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Kenn Ricci receives award

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BEfly

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FLEXJET CHAIRMAN KENN RICCI RECEIVES LIVING LEGENDS OF AVIATION LIFETIME AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR AWARD
JANUARY 16, 2017

CLEVELAND, January 16, 2017 ? Flexjet LLC, offering travelers access to the world?s most luxurious fleet of private jets, today announced that its chairman, Kenneth C. ?Kenn? Ricci, will receive the Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur Award Friday at the Living Legends of Aviation 14th Annual Awards, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California.

The Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur Award recipients are determined by the Legends, including past honorees of the relevant categories. The ?living legends of aviation? are admirable people of remarkable accomplishment in aviation including: Entrepreneurs, innovators, industry leaders, record-breakers, astronauts, pilots who have become celebrities and celebrities who have become pilots. The legends meet yearly to recognize and honor individuals who have made significant contributions in aviation.

Winners of the Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur Award, presented annually since 2003, have included Southwest Airlines co-founder Herb Kelleher, Federal Express founder Fred Smith and Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson. The ?Living Legends of Aviation?? Awards are produced by the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy, a 501(c) 3 organization, whose mission is to educate and inspire today?s youth and create tomorrow?s aviators and Legends.

?I am deeply honored that the Living Legends of Aviation has selected me for the 2017 Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur Award,? said Ricci, who also serves as principal of Directional Aviation. ?This award truly is not just a personal honor, but also a reflection of the efforts of the thousands of talented and dedicated men and women at Flexjet and the other Directional Aviation companies that I am proud to have been associated with during the past three decades.?

Ricci?s entrepreneurial career dates back to his founding of aircraft management and corporate charter operator Corporate Wings in 1981, a company that was named to the Inc. 500 list of America?s fastest-growing companies. Subsequently, Ricci launched or led other aviation enterprises including Nextant Aerospace, Constant Aviation and Sojourn Aviation, all of which today are part of the Directional Aviation family of companies. He also has played a role in such enterprises as the restructuring of Mercury Air Centers, which was sold to Macquarie Infrastructure Trust in 2007.

Throughout his career, Ricci has translated his passion for aviation into the development of groundbreaking solutions that have provided thousands of people and businesses access to private jet travel. In 1998, he revolutionized fractional aircraft ownership by founding Flight Options, which became the industry?s second-largest company in just four years. Ricci also leads jet card pioneer Sentient Jet and on-demand charter leader Skyjet.

In 2013, Directional Aviation acquired Flexjet. In just three short years, Ricci has made Flexjet the world?s premiere fractional provider ? competing not just in the U.S. but around the world. Today, Flexjet flies the youngest fleet in the fractional industry with aircraft designed to meet every need and taste, including best-in-class aircraft from leading manufacturers such as Embraer, Gulfstream and Bombardier.

Ricci pushed the fractional private jet ownership industry forward again in 2015 with the launch of Red Label by Flexjet, which delivers to fractional private jet Owners a private flying experience as personalized as whole aircraft ownership. Red Label features access to the world?s newest fractional jet fleet, artisan aircraft interiors that are some of the finest ever to traverse the skies and its most pioneering feature, flight crews dedicated to a single aircraft.

Ricci?s dedicated crewing innovation exposes fractional private jet Owners to a confidence and consistency in piloting usually reserved for those who own a whole aircraft. Each Red Label dedicated crew sets its own schedule and is assigned to just one tail number, which becomes their dedicated aircraft. They fly only their designated plane, and work as a team to ensure it is perfect for each trip. This model, with its roots in military flying, improves the fractional Owner?s experience, enhances dispatch reliability and is a tailored approach that no other fractional provider can offer.

In 2000, Ricci was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of Year and was honored as one of the most influential people in aviation by Aviation International News. In 2010, he received the Harvard Business School?s Dively Entrepreneurship Award and, in 2012, was named the youngest-ever recipient of the prestigious William Ong Award for extraordinary achievement and extended meritorious service to general aviation. In 2015, Ricci received the Aviation Week Laureate Award, recognizing his contributions to innovation in aircraft remanufacturing through Nextant Aerospace.

An alumnus of the University of Notre Dame and the Cleveland Marshall School of Law, Ricci is a pilot with more than 6,000 hours in type-rated aircraft including Gulfstream, Falcon and Citation jets. He served as personal pilot to President Bill Clinton during his 1992 campaign for president.

A member of several corporate boards, Ricci also is an aviation advisor to the Guggenheim Aero Opportunity Fund. He serves on the boards of trustees for the University of Notre Dame, the Smithsonian, University Hospitals and on the board of Stonebriar Finance Holdings.

Ricci?s groundbreaking management philosophy has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and Inc. Magazine. He is the author of Management by Trust, a book that offers management techniques for building employee trust and success that was praised by the New York Times Book Review as a ?landmark success manual for corporate America.?

About the Living Legends 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 who have become celebrities and celebrities who have become pilots. The legends meet yearly to recognize and honor individuals who have made significant contributions in aviation. For more information, visit www.livinglegendsofaviation.com.

About Flexjet
Flexjet first entered the fractional jet ownership market in 1995, and celebrated its 21st anniversary in May 2016. Flexjet offers fractional jet ownership and leasing. Flexjet?s fractional aircraft program is the first in the world to be recognized as achieving the Air Charter Safety Foundation?s Industry Audit Standard, and Flexjet is the first and only company to be honored with its 17th FAA Diamond Award for Excellence. Flexjet?s fractional program fields an exclusive array of business aircraft?some of the youngest in the fractional jet industry, with an average age of approximately six years?including their LXi Cabin Collection consisting of the Learjet 75LXi, Challenger 350, the Embraer Legacy 450 and 500, Global Express, the Gulfstream G450, G500 and G650, and the Aerion AS2 supersonic business jets. In addition, the overall jet collection includes the Embraer Phenom 300, Challenger 300 and Challenger 605. Flexjet is a member of the Directional Aviation family of companies. For more details on innovative programs and flexible offerings, visit www.flexjet.com or follow us on Twitter
 
Does anyone actually believe he has 6000 hours in type rated aircraft?

Did he get those when he was flying in the "military"?
 
and its most pioneering feature, flight crews dedicated to a single aircraft.

Ummmm that is what he did when he started Flight Options years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why does everyone seems to think this is new and innovative and Flexjet????

Oh. Because KR said so even though it is Not True!!!!!!
 
Does anyone actually believe he has 6000 hours in type rated aircraft?

Did he get those when he was flying in the "military"?

Searching FAA.gov by last name only shows one Kenneth Ricci with a Michigan address.

ATP MEL, C500, DA 20, G 1159 ratings.

CA SEL

Class I medical last issued in 2009.

CFI SEL MEL IA last induced in 1982.

Could this be your boy?
 
Dedicated crewing with FLOPSIONS Failed. Dedicated Crewing with FLEXJET FAILING HORRIBLY. They are constantly switching aircraft there is no real dedicated crewing just like the last time he tried this and it didn't work. And thats coming straight from the office. its been nothing but a total mess and they are doing everything they can to keep up the LIE. Makes me think I was right about a 100 posts ago when I called this nothing but a Union busting tactic..
 
well working or not working the program is expanding at Flexjet. now they are takin regular ol' 300s and making them dedicated crew. If you ever want to upgrade it's the only option.
 
well working or not working the program is expanding at Flexjet. now they are takin regular ol' 300s and making them dedicated crew. If you ever want to upgrade it's the only option.

Upgrade? So you are actively promoting seniority gouging now?

Seriously, please just let me know: when did right stop being right just because you're getting paid not to wonder?

I just don't get it. We have a Chairman whose lies are so obvious it's laughable but simply because he throws money in your direction he's the Jesus of aviation?

And THIS, THIS is why the 1108 should have nipped this "red label on leadership" madness in the bud. It's a trickle down issue. Might not work with taxes but any infectious disease doc can guarantee you it works with ********************.

And here's your proof.
 
I'm not endorsing red label.. But they seem to be paying the right price to have pilots lined up for it and are expanding the program.
 
They aren't expanding SH&T. You guys really are dumb as everyone says. Parking and selling 25 planes and taking delivery of 5 is not expanding its down sizing. It's not even a good shell game but the idiots think We are growing my guess is we are heading towards another 2008 when he couldn't make payroll but every week he was leaving his weekly message how marvelous the company is doing. Only time we weren't doing marvelous was during the last contract negotiations. He knows this is going to a arbitrator decision so we are still doing marvelous, cause the arbitrator decision isn't gonna be that great and he knows this. So he can say see I was paying more and the union screeed the pilots
 
I didn't say we were growing. I have no no have a what our current fleet number is or what it's going to be in a year. But they are taking airplanes that are current regular 300s and making them red label. So they are expanding the red label program. Before we know every piece of metal might be red label.
 
Making them Red Label?? What the hell does that even mean? How do you take a old airplane and turn it into a new red label? It is such non sense. Red label is dying on the Vine. Owners aren't stupid! Charging more for same plane and same service how long you think that's gonna work? It's already not working. And when KR has demolished this place AGAIn there will be 10 planes left if anyone's lucky and he will be calling it Red Label or some other made up non sense he has moved onto by then. And still there will be pilots that won't wake up. This company is a pathetic joke and so are the 49.9999% of the pilots that work there.
 
I don't know the specifics of the plan I guess. All I know is that they are taking a bunch of 300s and making them dedicated crew.
 
I'm not endorsing red label.. But they seem to be paying the right price to have pilots lined up for it and are expanding the program.

Ok sorry I thought when you said:

If you ever want to upgrade it's the only option.

It sure as hell seemed like an endorsement to me.

Between guys like you and our leadership vice president flashing around 30k bonus checks and laughing his ass off about it, it's a little hard to tell just exactly who is on my side here. You know, the side of regular joes who just want my years of experience, dedication and patience to stand for something.

That plc guy? He should be barely a captain let alone making 100k more than me. Talk about the ultimate in seniority jumping and gouging. Yet somehow he's supppsed to be leading our group to a better contract? Seems to me he's just serving the union to position himself to protect his pretty pony.

Maybe that's why it's been over a year and no progress.

Have a great day with your delusions, club. The problem with the middle ground is you create enemies on both sides. Sucks but it's true. Remember that the next time you seek to defend the indefensible.
 
I don't like the structure of red label and how folks are able to jump seniority for the international airplanes or slide into a domestic red label airplane out of seniority after one person on a team quits. I don't like how just because a junior guy is on a list he is given a slot before a more senior guy that also wants the seat. I don't like how the company is proposing added protection for red label pilots that would essentially lead to out of seniority furloughs. I don't think union leadership should be signing up for red label. But I have a hard time blaming the average Flexjet pilot who wants out of a lear or wants an upgrade if red label is the only option and there are no senior pilots who want it.
 
No senior pilots want it? What world are you living in?

There is a difference between exercising your principles and not wanting it. My name nor the names of dozens of other pilots are not on list because we are uninterested in stabbing our colleagues (on both sides pf the fence) in the back.

It's the same job, same planes, same owners for significantly more money. Maybe there is more to why some senior guys don't want it.

As for leadership, I once again have to go back to the fact our flexjet plc seems relatively impotent. Either we are getting played big time by the Options pilots or some in our leadership positions don't appear interested in upsetting the status quo.

Its been a ********************ing year and we've had what maybe 3 or 4 communications of any significance in all that time when during the campaign we couldn't open up our email without getting bombarded. Why is that?
 
Yeah, I understand. Senior pilots are passing on Red Label because they object to how the program is structured, meanwhile junior pilots take the slots and brag about how much money they are making. The company is saying the union has divided the pilot group but the red label program itself has divided the pilot group.

And yes I agree, the flexjet leadership should communicate more.
 
We are at a point where it's your either with us or against us. There's no middle ground no fence sitters if you are sitting on some proverbial fence then the stake is straight up your A$$ and you have picked a side. These politically correct I see everybody's point I'm everybody's friend A$$ hats can go suck KR Dck. Last post of the nite. Next one the jack will be talking.
 

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