Private Jets at a Competitive Price?

Four-year-old private charter firm Verijet prioritizes small airports in big cities

By Rick Wills

Published March 20, 2023

Read Time: 4 mins

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Airports are crowded again. And in cities like Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago, just getting to the airport can take a couple of hours at the wrong time of day.

Now there’s an alternative, says Richard Kane, a computer scientist who founded Verijet, a startup private charter flight company based in Boca Raton, Fla., that offers relatively affordable private jet service with sustainability in mind.

In the 1990s, Kane created a telecom firm and developed expertise in high-performance computing and artificial intelligence. The experience and knowledge he gained from that business was the inspiration for Verijet, which Kane says takes advantage of market inefficiencies and technological advancements to develop a network that’s been referred to as “air Uber.”

More than just an entrepreneur, Kane knows quite a bit about changing the aviation paradigm.

A native of suburban New York City, Kane has been intrigued by aviation since he was a child. In addition to his business activities, he’s a pilot who once set a new speed mark for flying three kilometers at a low altitude, a record previously held by Amelia Earhart—one of seven flying records he holds.

Since its creation in 2019, Verijet has made more than 7,000 flights, mostly from one small airport to another. With a fleet of more than 20 Cirrus Vision SF50 aircraft, better known as the Vision Jet, Kane’s company averages 20 to 30 flights per day.

Verijet will never compete with a bargain $59 flight to Florida offered by an ultra-low cost commercial carrier, for example, Kane said. But at rates around $3,500 per hour, with four passengers, Verijet can compete with, or even out-price, first class travel on a brand-name airline.

Small is beautiful

Verijet—which employs about 100 people—will fly to major airports like Chicago’s Midway or New York’s JFK for a premium price. But its best deals are found when flying in and out of their smaller brethren.

Among the more than 5,000 airports in the U.S. are hundreds of regional airports that sidestep most