Ryan Stone, co-founder and CEO of Jetpool

GM, Ford and Chrysler might not have suffered the public relations black eye of their executives taking private jets to Washington to beg for bailout money had their CFOs known about the Jetpool option.

Ryan Stone (MBA, Weekend ’04), co-founder and CEO of Jetpool, makes the case for private jets saving time and money by allowing business professionals to pack more into their day. By multitasking with business meetings at 20,000 feet, avoiding overnight stays because the last flight out left before the meeting ended and eliminating wasted time in airports from delays and protracted check-in times, executives can boost their efficiency through private aviation. An executive can save up to a month of time per year by using a private jet versus commercial airlines.

"A private jet can be a way to tighten the belt, if it is done properly," Stone said. "You have to do the analysis. In many cases, the results would surprise people."

Jetpool manages private aircraft for corporate owners, operating as an outsourced flight department. Just as a property manager manages a building that someone else owns, Jetpool takes care of everything connected with owning a private jet: helping to buy the plane, making sure the deal is structured properly for tax purposes, maintaining the aircraft and flying it – a completely turnkey operation.

Stone came up with the idea in one of Ted Zoller’s entrepreneurship classes at UNC Kenan-Flagler. After graduation, he partnered with Eric Legvold, his best friend and a private jet pilot, and Paul Sameit, a Navy buddy and former military test pilot who also has an MBA. In 2006, they landed a Fortune 200 company as their first revenue client. As business tightened in the past year, they looked at other ways to meet customer needs. They assisted a client in buying an Embraer Phenom 100, a small jet that costs 30 percent less to own and operate than traditional small business jets.

"With everyone trying to get more business, your time is more valuable than ever," Stone said. "The average business trip is taken by fewer than three people and under 500 miles. This jet hits that sweet spot of the average mission for most companies."

The company placed the Phenom 100 into their shared aircraft network, leasing quarter shares at less than half the cost of popular fractional and jetcard programs (like buying prepaid phone minutes, only for flying time) and providing charters for less than $1,900 an hour. This value proposition made economic sense to their target market – businesses with annual revenue of at least $20 million.

Here are other ways the company stays fiscally fit:

• A customer mindset. While both his partners are pilots, Stone never got around to learning to fly. His perspective adds balance to the business. "We had a need for someone to be grounded and be a professional passenger," he said.
• Staying relentlessly local. Jetpool bases its aircraft where the shareholders live, saving the cost of flying empty to the origination point. Shareholders fly in the plane they purchased. They have the same pilot, who gets to know their habits, unlike charter and jet card pilots, who "are more like highly trained cab drivers," Stone said.
• A transparent cost model. Jetpool and clients agree on fair profit and performance guarantees up front. All costs are then pass-through, making for easy auditing and greater trust in the Jetpool operation. "Even though we’re outsourced, we want you to feel like we’re part of your company," Stone said.
• Better-cheaper-faster with top-flight service. In checking out weather conditions in a northern destination, the Jetpool crew learned that even if they could get the client to the airport, the roads around it were closed by snow. The crew found another airport where the roads were open and got the client to the factory he needed to see. "Try getting that kind of business-integrated service anywhere else," Stone said.