“Behind the success of my growing business is a group of employees who have a personal dedication to the brand.”

Magellan Jets is the leader in domestic and international private jet travel offering clients private charter flights and private jet memberships on the safest aircraft in the world. By tapping into our network of air taxi operators we can supply each client with documented safe aircraft at competitive prices. We work to build strong, trusting client relationships structured around established safety guidelines and superior client services. And rather than locking you into rigid, time-specific contracts, we provide a variety of flexible private jet membership programs and jet cards.

MO: What inspired you to launch your business?

Joshua: In founding Magellan Jets, I realized my dream by melding my passion for aviation with my knowledge and expertise in financial relations, which I gleaned from serving at the prestigious Shearson Lehman, Sands Brothers and Paine Webber brokerage firms. As a result, when I founded the company I was already an experienced business aviation manager. In 2000, I helped build Jets.com, a private jet company, where I served as sales and marketing director. While working at Jets.com my primary mission was to maintain and retain relationships with existing and new customers. Over that time, I learned a lot about customer complaints. I was constantly thrown into situations where it was my job to address a variety of pains and stipulations. After eight years of dealing with the needs of powerful clients, I was able to build the Magellan Jets program eliminating most of these problems from the start.

MO: Do you have any recent success stories that you’d like to share with our readers?

Joshua: Behind the success of my growing business is a group of employees who have a personal dedication to the brand. I’ve instilled an “Open Door Policy” allowing each of them equal opportunity to speak out in a trusted and comfortable environment. They are the backbone behind many successful ideas…such as the launch of our iPhone app in 2011, the very first iPhone app in the industry. The app allows users to search, book, compare prices and sign for a charter in a matter of minutes from the convenience of their iPhone or iPad anytime, anywhere. Consider it the “Kayak Website” of private aviation. We were also the first company to sell private jet memberships on retail sites such as Rue La La, Guilt, Jetsetter and Urban Daddy. All these successful ideas were presented and executed because of our “Open Door Policy”.

MO: Where do you envision your company in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years?

Joshua: My goal is to set Magellan Jets apart from other companies and continue to be the “first” in many aspects. My vision is striving for continuous growth for Magellan Jets in the years to come. Recently, we have expanded to the West Coast with the acquisition of SkyBridge Private Air, launched a new office in Moscow and are contemplating development in China. Soon Magellan Jets will be among the largest and most powerful private jet companies in the world. Our priority is to continue setting high standards for safety in our business. Based on third party auditing agencies, such as Wyvern, ARG/US and ACSF, we are able to obtain high level safety data, records and statistics to narrow the list of approved networks substantially from the many charter operators available in the marketplace today. We pride ourselves on recently becoming the first charter broker to join the Air Charter Safety Foundation, a leader in Aviation Safety Management Systems, assuring our clients even further that they are flying with the best and safest in the business.

MO: Have you had any mentors or role models that have influenced you? Describe the impact.

Joshua: Over the past 15 years, I’ve had the good fortune to meet a wide range of respected and seasoned aviation professionals. I have learned rather than ask advice from these individuals, it’s better to listen to their experiences and how they’ve overcome crucial obstacles throughout their careers. I’ve implemented that same practice in how I run my own business. If someone approaches me with a problem, I offer my own personal experiences rather than advise them on how to solve the situation. This has taught me to be an independent thinker when faced with uncertainty, and hopefully encouraged those that distinguish me as a mentor to be independent as well.

MO: Do you consider yourself successful and by what means do you measure success?

Joshua: Success is defined by who we are, what we believe in and what we personally consider being successful to mean. From the beginning of my career, I’ve set a bar that is high for practical and inspirational reasons. Self-motivation and drive build the foundation of my business and define the employees I hire. Rejection and failure do not intimidate me, but rather motivate me. If I make a strategic business decision that doesn’t work out, I know I can still gain a valuable lesson.