Baker Aviation is poised for take off

opinion

by Alasdair Whyte

December 6, 2025

In 2018 Troy Lawson, a partner at West Elk Aviation, helped entrepreneur Tim Livingston buy an aircraft. At the time he had no idea what this single transaction would lead to. This week, he helped Livingston acquire 20 Challenger 300s from Flexjet.

“This is a defining moment for Baker Aviation,” said Livingston, now president and CEO, Baker Aviation. “This fleet expansion reinforces our commitment to supporting brokers and operators while delivering an elevated experience.”

Livingston moved into the charter business after finding success at Green Bean Battery. This was a company he founded on the service of resupplying Toyota Prius owners with refurbished batteries. The business grew and he sold this to a private equity investor.

In June 2022, Livingston acquired Baker Aviation, a small Part 135 operator at Fort Worth Meacham International Airport, Texas. Baker Aviation had been founded by a family business that made industrial piston rings and safety seals for the oil industry. It had expanded into charter in 2008.

Livingston focused Baker Aviation on the wholesale charter market. It works only with charter brokers, enabling the focus at Baker Aviation to be on safe and efficient operations. He started by focusing on a floating fleet of Citation Xs. A year after he took control it had five aircraft. By the end of 2024, it had 13 Citations and its first Challenger 300. Baker Aviation also invested in a STC (supplemental type certificate) to install Starlink on Challenger Xs so it could offer Wi-Fi on its aircraft, which has been completed.

Now – having taken its first two Challengers from Flexjet – it has 24 midsize aircraft (it had already closed on two other Challenger 300s from the open market this year). It aims to add two more of the Flexjet aircraft this year and the others throughout 2026.

Flexjet is replacing the Challengers with new aircraft. “Flexjet is committed to the ongoing modernisation of our fleet, ensuring our owners have access to the most prestigious and technologically advanced aircraft available,” said Michael Silvestro, CEO, Flexjet.

“This partnership with Baker Aviation allows these Challenger 300s to remain a productive part of the private aviation ecosystem, supporting our long-term fleet strategy and the broader demand for premium midsize aircraft.”

Baker Aviation is a very different business to when Livingston bought it. He posted on LinkedIn this week that in November most of the pilots-in-command had already earned more than $220k, with one over $300k.

“It is wild to think that three-and-a-half years ago when I took over Baker everyone was paying a flat salary of about $140k per year, no imagination, no growth and poor benefits. I implemented incentive-based pay against everyone’s recommendation in the industry,” he wrote.

“Three years later we have guys making what some airline captains make all year while using their 21 days’ PTO [paid time off] to take several three-week-long vacations and still flying 700-800 hours in a year … Anyway, congrats guys – I want to see pictures of the new houses and cars next year!”

It’s not easy keeping pilots happy, but one replied to the post saying: “I have a wife at home and a 17-year-old starting to look at college. No houses or cars in my near future. I am loving Baker. What a blessing it’s been to our family.”

Lawson has enjoying watching Livingston grow Baker Aviation.

“People completely overuse the terms serial entrepreneur and industry disruptors,” he says. “But Tim really is both of these things. He really is a disruptor. His approach differs with a focus solely on wholesale charters and on efficient operations .”