CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Latitude 33 Aviation, LLC, a private jet charter, business jet management, and aircraft sales/acquisitions company based at McClellan-Palomar Airport in Southern California, announces the company grew by 25 percent year-over-year in 2016, also its 10th anniversary. The company manages the largest and newest fleet of light jets in the United States.
Owner-pilots Casey Miller and Solomon Short met by chance on the tarmac at a Phoenix airport in 2008. Miller had been running Latitude 33 on his own since 2006; however, the company was growing so fast he needed help and formed a 50:50 partnership with Short in 2011.
Within one month, the two pilots landed their first client together. “After that, it was one client after the other. With no employees, we were doing everything. Now, nearly six years later, we’ve hired 35 employees and manage 30 light, mid-size, and super mid-size jets in 11 cities across five states,” says Short. Latitude 33 Aviation has now grown to become the largest charter operator in San Diego, and the only jet operator in the city to have achieved the ARGUS Platinum safety rating.
Some of Latitude 33’s accomplishments in 2016 include:
- Added seven aircraft to the fleet; moved five of the seven into charter operations
- Expanded to mid- and super mid-size categories with Citation Sovereign and Challenger 350
- Received the coveted ARGUS Platinum Rating following a rigorous safety audit process
- Diversified fleet with additions of the first Embraer and Bombardier aircraft
- Completed $60 million in transactions with 14 aircraft sales/acquisitions
- Accumulated over 7,300 flight hours
- Voted San Diego’s Best Air Charter by Ranch & Coast Magazine’s Readers’ Poll
- Hosted 10th Anniversary client thank-you gala
- Hired 10 new employees, bringing staff total to 35
About Latitude 33 Aviation
Founded in 2006, Latitude 33, named after its geographical coordinates in San Diego County, currently manages 30 client-owned business jets, over half of which are operated under FAA Part 135 regulations, located at airports in Carlsbad, Van Nuys, Hawthorne, Santa Ana, Long Beach, and Fresno, CA; Scottsdale, AZ; and Nashville, TN. Latitude 33 emphasizes a 99.96 percent flight completion rate for 29,200 flights over ten years. A company of pilots with a deep bench in aviation, Latitude 33 employees have collectively logged 87,469 flight hours as of Q4 2016. The average age of aircraft in its fleet is only 3.7 years; the average age of its 31 employees is only 37, with both owners under 40. The company’s full 10-year story can be found on its website www.L33Jets.com/newsroom.
