A successful new airline has drawn the ire of its rivals by offering ‘private jet-like’ service at business class prices.
JSX, a Dallas-based airline, has built a loyal following of business travelers for its luxury service and affordable fares.
The airline’s CEO and founder, Alex Wilcox, learned — by searching Federal Aviation Administration regulations — that public charter flights are subject to less onerous safety and security requirements than scheduled flights.
The ‘loophole’, as Wilcox’s detractors label it, is that they just can’t list flight times or cities or sell individual seats.
Wilcox therefore decided to create two companies that would work together with each other.
JSX, a Dallas-based carrier, has built a loyal following of business travelers for its luxury service and affordable prices
The successful new airline has drawn the ire of its rivals by offering ‘private jet-like’ service at business class prices
One would make a flight plan and sell tickets, and the other would fly the plane on specific routes at set times and dates.
“I spent months without sleep just looking at all the rules and looking for ways why it couldn’t be done,” Wilcox said Bloomberg News.
‘Every single person we spoke to said, “No, you can’t do that.”
But US regulators signed off on the idea.
“So we did it,” he added.
Wilcox founded JSX in 2015, and in less than a decade the company has gone from operating just 641 flights over six routes to nearly 35,000 over 48.
If the company continues to grow at its current pace, annual revenue will hit $1 billion by 2028, Wilcox told Bloomberg.
Alex Wilcox founded JSX in 2015, and in less than a decade the company has gone from operating just 641 flights across six routes to nearly 35,000 across 48
Currently, JSX allows customers to book flight tickets online like more traditional airlines. However, the plane departs from a private hangar rather than an airport.
Wilcox’s company has grown so fast that competitors have begun lobbying against it.
Major airlines have struggled to bring back business travel revenue after the collapse of corporate travel during the pandemic.
Other issues such as safety investigations at Boeing, inflation and rising labor costs have stifled the market.
The major airlines “don’t want to deal with a new kind of business model,” Wilcox said.
“They’re just trying to put us out of business,” he explained.
However, Southwest and American Airlines claim that JSX is a potential safety issue.
“If you want to be a scheduled carrier, whoever you are, follow the rules of a scheduled carrier,” said Southwest CEO Bob Jordan.
‘We have decades of evidence that accidents have fallen significantly and safety has improved significantly. Just follow that standard,’ he added.
JSX says it has never had an accident, an assault on its flight attendants or a fight on its planes.
Doug Parker, former chairman and CEO of American Airlines, told Bloomberg that carriers like JSX should be required to meet post-9/11 standards implemented to counter terrorist threats.
“We know that terrorists have their eyes on commercial aviation and we are giving them a perfect opportunity,” he explained.
Parker told the outlet that he raised his concerns with the TSA last year and wants regulators to move more quickly to tighten security standards for JSX.
Proposed changes to the rules from the Transportation Security Administration and a review by the FAA could create problems for the airline going forward.
JSX is one of 19 carriers that could be affected by changes to the rules for the model it uses, according to the FAA.
Wilcox said he would appeal any imposed changes that would affect its business model.
“We would obviously exhaust all our funds,” he said.
He’s also banking on support from his regular investors, including JetBlue and United.
“When someone points a gun at you, you tend to hire bodyguards,” he said.
Currently, JSX allows customers to book flight tickets online like more traditional airlines.
However, the plane departs from a private hangar rather than an airport.
Baggage is washed for explosives and passengers must go through a weapons detector.
One of the pitfalls is that if a flight is delayed, travelers don’t have the convenience of an airport.
In addition, if a flight is cancelled, there is not always an easy option for rebooking.
