Inside Aero’s Thinking on Semi-Private Flying
Aero’s CEO, Ben Klein, breaks down how Aero’s by-the-seat jet service is meant to be understood—and sold.
Photo: Laura Ratliff
For all the attention paid to aircraft types and new routes in semi-private aviation, Aero CEO Ben Klein keeps coming back to a simpler challenge: explaining what the experience actually is—and what it isn’t.
Aero operates scheduled, by-the-seat flights from private terminals, positioning itself between traditional first-class commercial service and full private charter. The company focuses on nonstop routes to high-demand leisure and business destinations (including Los Angeles, New York, Aspen, Cabo San Lucas, and Maui) using a small fleet of business jets configured for communal seating rather than individual suites.
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“If what you care about, if you’re first and foremost, is a lie-flat seat, it’s going to be hard for us,” Klein told Luxury Travel Report, while sitting onboard the company’s newest addition, a Gulfstream IV. That’s a line he often returns to, not as a limitation but as clarification. Aero isn’t built to mimic private charter or compete feature-for-feature with commercial first class. It’s designed around time, flow, and how people use the journey itself.
That’s an important distinction for Aero’s core transcontinental routes, particularly Los Angeles-New York. “When you get to the airport at Van Nuys, you get there 20 minutes before,” Klein said. “Meanwhile, even if you’re flying Delta One, you still have to go from the lounge to your gate, and you still wait 40 minutes for the rest of the plane to board.” Avoiding that friction on both ends, he added, is “a significant portion of time” saved—especially in markets like L.A. and New York.
Once onboard, the cabin layout is often the first question for first-time Aero travelers, specifically, whether there’s a “best” seat. Klein says that concern rarely lasts long. “They’re all good seats,” he said. “People tend to get over that idea pretty quickly.” Instead of individual pods, some of Aero’s jets are arranged around shared tables, a configuration that shifts the tone of the flight almost immediately for solo travelers. “It doesn’t take long for you to see people become friendly,” Klein said, with passengers settling in to work, talk, or even play cards as the flight gets underway.
Productivity is a recurring theme. With Starlink connectivity across the fleet, Klein described a recent Los Angeles-New York flight as “an amazing four-hour chunk of time that I feel like I’m stealing back,” noting that guests log on, take calls, and land without the usual airport fatigue.
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Hospitality, rather than hardware alone, is where Klein believes Aero most clearly separates itself from charter. “The dirty little secret of charter is that you can pay $100,000 for a charter and get really mediocre catering,” he said. Aero invests heavily in the soft product, from destination-specific food partners like Erewhon and Major Food Group to in-flight crews trained by the British Butler Institute. “Lots of people have nice jets,” Klein said. “It’s what we do on top of that.”
Pricing comparisons come up frequently, particularly on the Los Angeles-New York route, where Aero currently operates at a flat $5,500 one way. “It’s more than Delta One,” Klein acknowledged, “but it’s not even two times premium sometimes.” When guests experience the full end-to-end journey, he added, they usually prefer it unless they need a lie-flat seat.
Even as Aero introduces longer-range aircraft, including its Gulfstream jets now flying to Maui, Klein is clear about what won’t change. “We don’t fly red eyes for a reason,” he said.
As Aero continues to add aircraft this year, Klein’s framing remains consistent: the product resonates most when it’s positioned on its own terms.
“You’re looking for something different,” he said—and for the right traveler, that difference is the point.
