JetSuite’s Alex Wilcox
Interview by Matt Thurber - December 1, 2008
The aviation bug bit Alex Wilcox at an early age, back when an airline pilot could invite a wide-eyed youngster into the cockpit during a long flight. Wilcox’s Swiss mother and American father spent lots of time in Europe, and he vividly recalls extended conversations with pilots while crossing the North Atlantic.
During high school, Wilcox worked at Burlington International Airport in Vermont and spent all the money he earned on flying lessons. Before entering the University of Vermont, he worked for two years at Brockway Air, which flew Saab 340s in regional service for Piedmont Airlines. That experience undoubtedly helped him when he got a summer internship at Southwest Airlines.
After college, Wilcox joined Virgin Atlantic Airways, where he was one of the first to see David Neeleman’s idea for a low-cost carrier. Virgin’s leaders liked the concept, but ran into regulatory and foreign-ownership issues, so Neeleman sought financing elsewhere and went on to launch JetBlue Airways in 1999. Wilcox helped with the launch and worked for JetBlue for six years, after which he went to India to run a new airline called Kingfisher.
Soon after he returned to the U.S., New York private equity firm Proctor Capital Partners hired him to write a business plan for a business jet charter company startup now called JetSuite. Then in August 2007, Proctor hired him as the company’s president. Now Wilcox–who recently became JetSuite’s CEO–is preparing to launch a service that seeks to widen the market for light-jet charter and aircraft ownership.
You almost detoured into another career, managing rock bands. What happened?
After college, I managed a rock-and-roll band and lived in a Winnebago for a year. The band ultimately did not get signed, but I had a great time. I saw a lot of the country at Winnebago level and even to this day when I fly over Kansas I remember how long it took to drive across it.
How did you wind up at Virgin Atlantic?
It was the only airline-type operation that would look at a guy with a rock-and-roll background.
After Virgin and your time with JetBlue, you joined Kingfisher Airlines. When you left Kingfisher, did you feel compelled to stick with aviation?
I don’t want to say I’m a one-trick pony, but I know this business fairly well. It’s been a lifelong passion. I never wanted to fly professionally but I always wanted to be around airplanes. When I fulfilled my obligations to Kingfisher, I definitely had a bias toward airlines, although I often joke that I’d rather own a hot dog stand because who cares if you don’t show up? It’s easy to manage and tangible. With most of what we do here, it takes a long time to see the results.
You’ve had several experiences with startups. Are they addicting?
The problem with starting companies is that you measure success in years, not in minutes, days or weeks. And sometimes it seems a bit ethereal, going to work every day on a plan versus having some tangible task to accomplish. But it’s much more challenging and therefore much more interesting to create things from whole cloth than it is to go into operating businesses.
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