70/75s
- Citation Xs,
- Challenger 300/350s
- Challenger 605s
And a team of over 200 employees, including 98 pilots.
The Northern Jet customer terminal at Orlando Executive Airport looks like a great experience for travelers. From its “Brews & Bites” area to stylish modern décor, it reminded us of some of the nicest FBO locations we have ever seen.
Northern Jet Orlando Customer Terminal
They even have free decks of personalized Northern Jet “casino quality” playing cards at the counter. Nothing like a hand or two of 5 card stud on your flight.
We liked this visit so much our plan is to return with a video crew and get a tour of one of their fleet. We’ll set that up with Ricky and keep everyone posted.
Now on to Stratos Jet Charters. As mentioned, when we went to their address on Google Maps, that is where we found Northern Jets. Chris checked their website and found there was a new address: 3051 E Livingston St, Suite 401 Orlando, FL 32803. This is the Sheltair FBO building.
We went up to the 4th Floor and found Suite 401. We opened the door to what appeared to be about a 300 sq. ft. two room office. There was no sign but there were 2 men inside. Clearly, they were in the process of moving, as there was no furniture, just a computer in pieces on the floor.
We introduced ourselves and the man proceeded to tell us that they were busy with meetings and couldn’t talk to us. We asked if there might be a time we could come back and the man said he would have to talk to the owner, he motioned toward the other room, so we assumed that was the other person we saw.
We gave him a business card. Yes, we have cards. Haven’t heard back as of yet.
On to the next adventure (Sanford International Airport) …
And as always if you’re in the aircraft business, contact us and maybe we’ll come visit you too !
Our Visit to Orlando Executive Airport To See Private Jet Charter Companies
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