Heather Maguire, CEO, Slate Aviation

In an interview with Invest:, Heather Maguire, CEO of Slate Aviation, discussed the company’s evolution from identifying a market niche for large-group travel to its current growth into fractional ownership, explaining how their unique fleet provides a competitive edge in safety and luxury. Maguire also discussed the ongoing influence of technology in private aviation. “Technology plays an increasingly important role across our operations. We are actively discussing the potential applications of artificial intelligence internally, exploring ways to make the passenger experience more seamless,” Maguire said.

How has your vision for Slate Aviation evolved since the company’s founding, and where do you see the biggest growth opportunities in private aviation?
Our vision has been refined through the exciting journey of building this business, which is a partnership with my husband and one other partner, making it very much a family-oriented operation. We are approaching 220 employees total, spread out across the country, with the majority of our administrative personnel based in South Florida. We founded the business approximately five years ago, identifying a specific need in the market for a heavy cabin jet product.
During the COVID period, there was significant concern around travel, yet executives and leaders still required transportation to factories and offices, making private travel the only viable option. We discovered a niche market by utilizing a commercial airframe, the CRJ 200, and converting it by removing the commercial interior and installing a VIP business interior.
We offer two distinct VIP floor plans. The first is an 18-seat, all-forward-facing shuttle configuration used for our shuttle routes, such as New York to South Florida and the route we launched this summer from South Florida to Nantucket. The second is a 19-seat all-VIP floor plan featuring club seating, dining seating, a divan couch, and single seats, which has proven exceptionally popular for band tours and government contracts. The challenge in private aviation is that aircraft typically cap out at around 14 or 15 seats, making it difficult to accommodate larger groups without resorting to a less luxurious 30-seat configuration. Our unique position allows us to compete on price with much smaller mid- to super-midsize aircraft that carry only eight to 10 passengers, while providing a truly VIP experience that is more economical than most private jet options.

What makes Slate distinct, and how do you maintain that competitive edge, especially in areas like safety, luxury, and flexibility?
Our most significant differentiating factor is our uniform fleet type. Many charter operators manage multiple aircraft types on their certificate, which necessitates maintaining separate safety programs, maintenance programs, and pilot training for each type. Managing 10 different airplane types means managing 10 different infrastructures. Our single fleet type allows us to implement initiatives that would otherwise be impractical, such as our comprehensive in-house training programs for both pilots and cabin attendants. This enables us to employ full-time cabin attendants, which is crucial for executing a high-level passenger experience.
A key area of growth and advantage is our in-house maintenance capability. We have strategically positioned in-house maintenance teams in the Northeast and South Florida, including Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Teterboro, and White Plains, with remote teams throughout New England. Furthermore, we recently opened our own MRO facility, with a 145 repair certificate, in Macon, Georgia. This allows us to perform all heavy maintenance and aircraft conversions from start to finish in-house, controlling the entire process with our own technicians. This is incredibly valuable for maintaining dispatch reliability.
Our shuttle business also provides a competitive edge by offering a premium experience at a more accessible price point for routes like New York to South Florida. We have found that amenities like leg rests make a substantial difference for passenger comfort, especially for older travelers concerned with circulation. Additionally, the ability to travel with pets is a critical factor for many families, and our shuttles provide a solution without the need for a full private charter, as pets are not required to travel in the cargo compartment.

Slate offers several service models, such as shuttle and fractional ownership. How do you ensure a consistently high customer experience across these models?
The cornerstone of our consistency is our uniform fleet type, which consists entirely of CRJ 200 aircraft. This uniformity allows us to implement our own in-house training programs for all cabin experience roles. Our team members are trained specifically for each product line, and unlike many charter companies that hire third-party contractors, we employ full-time cabin attendants. This enables us to manage the service level and customer experience directly, ensuring it is consistent yet appropriately tailored. For a shuttle passenger, the experience is designed to be as excellent as that of a private charter client, but it is more standardized with preset catering and pre-planned routes. In contrast, our VIP charter service is entirely customizable, ranging from a full-service five-star three-course meal to simple refreshments. The majority of our charter business is wholesale, working with major charter brokers who value our consistent and reliable product. We maintain a 97% dispatch reliability rate. We provide a high level of communication and touch for our brokers, who act as trusted resources for their clients. Our philosophy is to deliver a consistently clean airplane with friendly, professional service, led by a fantastic team. Most of our cabin attendants are silver-service trained and all are safety trained. Our pilots are very safe, with many coming from major commercial airlines, and we operate our own in-house training program. This bespoke program includes modules tailored to business aviation, such as single-engine climb outs from challenging airports like Aspen and high-altitude stall recovery, preparing our pilots to operate safely in any environment, even though most of our flying is between New York and South Florida.

Are there any specific innovations you are focusing on that you believe could redefine private aviation in the coming years?
Technology plays an increasingly important role across our operations. We are actively discussing the potential applications of artificial intelligence internally, exploring ways to make the passenger experience more seamless. This could involve implementing an AI chatbot to answer basic customer inquiries, such as locating an FBO address, providing an immediate and efficient resource. Beyond AI, our approach to technology encompasses our core processes and training methodologies. Our full-motion simulator, which we dry-leased from CAE, is a state-of-the-art facility that occupies a significant warehouse space. Our pilots undergo initial training for three weeks and recurrent training for two weeks annually in this simulator. They are exposed to a vast array of scenarios, including every conceivable emergency situation. The objective is to train our pilots to handle any potential issue, ensuring they can operate as safely as possible by being thoroughly prepared for high-pressure situations. Even common technologies like Zoom and Teams have profoundly impacted our connectivity, allowing for more frequent and effective day-to-day interaction across our team, complementing the essential in-person components of our operation. The iterative improvement of these platforms mirrors our own approach to technological integration: we implement solutions, identify areas for enhancement, and continuously work to make them better.

What shifts are you seeing in customer preferences, for example, geographic routes, frequency, membership vs ownership, or shared flights?
We are observing several key trends in how clients utilize private aviation. A significant portion of our clientele uses aircraft for business purposes, often to transport large groups to important meetings, particularly in remote locations that are challenging to reach via commercial airlines. We also handle a substantial volume of work for sports teams and musical bands, where the primary requirement is logistical efficiency. These clients need to fly from one location to another, perform their event, and then immediately board the airplane to travel to the next destination, a schedule that would be impossible to maintain with commercial flights or tour buses. In response to a clear demand for predictability, we have been expanding into the fractional aircraft ownership model. Many clients know their annual travel profile with certainty — they have five or six recurring trips that consistently require an aircraft of a specific size. These clients want the assurance of knowing exactly what product will be provided each time. This desire for consistency is similar to always booking the same hotel brand since you have a clear expectation of the service level. Again, our uniform fleet is a direct advantage here. As we roll out our fractional program and produce new aircraft, each one will feature the identical floor plan, brand new leather, and a fresh interior. We make slight, iterative improvements with each new airframe, such as refining the lavatory design or adjusting storage from closets to drawers, but the core experience remains consistent and reliable. Ultimately, whether for business or leisure, clients want a clean, new airplane that will be present at the airport and transport them safely from point A to point B.