A Relationship for your Flight and the Future.
Experience matters. That’s why we are led by a team of experts with decades of combined excellence within the private travel industry. A group of genuine people, who first and foremost, seek to do right by you and take a long-term approach to relationships.
In Europe, FXAIR has been built on a foundation of over 20 years of experience in the private charter industry, with deep regional expertise and a multilingual team.
Parent Company Leaders
Kenneth Ricci
Kenneth C. “Kenn” Ricci is an American aviation entrepreneur and the Principal of Directional Aviation Capital, which owns or invests in various aviation enterprises including Flexjet, where he also serves as Chairman.
Kenn began his aviation career as an Air Force ROTC cadet at the University of Notre Dame and started his first company, Corporate Wings, in 1980. His love of aviation had him founding, acquiring or financing a broad range of aviation companies and ideas over his career. He has assembled one of the largest groups of private aviation companies which together account for over $4.0 billion of revenue, operate over 300 aircraft and employ over 5,000 individuals.
Kenn was honored as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000 and has been named one of the most influential people in aviation by Aviation International News. In 2005, Kenn led the restructuring of the Mercury Air Centers, a $200 million company operating aircraft support facilities at 24 different airports. He sold the company to Macquarie Infrastructure Trust in 2007 in a deal valued at $615 million. In 2010, Kenn received the Harvard Business School’s Dively Entrepreneurship Award. In 2011, Kenn was the youngest recipient of the prestigious William A. “Bill” Ong Memorial Award for extraordinary achievement and extended meritorious service to the general aviation industry.
Kenn is the founder of Nextant Aerospace, the innovator of Aircraft Remanufacturing. In 2015, Kenn received the Aviation Week Laureate Award, a benchmark of industry excellence, recognizing his work in the development of Nextant Aerospace.
In 2016, Kenn received the Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur Award from the Living Legends of Aviation. In 2019, he was inducted as a Living Legend of Aviation. The Living Legends of Aviation are admirable people of remarkable accomplishment in aviation including entrepreneurs, innovators, industry leaders, record breakers, astronauts and pilots.
An airline transport pilot with more than 6,000 hours of flight time and extensive international experience, he was Governor William Clinton’s pilot when he ran for President in 1992.
Kenn graduated from the University of Notre Dame and in 2018 created a groundbreaking giving structure called a Philanthropic Succession Partnership to donate $100 million to the university, the single largest unrestricted, guaranteed gift ever committed. Kenn also graduated from the Cleveland Marshall School of Law, where he was named a Distinguished Alumni in 2016 and selected for admission to their Alumni Hall of Fame in 2018.
Kenn serves on the Board of Trustees for the University of Notre Dame, the Smithsonian and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
In 2018, Mr. Ricci was named one of Town & Country Magazine’s top 50 Philanthropists for his charitable work. His other philanthropic causes include Able Flight, which provides people with disabilities a way to challenge themselves through flight and aviation career training. In 2014, Kenn was honored by the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for championing research and treatment of the disease, which affects 30,000 children and adults in the United States.
Recognized as a leader and innovator in the private aviation industry, Mr. Ricci has been widely quoted in print, online and on broadcast television including The New York Times, Washington Post, Fox Business, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, Robb Report and Worth Magazine. Mr. Ricci’s management strategies have been featured in the Wall Street Journal and he is the Author of “Management by Trust,” a book featuring practical management techniques for building employee trust and success.
Michael A. Rossi
Michael Rossi has been a premier leader in the development of innovative business strategies in the aviation industry since 1982. Today, Mr. Rossi is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Flexjet; a board member of Flexjet and a shareholder and principal in Directional Aviation Capital. In his role, Mr. Rossi is responsible for leading Flexjet’s financial strategy, overseeing financial operations and driving growth and profitability.
Throughout his career, Mr. Rossi has been involved in over 30 acquisitions, mergers and divestitures in the private aviation industry, making him a valuable asset to Flexjet. He has a deep understanding of the complexities of the aviation industry and has a proven track record of driving success in this dynamic industry. Mr. Rossi’s extensive experience touches on all areas of general aviation, including fractional ownership, jet card programs, fixed-base operations, maintenance facilities, management of aircraft and the buying and selling of corporate aircraft. Mr. Rossi has been involved in capital and debt transactions in excess of $2.5B.
His career as a Chief Financial Officer began with a restructuring of Mercury Air Centers, where he was instrumental in increasing EBITDA by over 200 percent, a result of acquisitions and operating efficiencies. An innovative CFO in the industry, Mr. Rossi was among the leaders who drove the acquisitions of Sentient Jet in 2012, Flexjet in 2013, PrivateFly in 2018 and Sirio in 2019.
His work to lead Flexjet through the 2020 pandemic pulled from experience and best practices he developed while CFO at Flight Options, which successfully survived the Great Recession of 2008 & 2009. Flexjet emerged from the pandemic without making any layoffs and, in fact, Flexjet grew its clientele and capacity.
In 2022, Mr. Rossi played a vital role in a transaction combining the SPAC, Zanite and Embraer’s EVE, an eVTOL manufacturer, which resulted in EVE becoming a publicly traded company.
Mr. Rossi is a graduate of John Carroll University and is a Certified Public Accountant. As a testament to long-term relationships, Flexjet Chairman, Kenneth Ricci and Mr. Rossi have been personal friends for decades.
Michael J. Silvestro
Michael J. “Mike” Silvestro is the Chief Executive Officer of Flexjet and is the longest tenured CEO in the fractional private jet industry. Mr. Silvestro, who holds a private pilot’s license, began his aviation career at Flight Options in 2000, where he served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing from 2000 to 2005.
Mr. Silvestro left Flight Options after Raytheon Travel Air’s investment that ultimately led to its acquiring majority control of the company. He held a senior position with fractional provider CitationShares from 2005 to 2008.
Mr. Silvestro returned to Flight Options as CEO in 2008 after its acquisition by Directional Aviation and helped to lead its recovery after the recession of 2008-09. From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Silvestro also helped modernize the Flight Options fleet with a mix of new and refurbished aircraft.
In 2013, Mr. Silvestro became CEO of Flexjet after its acquisition from Bombardier Aerospace by Directional Aviation. Mr. Silvestro is also a shareholder of the flying companies under Directional Aviation, whose principal is Kenn Ricci, the chairman of Flexjet.
Mr. Silvestro launched other initiatives at Flexjet, including its Red Label premium offering and investment in large-cabin aircraft. He implemented Global Access, which offers access to large-cabin aircraft for long-distance travel, especially intercontinental trips. Flexjet expanded international travel options, including Europe. Additionally, Flexjet began operating private terminals at select airports.
Mr. Silvestro graduated from the University of Notre Dame, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and played football. He was only one of two non-scholarship players in his freshman class. He was coached by Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, the Notre Dame football player whose story inspired the movie Rudy.
In 2023, Silvestro was honored with the Living Legends of Aviation Lifetime Aviation Industry Award, reflecting contributions to the field over an entire career.
In addition to his career in aviation, Mr. Silvestro has founded several companies whose products range from polymer technology for athletic footwear to celebrity-endorsed personal products, including Spectrum Sports, a supplier of innersoles for athletic shoes. He has also invented and co-invented products such as an advanced shin guard for protection in football and other contact sports that was patented in 1984. Mr. Silvestro lives in Hudson, Ohio with his family.
Andrew Collins
Andrew Collins is the Chief Executive Officer of Flexjet and a lead executive in the company’s parent group with oversight of M&A, operations and revenue management activities.
With over 18 years in the industry, he has evolved group company Sentient Jet into the defining brand and global market leader in jet cards. Under his leadership as President and CEO, the company flourished to become a $450 million EBITDA-positive entity, benefiting from a digital and business model transformation, in addition to an organizational restructuring. This includes setting market, product and brand strategy, integrating a full suite of retail and wholesale technology applications, tripling sales, optimizing client acquisitions costs and significantly moving top-line revenues.
Mr. Collins has spearheaded some of the group’s key M&A activities in recent years, including the acquisition of Halo Aviation in London in 2021 which was integrated with the further acquisition of Associated Aircraft Group in NYC to form Flexjet’s helicopter division - creating a global fleet of helicopters and a platform for future of flight vertical lift. Inclusive with this effort was an order for eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) vehicles from Embraer’s EVE.
In 2018, Mr. Collins led the acquisition of jet card and private charter provider PrivateFly, a key milestone in the group’s expansion into Europe.
In recent years Mr. Collins has motivated a significant digital and technology transformation at Sentient Jet and across the group. This has included the creation of retail product, online consumer “touch points,” novel mobile applications and a brand-new, supply-side platform for driving further efficiencies in flight time procurement.
With his direction, Sentient Jet also leveraged its exclusive partnership program to include such leading, world-class brands as Aspen/Snowmass, Sotheby’s and YPO/WPO. In 2016, Sentient Jet became the first official private aviation partner ever for the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs.
Mr. Collins has been featured in a number of media outlets and forums including CNN, CNBC, Forbes, NBC and the Wall Street Journal. In 2016, Sentient Jet and Mr. Collins were featured in a Harvard Business School case study entitled “Sentient Jet: The Uber of Private Jets.”
He received his bachelor’s degree from Union College and master’s degree from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and the Wall Street Journal CEO Council.
Kent Stauffer
Kent Stauffer is a leading aviation safety professional who heads global safety for Flexjet and FXAIR. In addition to being a pilot, UAS Pilot and A&P, he holds several accreditations in Aviation and Safety Management, Aviation Science, Aviation Maintenance, OSHA, EPA and Accident Investigation. Stauffer has a broad background in aviation safety that includes human factors, risk management, flight, maintenance and ground operations, Safety Management Systems (SMS), Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) and Accident Investigation.
After obtaining both FAA Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) and pilot’s licenses, he began his career as a Maintenance Technician at Flight Options in 2001. His rapid progression included roles in Maintenance Control, General Manager in Las Vegas and Sacramento and Vice President of Operations. In 2015, he began his tenure as Vice President at Constant Aviation. In 2023, Kent returned to Flexjet as Vice President of Safety and was recently promoted to Chief Safety Officer, tasked with leading global safety initiatives across the organization.
Stauffer is an active member of the FAA Safety Team (FAAST) and speaks throughout the country at FAA forums and industry conferences on human-focused operations, safety and maintenance topics. He serves on numerous industry and FAA-sponsored work groups and organizations and participates as an aviation advisory and board member for several Part 147 schools including, Kent State University and Argonaut/Davis Aviation High School. Stauffer currently also serves as the chairman of the Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF).