EXCLUSIVE: Flexjet buys Steve Varsano’s The Jet Business
TikTok’s favourite business jet broker has been bought by Flexjet.
Steve Varsano, founder of The Jet Business (with 2.5 million followers on TikTok and 392,000 on Instagram) will become president of Flexjet. Flexjet’s existing FXSolutions aircraft brokerage will share back-office functions with The Jet Business but trade as separate brands.
“I truly enjoy working with competent professionals who have created a unique competitive advantage, bring energy to the room and share a passion for aviation,” Kenn Ricci, chair of Flexjet (104,000 Instagram followers) told CJI. “Steve and The Jet Business truly check all the boxes.”
Part of Varsano’s new role will involve sourcing and disposing of aircraft for Flexjet. The company says he will also be responsible for “product innovation and international growth”.
The terms of the transaction have not been revealed. Flexjet already has a stunning European headquarters in Mayfair a 10-minute walk from The Jet Business’s London showroom. The company is expected to open its new private jet terminal at London Farnborough Airport in time for the Farnborough Airshow in July.
“This is the right time to take The Jet Business into a new era within the Flexjet ecosystem,” Varsano tells CJI. “Having spent 15 years building this business into a trusted source of advisory and research expertise – amplified by social media and in-person engagement – I am excited to see what we can now achieve, inside what has become the definitive luxury brand in our sector today.”
The Jet Business customers will be able to access a new service called Flexjet Solutions. Flexjet says that owners and buyers will be able to get operational support, pre-purchase inspections, maintenance infrastructure, aircraft-on-ground response and aircraft management from other parts of Flexjet.
After graduating from Embry Riddle, Varsano’s first job was at the General Aircraft Manufacturers Association (GAMA) in Washington DC. He started selling aircraft in the early 1980s. After a break working in private equity, he returned to the business jet market in 2011 and opened his showroom in London in 2012. If you were casting the role of an American jet broker, you would pick him. And get a movie set thrown in.
His social media reach means that he is the world’s best-known aircraft salesperson. Many people in business aviation have gained credibility with their children for just knowing him.
His most-watched video – featuring a social media child star “choosing” a jet for her father – has been viewed more than 35 million times. “If I am honest, I started using social media because I thought it might help me find new customers,” says Varsano. “It did, but the real satisfaction comes when you meet young people who come up to you and say ‘I went to Embry Riddle because of one of your posts’ or say ‘I work in aviation because of you.’ That means so much more.”
Varsano will celebrate his 70th birthday in July but you could not tell. He is passionate about longevity and has installed a hyperbaric chamber in his office. He says he wants to live forever.
That gives him a lot of time to help grow Flexjet.
