Alex Wilcox once came up with a plan to beat Concorde. In 1997, as a young pilot from Vermont, Wilcox had worked his way up the ranks at Virgin Atlantic and presented an idea to his boss, Richard Branson. Wilcox argued that by flying Gulfstream jets with lie-flat seats from Westchester County Airport in New York state to London City Airport, Virgin could beat the supersonic jet on door-to-door travel times for customers in Connecticut. Travelling to jfk International Airport was time consuming; ditto the trip from Heathrow to the City of London. Wilcox saw that the use of smaller, underutilised airports could speed up the overall journey, even via a slower aircraft.

Virgin ultimately declined to fund Wilcox’s proposal. Yet this rejection didn’t quell his knack for hatching ambitious ideas that could disrupt the aviation sector. Now, almost 30 years later, Wilcox is captaining jsx, the operator of a fleet of hop-on, hop-off jet services across strategic North American routes that has the wind under its wings right now.

The draw of a semi-private service such as jsx is that flights tend to be quicker, and occasionally cheaper, than the First-Class equivalent offered by legacy carrier. jsx passengers arrive at its hangar in Dallas as little as 20 minutes before their flight, toss the valet their keys and board for Cabo San Lucas, Miami or Scottsdale. The seats have Business-Class legroom with Starlink-enabled wi-fi, while flight attendants keep the snacks and drinks flowing. Though other aviation entrepreneurs have tinkered with this model – jsx’s leading competitor, Aero, flies to sun and ski destinations from Los Angeles, and continues to expand its reach – jsx has built a coast-to-coast network with multiple flight hubs and was expected to exceed €485m in revenue in 2023 (jsx does not disclose its revenue figures). That figure is a tiny fraction of the €24bn that the three US legacy carriers each made last year but jsx is encroaching on market share among fliers who’ve grown weary with the rigours of traditional air travel.

“We have what really matters in business, which is a million customers who absolutely love us,” Wilcox tells monocle in a conference room overlooking jsx’s fleet of Embraer erj 135s and 145s. “We’re profitable and we’re growing.” More 145s are in the pipeline to join the fleet this year and the route map is likely to expand, with the lucrative New York-Florida corridor and destinations west of the Rocky mountains clear opportunities.

Headquartered in a 1950s hangar in Dallas Love Field airport, jsx seeks to provide a level of hospitality that’s increasingly rare in the assembly line world of domestic air travel – and some of its top hires came direct from hotels. On the brisk winter morning that we visit, valets are parking Cadillacs and luxury Ford pick-ups, while others are loading luggage carts, bellhop style. jsx’s Dallas hub welcomes, at most, 15 flights per day with a maximum of 30 passengers per plane – the legal limit to fly under the Federal Aviation Administration’s regulatory radar for “public charter” flights.

Though the plastic plants and tepid coffee in the departure lounge fail to inspire (a lounge refresh is, we’re told, coming soon), the point, say execs, is that travellers don’t need or want to linger. Indeed, the destinations on the departure board reflect the two sides of jsx’s proposition: passengers in stylish puffers are boarding a flight to Taos, New Mexico, a delightful but hard-to-reach ski town; while across the hangar is a crowd en route to Las Vegas dressed for the links in khaki shorts and golf shirts. Two staffers working the gate whisper discreetly that World Wrestling Entertainment scion Shane McMahon is boarding one of the aircraft. jsx has a regular vip clientele, and Wilcox pauses multiple times during our interview to field calls from a senior Trump administration official who’s frustrated by poor communication about a weather delay on a jsx flight to Florida.

Security is swift and completed without scanning wands and conveyor belts, and boarding takes place on the tarmac. A stand full of red jsx-branded umbrellas are stationed conveniently at the gate to weather any Dallas downpour.

To explain jsx’s niche, Wilcox references the hotel industry. “Between Motel 6 and Aman, there are 100 hotel brands,” he says. But between domestic First Class on a legacy carrier and a private jet, there was nothing. When Wilcox asked business travellers why they would spend four-figure sums on a private jet hop between Los Angeles and the Bay Area, the answer was clear. “They didn’t want to spend an hour and a half at the airport for 45 minutes on an aeroplane,” he says. For long-haul flights, the pageantry of the international airport remains relevant. For short domestic trips, it can be a hassle.

It’s the kind of insight that Wilcox gleaned during a career spent between the cockpit and the C-suite. Raised in Vermont as the son of an American father and Swiss mother (he holds US citizenship), he fell in love with aviation as a child taking transatlantic flights to see family. jsx’s red livery is a homage to his Helvetic roots – when viewed from the top down, the colour scheme resembles the old Swissair logo.

Wilcox can rattle off a colourful CV, including a stint as a rock-band manager. He interned for Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher, worked for Virgin Atlantic, joined David Neeleman to launch JetBlue and was recruited by now fugitive Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya to start short-lived South Asian carrier Kingfisher Airlines. “There are legions of people who have failed in this industry,” says Wilcox. “Only a handful actually made something that has lasted, and I’ve been lucky to work for at least four of them.” From his various mentors, Wilcox says that he learnt the importance of taking care of his crew. He also became a believer in the efficiency of fielding a single aircraft from his years at Southwest, where every pilot could fly every plane. “Low cost is the key to winning this business,” he says.

He also adopted a roll-up-your-sleeves mentality. On our hangar tour, Mark Fields, an aircraft maintenance engineer with 20 years of experience, says that he has seen Wilcox in action in a crisis. “A ceo loading luggage during an ice storm?” says Fields. “Now that’s a man you want to work for.”

There’s no aviation-industry secret weapon for avoiding inclement weather or turbulence in the travel market. But when the skies are clear, jsx offers a tantalising alternative to the conventions of air travel that we’ve become accustomed to, from time-consuming queues for security to a lingering sense that, among some legacy carriers, value for money has leaked from the overall experience. For passengers who want to get from A to B quickly, comfortably and conveniently, this is a disruptive player worth watching. — L
www.jsx.com