✈️ The VIP Seat Weekly

Your business aviation hot takes, served fresh

January 13, 2026 | Season 3 Episode 2 Companion

Welcome back to The VIP Seat. New year, new me… and nobody's making bigger “new me” moves than Bond Aviation, which just made its first acquisition and set up shop in Fort Lauderdale. We're also ringing alarm bells on Hawker safety, questioning some interesting stock predictions, and celebrating a record-breaking year for business aviation. Plus: NASA's new chief is offering fighter jet rides as employee perks. Yes, really. Let's get into it.

This Week’s Episode is Brought To You By:

REAL Jet is built for travelers who want reliability, access, and a real human being on the other end of the phone — someone who knows you, your preferences, your routines, your style. 

With REAL Jet, you get decades of industry experience, 24/7 access to more than fifteen hundred premium aircraft, and a flexible, commitment-free booking model. No memberships. No long-term contracts. Just a team that anticipates your needs and makes every detail feel effortless — the way private flying should be. 

With REAL Jet, you feel the difference from the moment you book. 

REAL People. REAL Trust. REAL Jet.

🔔 Bond Makes First Acquisition… and the M&A Gong Has Been Rung

The Scoop: The KKR-backed fractional startup Bond, led by former Jet Edge CEO Bill Papariella, has made its first move. The company acquired the Part 135 charter certificate from Fort Lauderdale-based National Jets… a company with roots dating back to 1947. Bond is also setting up its global headquarters in Fort Lauderdale and launching an aircraft management business exclusively for its fractional owners.

Important distinction: Bond did not acquire National Jets' FBO or Part 145 maintenance operation… just the clean 135 certificate with international ops specs and 10+ aircraft capability. The certificate has history: it started as air ambulance, ran Learjets in the '60s and '70s, and recently operated heavies like G550s and GIVSPs.

Oh, and there's an interesting connection: Sergey Petrosov, who founded JetSmarter (which raised $150 million before getting absorbed by XO/VistaJet), is now on Bond's board. Papariella and Petrosov have history… JetSmarter once signed a deal to purchase up to $500 million in charter from Jet Edge.

Our Take: We don’t think this will be the last time for 2026 that we’ll ring the M&A Gong for Bond in 2026. This party is just getting started.

Read More: Private Jet Card Comparisons

🚨 NTSB Sounds Alarm on Hawker Stall Tests After Two Fatal Crashes

The Scoop: The NTSB has issued urgent recommendations following two fatal crashes during mandatory stall tests on Hawker aircraft. A 900XP went down in Utah in 2024 and an 800XP crashed in Michigan in 2025… both during return-to-service stall testing. Five fatalities total in less than a year.

The problem? The manuals warn pilots to "be prepared for unacceptable stall behavior" but fail to give any additional context. In the 2024 crash, ice contamination caused the stick shaker to activate simultaneously with the stall, not before it as a warning. Standard sim training covers approach to stall and basic recovery, but seems to not address the complex stall profiles that occur during these specific test scenarios.

The NTSB is has issued the alert 700, 800, 800XP, 850XP, and 900XP models.

Read More: AVweb

🚀 NASA Chief Isaacman Offering F5 Fighter Jet Rides to Top Performers

The Scoop: Move over, ping pong tables, nap pods, and unlimited PTO. Jared "Rookie" Isaacman, confirmed as NASA administrator in December 2025 by a 67-30 Senate vote, is rolling out a new employee perk: rides in his privately owned F5 fighter jet for exceptional performers. He's paying for it out of his own pocket.

For those unfamiliar with Isaacman's background: the billionaire founder of Shift4 has over 8,000 flight hours and owns an impressive personal fleet including a MiG-29, L-39, Alpha Jet, and T-38. He's also donating his $221k NASA salary to Space Camp in Huntsville.

Our Take: Say what you will about billionaires in government… this is someone who genuinely loves aviation and space. The guy literally went to space on his own dime before taking this job. If NASA needs to attract and retain top talent while evolving its role alongside private space companies like SpaceX, having a leader who can offer fighter jet rides as a perk is... well, it's one way to compete with tech company stock options.

Read More: Investing.com

⚖️ Monarch Air Group Sues Blade Over Canceled Organ Flight

The Scoop: Charter broker Monarch Air Group has filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida against Blade Urban Air Mobility and Trinity Air Medical (Blade's medical transport division) over a canceled ASAP organ flight to Hawaii. According to Monarch's president David Gitman, Blade booked the flight hours before departure, canceled it, never paid the cancellation fee, and then charged back the credit card after Monarch tried to collect.

The contract was allegedly executed with a 100% cancellation fee… standard for most middle-of-the-night organ transport flights.

Here's where it gets spicy: Gitman publicly questioned why Blade needed an intermediary to book the charter in the first place. His LinkedIn post suggested three possibilities: lack of technical knowledge, lack of relationships for competitive pricing, or having burned too many vendors with similar cancellation disputes.

Our Take: This is intermediary-to-intermediary drama, but Gitman doesn’t mince words. This one could get more spicy, and we’ve got our popcorn ready.

Read More: MarketWatch

📈 2025 Was a Record Year for Business Aviation… But Maintenance Costs Are Coming for All of Us

The Scoop: Pop the champagne: 2025 was a record year for business jet departures, with over 3.8 million departures according to WingX data… breaking the previous all time record by about 100,000 flights. Compared to pre-COVID 2019, super-mids are up 57% and ultra-long-range is booming. Light jets are still the global leader but super-mids are chipping away at the lead. Activity also ticked up notably post-election, suggesting economic optimism is back.

On the flip side, a GA maintenance survey from TBX paints a concerning picture: 65% of shops cite rising parts costs and supply chain disruptions as their top challenge, with labor rates now ranging from $103-$150 per hour. Almost half (48%) report staffing and training issues, and 28% struggle to find skilled technicians.

Our Take: Activity up, costs up… that's the likely story of 2026. The labor problem isn't going away. AI isn't coming for A&P mechanics anytime soon, but neither are new technicians. We've cut shop class from schools for two decades and now we're paying for it. Meanwhile, Meta is paying electricians $400K-$600K to build data centers—that's who you're competing against for talent.

Ken Ricci predicts $200/hour shop rates are coming. Believe him. If you're an operator, start pricing maintenance inflation into your customer contracts now.

Read More: WingX Analysis via Private Jet Card Comparisons | TBX Maintenance Survey

🎪 Mile High Madness: The Worst Job Posting and the Wildest Stock Take

This week's madness comes in two flavors:

The Job Posting from Hell: A helicopter tour operation in Seaside, Oregon posted looking for pilots to fly tours and, casually, power line work. The pay? $150-$200 per day for 10-12 hour shifts, Monday through Sunday (yes, every day), holidays and weekends included, plus "office duties." Oh, and it's 1099, so no benefits. Minimum requirement: 500 total hours.

Let's do the math: that's potentially below minimum wage for a job that includes one of the most dangerous specializations in aviation (power line work), staffed by time-builder pilots barely out of training. This is exactly why some R-44 tour operations deserve scrutiny.

Link to the post: Here (commenting turned off… bummer)

The $20 Wheels Up Prediction: An X account claiming to hold over 1 million shares of Wheels Up predicted the stock will hit $20 by end of 2026. It's currently at 67 cents. The entire thesis? The World Cup. The poster initially claimed 300 million people would visit America for the tournament before correcting to 40 million. Even then, you're talking about the 1% of the 1% flying private. George Mattson is doing solid work transitioning Wheels Up from a lifestyle brand to a corporate charter operator, but a 30x return based on soccer tourism? Not financial advice, but... no.

🎧 This Week's Episode

Missed the podcast? Catch up on the full episode at the links below! We would LOVE if you would give us a 5 start review, and share with your friends!

Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Website 

The VIP Seat Weekly is the companion newsletter to The VIP Seat podcast. We give you the business aviation hot takes for your commute.

Jessie’s Links:
Private Aviation Safety Alliance
FlyVizor
LinkedIn

Preston’s Links:
Prestige Aircraft Finance
Private Jet Insider (Newsletter)
LinkedIn
X (Formerly Known as Twitter)
Jetting