Quinn Ricker: The Jet Access story

Quinn Ricker is the CEO of Jet Access.

Growing up, Quinn Ricker was certain he would remain part of the family’s Ricker Oil Company for life.

Their convenience store chain Ricker’s, which had 56 locations across Indiana, was thriving. But when Giant Eagle approached with an offer in 2018, Ricker spearheaded discussions. Ultimately, “strategic headwinds” facing the convenience store industry influenced the family’s decision to sell. They agreed the opportunity made sense.

Following the sale in late 2018, Ricker invested in a small aviation platform that included seven FBOs, a flight school and an aircraft brokerage. “I thought, ‘This will be interesting, something I can do part time. I love anything that goes fast and nothing goes faster than private jets,’” Ricker told CJI.

The decision was guided by a lesson Ricker’s father often shared: “If you don’t grow at a substantial rate, I think you’re going to get left behind.” It’s a mantra Ricker has carried with him into his career in business aviation.

When launching his next business venture, Ricker wanted to have by his side two trusted members of his previous management team, Jason Klemme and Cory Schneider. “I’m the visionary, always positive and focused on culture and opportunity,” he said. “They share that focus but also pay close attention to the details and the risks. I need people like that.”

READ: Deitch ‘at home’ in new job at Jet Access  

Soon after, Ricker’s company was presented with the opportunity to acquire a 50% stake in Jet Access Aviation, which at the time operated as a Part 135 charter provider based in West Palm Beach, Florida.

“We ended up with small pieces of what I viewed as the key verticals in business aviation,” he said. “I realised that no one had ever successfully integrated all these components; maintenance, management and charter, FBOs, flight schools and aircraft brokerage at scale.”

What began as an FBO chain with 37 employees has since grown into a full-service aircraft management company with a team of about 400. In 2022, Ricker acquired the remaining shares of Jet Access Aviation and purchased First Wing Aviation and Eagle Creek Aviation, creating the company now known as Jet Access. 

“It was massive growth. Integrating all these verticals was like drinking from five fire hoses at once. Each business, while in aviation, operates with different metrics and financial levers,” he explained. “But the synergy is real. For example, our flight school is building our next generation of pilots. In 2023, during a pilot shortage, we moved 15 of our best flight instructors directly into the right seats of our jets. All the business verticals feed one another.”

Ricker added: “We see the FBOs as the foundation. Overlay all the other verticals, and that allows us to serve our aircraft owners better than anyone else.”

Chief financial officer Cory Schneider (L) and chief operating officer Jason Klemme (R) joined Jet Access alongside Ricker having worked with him at Ricker Oil Company.

Transparency of fiduciary

As a Midwest native, Ricker is a firm believer in clear, transparent, no-nonsense business practices. Although he admits aviation is an “incredibly complicated” and often-fragmented industry, Ricker said many management companies do not educate their owners sufficiently and regularly lack transparency.

Jet Access has integrated MySky’s accounting software to give owners access to every bill generated by their aircraft operations. “It’s a complete, transparent accounting of everything,” he said.

But transparency is also about education, according to Ricker. “We want smart aircraft owners. We want to teach them how the industry works because we believe a smarter owner is a better client,” he said. “That’s a different approach from the rest of the industry, but it’s who we want to be.”

Ricker, formerly a financial advisor at JPMorgan Chase during a stint away from the family business, uses the term fiduciary to describe how Jet Access operates.

“We’re asset managers, just like Fidelity or JPMorgan, but for a very operationally intensive asset,” he explained. “Our job is to make the right financial and strategic decisions for our owners. That mindset is what drove me into this. As an aircraft owner myself, I saw a gap – I wasn’t getting the information I needed. I saw a problem and a better way to build a company with integrated values and verticals that provide the greatest value.”

Changing fleet dynamics

When Ricker first entered the business, the management portfolio included more than 30 aircraft. Today, the fleet numbers about 20. He had to make some “tough calls” and ultimately parted ways with several clients.

“When I came on board in 2019, the landscape had completely shifted. Supply chains were different, and the types of aircraft that were still well-supported had changed,” he said.

The portfolio once included multiple Hawker 800s and G200s under a prior collaborative arrangement.

“Those were great planes in their day. Back then, it was more of a floating fleet with first-time owners trying to reduce their exposure to costs,” explained Ricker. “But as time went on, it became increasingly difficult to support those older aircraft. For many of those owners, the cost of operating an ageing plane just became too high. So, we made the difficult decision to exit some of those clients.”

A cursory glance at the Jet Access fleet today shows a smaller number of aircraft. However, when viewed as assets under management, how Ricker defines and measures fiduciary responsibility, that figure has grown significantly.

“We’re now bringing on owners who don’t rely on charter revenue to afford their aircraft,” he said. “These are typically successful business owners who have reached a point in life where they can own a plane outright. They may only fly 150 hours a year and we often point out that running it closer to 300 hours would help spread out fixed costs. But even so, they don’t need the charter income.”

‘Do the right thing for the long term’

Talking to CJI recently, David Deitch, Jet Access’ new vice president of sales,  cited the “family values” he experienced at Jet Access as a key factor in his decision to join the company after 23 years at Jet Aviation.

Those values, once industry-wide, have largely diminished over time, sometimes because companies grow too large, but more often due to consolidation and outside investment, which frequently comes with a predefined exit strategy.

Ricker explained that his approach contrasts sharply with much of the industry. He noted that competitors are often publicly traded or private equity-backed, operating on short-term timelines of three to seven years. “To take care of an aircraft owner, you can’t think in quarters or even three- to five-year increments,” he said. “You must think five, 10 or 20 years down the road. I want to be doing this 20 or 30 years from now. That long-term runway allows us to make decisions our competitors can’t.”

He emphasised the company’s guiding principles: “Our values are safety first, take care of each other, relationships matter and do the right thing for the long term. That long-term view is what ultimately provides value for owners.”

Ricker also highlighted the balance between family ownership and professional operations. “We’re family owned but professionally run,” he said. “With 400 team members, we’re a serious aviation company, but there’s one decision-maker, and we talk about our values every day. Attracting executives with the tenure of a Dave Ricker or David Deitch shows we’re doing something right.”

Broker portal: The final pillar

At the beginning of 2025, Ricker stepped back from day-to-day operations to focus more on strategy and culture.

He said it was a good move, because during spring break last year, the tariff news broke and the markets went haywire. “I thought, ‘If we go into a recession, it will really hurt our owners. How can we quickly create more demand for our fleet?’” he said.

Building a traditional charter brokerage from scratch would take years. Then Ricker thought back to his time as a financial advisor. “At a traditional firm, you’d keep about 40% of your commissions. But there was an independent broker-dealer platform, Linsco Private Ledger, that just gave you the tools, and you kept 70–90%,” he explained. “Your paycheck tripled. I thought, ‘We have 400 people, benefits, a fleet, technology, legal, accounting. Why can’t we do the same for the best charter brokers in the country?’”

That idea hit Ricker at 3 a.m., and in April 2025, the Jet Access Broker Alliance was launched. The company provides the platform – including the fleet, safety and back-office support – while brokers get to keep 70–90% of their commissions. The alliance has signed up 15 brokers to date. “It helps fill our owners’ empty legs, and the brokers know they have a fleet to back them up,” he said.

Ricker calls it the “final piece” of the ecosystem. “We built it from zero to millions in revenue in under a year. I don’t think many companies could move that fast. It’s the demand-side solution that completes the strategy.”

In June 2025, Jet Access partnered with Bluetail to improve its maintenance experience for owners.

Supply chain remains a ‘huge challenge’

Solving headaches for owners is the number one priority for aircraft managers – they are the paracetamol of business aviation.

Supply chain headaches have led to tough conversations with owners, Ricker said. In response, two years ago, Jet Access suggested that some owners transition away from particular aircraft types because parts were no longer easy or cost-effective to obtain.

“Tariffs have complicated the broker side, but the main issue is parts,” said Ricker. “When engine programme costs and parts prices go up by double digits, it’s shocking for owners. We’re the ones delivering that news, showing them how much the asset now costs to operate compared to a few years ago.”

In a solutions-based business, finding a way around supply-chain stagnation means working harder than everyone else, Ricker said.

“Our job is to be a great fiduciary, so we have to be gritty and nimble,” he explained. “We need people who are bulldogs, who will make a hundred calls and leverage every relationship to find that part at the best price. It’s probably out there somewhere; it’s just about how hard you’re willing to look. Our culture motivates our people to work harder than anyone else to find it.”

Business is business

“Business is business, though aviation has its peculiarities,” he said. “My parents had a huge impact on me, especially in how they took care of their people. The companies that performed the best financially were the ones that truly motivated and rewarded their people.”

Although Ricker never imagined Jet Access would become “this big,” he said growing the company has been both the “most fulfilling” and the “most difficult” thing he has done professionally.

“We entered at the end of 2019, right before the pandemic,” he said. “We went through all the ‘hard stuff’, supply chain issues, pilot shortages, challenges that had either never happened or happened only once in aviation. I feel like I’ve gained 15 years of experience in the last six.”

Through it all, Ricker is clear that Jet Access’ focus on people, culture and long-term thinking remains the foundation for its success.