Flapper hails air taxi

opinion

by Mike Stones

August 25, 2025

Flapper CEO Paul Malicki. (Photocredit: Flapper).

“It has been a quiet week in Lake Wobegone.” Words that always prefaced Garrison Keillor’s weekly tales from his fictional town of Lake Wobegone, Minnesota for his radio programme Prairie Home Companion. But it has been less than quiet this week in the world of business aviation mergers and acquisitions.

Last week, Flapper, the on-demand private jet charter marketplace, revealed its acquisition of Brazilian air carrier Black Táxi Aéreo in an all-cash deal. Plus Wheels Up sold three services businesses – Baines Simmons, Kenyon International Emergency Services and Redline Assured Security – to London-based TrustFlight for $20m.

On the basis that two could be a trend, let’s unpack both deals. Flapper first. Paul Malicki, CEO and founder of Flapper tells CJI: “It’s a full acquisition and we are excited at the prospect of bringing Black Táxi Aéreo team, infrastructure, fleet and brand to Flapper.”

Black will become “a broker-friendly” air taxi operator within Flapper, further expanding its service portfolio. “The deal will enable us to run our own operations focused on fractional, air charter and aircraft management for clients who would otherwise not choose Flapper’s on-demand service.”

Under the terms of the deal, Rafael Matos, founder of Black Táxi Aéreo will take the role of head of aviation at Flapper’s new Aircraft Management and Fractional Ownership Division. A Gulfstream GIV-SP jet, owned by Flapper’s main shareholder, will be added to the fleet in the fourth quarter of this year joining two Hawker 400 jets under Black’s aircraft operator’s certificate (AOC) and five aircraft under management.

Annual revenues

By the end of the year, Malicki expects the combined AOC to include five aircraft directly under operation. Synergies arising from the acquisition leads the company to forecast annual revenues of $20m within the next 12 months.

Underpinning Malicki’s optimism is the growth of fractional in Brazil. “It is the fastest growing sub-sector in Brazil,” he tells us. Last year, fractional saw 11% growth and 61% above 2019 levels, according to flight analytics platform WingX, he says.

The Brazilian air charter marketplace lists more than 4,000 aircraft for on-demand charter, including over 1,500 in Latin America. “Brazil’s domestic market is largely underutilised,” he says.

“Of the nearly 10,500 general aviation aircraft in the country, only 39 are certified for fractional under RBAC 91K, with five companies authorised by ANAC. A large, informal and non-digitalised market is the primary target of Flapper’s solution.”

Also, Flapper has accrued critical mass for the on-demand air charter business in Brazil, he claims. Last month, for the first time, the business commercialised more flights outside Latin America compared with its home market. Over 60% of Flapper’s revenues now come from outside Latin America, though Brazil remains its largest single market.

“The opportunity lies first in attending international brokers with own fleet and second growing our proprietary digital marketplace in the US and Europe,” Malicki tells us.

Flapper’s technology division will remain unaffected by the acquisition of Black and is predicted to achieve steady growth expected for its digital marketplace. The company projects 500,000 downloads of its mobile private jet booking app by the end of this year.

“By combining our demand-side platform with world-class supply, we are enhancing operational excellence, safety and agility,” says Malicki.

After nine years in business, Flapper broke even last year. This enabled the company to raise new funding, which Malicki promises to tell us about soon.

Wheels Up

Meanwhile, the three businesses Wheels Up sold to TrustFlight were part of its $110m acquisition of Air Partner in 2022 and were never core. It plans to use the funds to support its fleet modernisation strategy and for corporate purposes.

Commenting on the deal George Mattson, CEO, Wheels Up said: “The divestiture of these non-core services businesses is the latest in a series of steps that Wheels Up has taken to sharpen our strategic focus; invest in our product, fleet and operations; and strengthen our balance sheet.”

Karl Steeves, CEO of TrustFlight explained the motivation for the acquisitions: “By bringing together the strengths of these three companies with TrustFlight’s software and data platform, we’re building an operating system for safety that helps anticipate risks earlier, prove compliance continuously and recover faster when events occur. We’re excited about the capabilities these companies bring to TrustFlight.”

All seem strong businesses, with Baines Simmons (a key partner of the Isle of Man Aircraft Registry) likely to benefit from a new owner. Also, Wheels Up cannot be displeased with its $20m in cash.

So, it may have been another quiet week in Lake Wobegone. But it must have been considerably busier in São Paulo, home to Flapper, and in Atlanta, home to Wheels Up.