‘The luxury is time.’ Alex Wilcox on how JSX created a unique value proposition

In the US airline landscape, JSX is one-of-a-kind, occupying a market niche that is a halfway point between commercial and private flying. It would appear that there is demand for a way of flying that places the passenger at the center of the experience.  

JSX is the brainchild of Alex Wilcox, who, after holding senior executive positions at airlines such as Virgin Atlantic, JetBlue (where he was part of the initial launch team), and Indian carrier Kingfisher, set up JetSuite, later renamed JSX. 

This airline is, technically speaking, a public charter operator. Under Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 135 regulations, public charter operators are able to use FBO (fixed-based operator) terminals rather than the often-crowded terminals at major airports. 

This is a key element in JSX’s value proposition, which primarily aims to save its customers’ time. With JSX, passengers check in as little as 20 minutes before departure, bypass commercial terminals entirely, and board through private FBO facilities.  

Although most of its fleet is made up of ERJ145 jets, JSX recently introduced turboprop operations with the launch of ATR 42-600 operations. With this bold move JSX expects to expand its network by serving smaller, underserved airports beyond the reach of most jet aircraft. 

AeroTime met with Alex Wilcox in Rio de Janeiro during the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual general meeting (AGM), which took place June 6-8, 2026, to discuss JSX and the place it has carved out in the dynamic US travel market. 

Wilcox explained that he came up with idea for what eventually became JSX during a stint in the executive jet industry. 

“I was in the private jet business, and I really got a taste for how nice it is to fly privately,” he said. “You show up at the airport, get out of your car and onto the airplane; the door closes, and off you go. It’s like nothing else, and there’s no terminal to get through.  

“So, we started to explore what is the closest we can come to a private jet experience that could be achievable at a consumer price point, and I said we have to find a way to make it more commercially available to more people, because that’s what aviation is about, right?” 

The poor experience offered by many major airports in the US and elsewhere was a major driver behind the idea. 

“It’s about getting from point A to point B faster, and we are at the point of absurdity now, where you have to show up at an airport two hours early to fly for 45 minutes,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense, so, initially, we saw the big opportunity in short-haul flying, you know, Southern California to Las Vegas, Northern California to Northern California.”  

“We were living in California at the time. We started the business there, so we just examined the rules, and these are very clear,” he added. “There’s a regime called Public Charter – it’s almost 50 years old now on the books. Public Charter is when you can sell a ticket from point A to point B on a plane that’s operated as a charter, so that’s what we did, and, like I said, these operations have been around for 50 years. You can show up 20 minutes before the flight, get on, get checked in, go through security, and board the airplane and not break a sweat. So, this is the magic of what we do here.” 

The JSX model has been legally contested by some of the incumbent airlines, which have filed regulatory complaints for what they perceive as unfair competition.  

“There is no controversy. These are 50-year-old rules,” Wilcox said. “There are some vested interests that don’t want competition, that tried to capture the regulator and tell a lot of lies about our operation and about the public charter industry, but there’s no merit to any of it, and people that examined it realized that very quickly.”  

“Our investors include JetBlue, United Airlines, Qatar Airways, and they all understand that we’re not going to compromise on safety at all,” he continued. “The difference is how many seats are in the airplane, and up to 30 seats you can fly under part 135 charter.” 

Here, Wilcox was referring to the 30-seat threshold which divides mainstream airlines operating under Part 121 regulations and Part 135 operators like JSX. The latter are constrained to operating with only up to 30 seats per aircraft. 

“It’s a very bright line, and that bright line is 30 seats. We’re happy to conform to that. Any other air carrier could do that. Any air carrier can do as many seats as they want. Nothing stops them,” he said. “In fact, SkyWest is now in the public charter business as well. Contour is another, and there are a number of other businesses. So, the so-called controversy is just an invention by two airlines that don’t like competition.  

“And by the way,” he added, “these are the lowest rated airlines in the country!” 

So why has no other company tried to do this sooner?  

“Well, people did, but no one did it at scale,” Wilcox explained. “It’s hard to know why nobody has done this before, but there have been a number of operations as public charter. I think they didn’t have the opportunity to get as many airplanes as we have.”  

“The regional jets were being phased out of the network carriers, so there were many jets available to us to start and grow the business, and that’s been one of the factors,” he added, referring to the Embraer ERJ135 and 145s which have become the mainstay of JSX’s fleet. 

He continued: “Obviously without airplanes you can’t have an airline, so we identified lots of those airplanes that had been retired. We were able to take them out of the desert and put them back into service, so that was one of the big unlocks as well.” 

But why has JSX favored the ERJ135 and the ERJ145? 

“It’s the right airplane for us,” Wilcox said. “The CRJ 700 900 is a little too big, and, because we’re limited to 30 seats, you don’t want a very big airplane.”  

Introducing turboprops 

Wilcox also explained the rationale behind the recent induction of ATR turboprops into service. 

“The ATR 42 makes sense for us because it’s an available airplane and it’s appropriate for this number of seats, and it also fits where private jets usually go,” he said. “In fact, the ERJ is smaller than most of the Gulfstreams that are being built today, so in terms of physical size, instead of having two or three people on the airplane, we have 30. So, we can use the existing infrastructure of the FBOs and smaller municipal ramps.”  

“We don’t need a jet bridge; we don’t need belt loaders,” he continued. “It’s a small, easily handled airplane that you can basically bring to any airport.” 

However, Wilcox also confirmed that the ATRs complement, rather than replace the ERJs. 

“The ATR has two characteristics that the jet does not have. The first is it can fly to very short runways, so the first market we’re serving with the ATR is Santa Monica (SMO), California. The runway is only 3500 feet long. The jet can’t land there, so my board was very clear. They said, ‘Look, if you want to get a new kind of airplane, it has to have a capability that we don’t already have’, so this is a clear and very smart direction.” 

Here, Wilcox explained how, with Santa Monica airport located in the middle of an urban area in the west part of Los Angeles, it opens up many opportunities to serve an affluent clientele that does not wish to fly out of Los Angeles International (LAX) or even Burbank (BUR) for a short regional flight. It is in this type of market, he stated, that the ATR brings in some capabilities that the jet doesn’t have. 

The model is good in short markets and small communities, he added. 

The second characteristic is that the ATR is still being produced, while the ERJ is no longer in production, Wilcox added. However, this fact does not currently concern him. 

“We easily have another 20 years left in this fleet. We have a great deal with the OEMs, with our partners. Embraer is supporting this aircraft type, there’s still lots of engineering, and hundreds of these airplanes are still in service today. There’s plenty of them for us to go acquire.”  

“We still have another 30 or so airplanes that we have not yet deployed, so we’ll be able to continue growing for quite some time with aircraft that are in the market now and that we own already. They’re in storage and we’re just taking them out of the desert,” he added, noting that JSX is reactivating one ERJ every two months. 

“We have a great deal with Rolls-Royce and a great relationship with Embraer, so we’re very confident that for 15 to 20 years this airplane will be supported,” he continued. “But that’s not forever, and we think about the future. So, since there is no new regional jet being contemplated at the moment, we need to explore adding the ATR.” 

How was the start of ATR service in the US market, in which turboprops are a rarity, viewed? And what feedback has Wilcox received? 

“We ran this test with ATR to see two things. One is, will the US customer get on turboprop? And two, can ATR support the airplane in the market? And I’m very happy to tell you that the net promoter score (NPS) for the people that flew the turboprop is the same as on the jet,” he said. “So, I think it’s a myth that Americans don’t like turboprops. I think it’s received wisdom. Maybe it is true for people who are of a certain age, when turboprops were a lot noisier and maybe less reliable and not as comfortable, but ATR has performed huge enhancements to the –600.”  

“We only fly the -600 series, the newest ones; they’re much quieter onboard. We have Starlink Wi-Fi, a very commodious cabin, and, to my ears, the ATR cabin is less noisy than a jet,” he continued. “So, I think people are sensitive and they’re aware of all these things combined. It’s different, but they appreciate being able to fly out of the local airport. I’m sure there are some customers that may wonder, ‘what is this thing?’, but in our experience so far, it’s been received the same as the jet.” 

Projects in clean aviation 

JSX has also been scouting the emerging low-emissions aircraft scene for potential future opportunities. The airline has signed Letters of Intent (LOI) with three startups developing clean-sheet hybrid-electric regional aircraft: Electra, Heart Aerospace, and AURA AERO.  

“These guys all have a big challenge in front of them,” Wilcox explained. “They have to build the airplanes; they have to get them certified. I think Electra will be first, because they have a Part 23 airplane, which is obviously easier to certify, and they have a really good leadership team and have attracted a lot of really good capital.” 

Electra’s future ES9 aircraft is much smaller than any aircraft currently operated by JSX, but Wilcox sees value in the concept. 

“It’s a nine-seater, so that’s more limited. But, again, we kind of keep downsizing the addressable market, so with that aircraft we would be able to serve probably 2000 airports in the US,” he said. “And, by the way, under charter rules, we can access all public airports, not just the 500 airports that have TSA.” 

Electra’s ultra-short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities are also of interest when it comes to fulfilling one of JSX’s main roles: saving customers’ time. 

RELATED

Diana Siegel of Electra on the capabilities of hybrid-electric ultra-STOL aircraft: video

“With the Electra you can go from a rooftop parking garage to another rooftop somewhere else. We could go from downtown Dallas to downtown Austin, for example, and no one has to go to the airport; that would be a very unique mobility improvement,” Wilcox explained. “In places like Texas, where cities are not too far apart and there’s lots of traffic among them, I see a real use case for that airplane. In this case, it’s going to be more difficult to provide a luxury service, but the luxury is time.” 

Placing time saving at the center 

Next, Wilcox delved further into the matter of time saving, since this is a key aspect of JSX’s value proposition. 

“The vast majority of our customers are not looking for caviar and champagne; they can buy that for themselves if they really want it and have it in whatever environment they want it in. We save them time,” he explained. “So, avoiding spending two hours at a major airport, waiting for 300 people to get on and off an airplane, just to go somewhere that’s a few hundreds of miles away. By the time that airplane is finished boarding and taking off, our airplane is already landing at the destination!”  

This does not mean that JSX isn’t striving to provide a premium experience, but rather that time savings are the number one differentiator. 

“It’s a comfortable experience but it’s not champagne, caviar, hot meals, massages on board, any of that stuff,” he said. “We have lounges, but they’re not very fancy, because the whole point is to spend 20 minutes in them. We have snacks and coffee. We have rental cars available, free Wi-Fi, of course, and it’s a nice place to check in.”  

“We also have amenities for dogs. We carried over 50,000 dogs last year, and we have a partnership with Petco, where your dog gets treats from Petco, a bench and a fire hydrant and snacks and a little bandana that they can wear too,” he added. “So, we’re a very dog-friendly air carrier.  

“However, I would say the vast majority, 90% plus of our customers recognize that the ultimate luxury is time, and that’s what they’re flying JSX.” 

JSX operates in a country in which the uppermost tiers of the market often have a taste for private aviation. Here, Wilcox clearly defined his value proposition vs. executive flying. 

“We will never have the schedule flexibility of an on-demand private jet. If you’re going to fly privately, you’re probably going somewhere where there is no scheduled service, and you’re probably doing it on a schedule that is unique for you,” he said. “So, look, we cannot replace that, but if you are a private jet owner – and I know lots of them, I was in that business, and lots of these guys are my customers – if you happen to be going somewhere that JSX serves, then you probably fly on JSX.” 

“If you own a light jet, you can’t stand up in the cabin while you fly. With JSX, you have someone bringing you cocktails, a stand-up lavatory, Starlink Wi-Fi. In fact, you’re saving $20-30,000 each leg. And on top of that, you are having a better experience, so when the schedule works, the private jet client will come to us as well.” 

To this, Wilcox added that JSX has a rather heterogeneous customer profile, mostly dependent on the day of the week and the route. 

“If it’s Tuesday morning from Burbank to Oakland (OAK), it’s probably a businessperson trying to save some time. It could be, for example, a small business owner. Same with Dallas to Houston. If it’s Friday night from Burbank to Las Vegas (LAS), it could be somebody that has a short weekend and wants to get away and without having to deal with a large airline,” he said. “These are people that want to have an enjoyable start to their weekend, so they’re willing to spend a premium for that.” 

But fares can vary widely. Wilcox pointed out that base fares start at $200 each way, making JSX accessible to a far larger demographic than many imagine. Although he admitted these quickly start to rise.  

“Typically, our fares will be less than domestic first class. We don’t really price compared to the airlines, because we’re so differentiated, but then on a weekend, if you’re going from New York to Florida, we might charge $2,000 each way, which is going to be, maybe two times what a domestic economy ticket is, but it’s not five to 10 times, which is the cost of flying privately,” he said. “If you have a Gulfstream, you can get 20 people on it, and maybe you can make the economics similar, but that’s a very rare case. So, we’re probably 10% of what it costs to fly privately.” 

JSX is present on global distribution systems (GDS), but its main distribution channel, 90% of its sales, is direct to consumers.  

“People that need to know already know us,” Wilcox joked.  

JSX also has interline agreements with United Airlines and JetBlue, with passengers able to earn miles on the two carriers’ respective frequent flyer programs, notwithstanding the fact that JSX introduced its own loyalty program in 2025. 

Wilcox is not concerned about the JSX model being imitated, noting a number of other premium-only operators that have entered the market or plan to do so in the near future, such as Aero, Magnifica Air or BeOnd. 

“I think those guys have very different plans. Their unit costs are much higher. I don’t know too much detail about their businesses, but I know that they’re very different from ours,” he said. “I think we are in the sweet spot in terms of approachability, in terms of unit cost, in terms of value, of frequency. You can fly a narrowbody only so often, and with a very small group of people on board the trip costs are very high. Our trip costs are very low. Our unit costs are very low. Some of the competitors are flying more or less the same airplane that we fly, but with half as many seats. And I know what the math looks like. I’m also pretty good at math, and I don’t see how that pencils.”  

Growth perspectives 

How big can the JSX market niche be? And how much growth can JSX realistically deliver in the years to come?  

“We have 56 airplanes flying and we’ll have probably 64 airplanes by the end of the year. We’re adding two more ATRs and five or six more jets, so it’s a rapidly growing business,” he said. “Our CAGR for the last three years is 30% each year, compounding, so we’re growing rapidly.”  

The swing in the market towards premium travel, particularly in the US, has also acted as a tail wind for JSX. 

“There’s lots of coverage about how people are looking for premium products and premium support, and that’s very evident. That’s where the growth is, and that’s our market,” Wilcox said. 

The unique characteristics of the semi-private model, however, make it difficult to export to other geographies. 

“The regulations in the US are somewhat unique,” Wilcox said. “They’re similar in Mexico, and we have had good success, flying up to Mexico, but there’s just so much opportunity in front of us in the US that we haven’t spent too much time working elsewhere.”  

So, what’s next for JSX? 

“We’ve got to continue growing at the pace we’re growing. We have to get the ATR successfully deployed. We were going to wait and watch very closely what happens with these smaller hybrid-electric airplanes. I think that there’s nothing but opportunity ahead for us,” Wilcox explained, before continuing to lay out what he expects to be the main drivers underpinning JSX’s future growth. 

“The network carriers are growing, through gauge, so airplanes are getting bigger and this means the problems are going to get worse at big airports,” he said. “If you have a hub and spoke airline, and your average seats per departure are over 200 and you’re adding new gates like they are at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW). When disruption comes, it’s going to be worse than ever. So, I think that the quality the network carriers offer will continue to degrade. Even if we do nothing, we will become more attractive to more and more people every day.” The post ‘The luxury is time.’ Alex Wilcox on how JSX created a unique value proposition appeared first on AeroTime.

Go to Source