Private Equity Firm Buys Majority Stake in Airshare

Global private equity group Kompass Kapital has made a strategic investment in private aviation company Airshare, and now leads the Airshare ownership group. The company says the transaction provides significant dollars for strategic growth and expansion initiatives, although terms of the deal are not being announced. Earlier investors are maintaining an active role with considerable equity positions.

Airshare

Airshare has been undergoing a transformative year. In the fall of 2023, it acquired the Wheels Up aircraft management business for a final aggregate consideration of $18 million. This transaction doubled the size of the company to nearly 600 employees while operating a fleet approaching 150 aircraft, becoming one of the largest fleet operators in the United States. The company now offers a full suite of private aviation solutions, managing aircraft nationwide and providing charter services worldwide. The Airshare Fractional Program, featuring sales of both fractional shares and jet cards on Phenom 300’s and Challenger 3500’s, has continued expanding over the last 12 months. The program is now available in most of the country, including recent entry into the Northeast and Southeast regions. Airshare says it expects its fractional footprint to extend coast-to-coast very soon.

“We are thrilled to have Kompass Kapital join the Airshare ownership group and strongly believe its investment will have a material impact on our future,” said John Owen, CEO of Airshare. “When we made the decision to raise capital in support of our strategic goals, we were diligent in defining the ideal partner for us, both professionally and culturally. We immediately received considerable interest, but it quickly became clear we had the perfect match just down the road in Kompass Kapital.”

Airshare was founded in 2000, and had a variety of light jets and turboprops operating regionally in the middle of America, for most of the early part of its fractional program. The company brought in new investors in 2016, as the founding team started to step down, and by 2019 was focused on the Phenom 100 and Phenom 300 for the fractional program as it expanded into the upper mid-west. The super-mid Challenger 350 was added to the fractional fleet in 2021, providing a much larger aircraft for fractional owners and expanding the potential destinations. And the smaller Phenom 100 was phased out in 2022.

The Airshare fractional and jet card programs are both day based, as opposed to more common hours based programs, meaning a plane will stay with an owner for the day, which is very convenient for multiple stop trips or even just daily return flights. Airshare has received IS-BAO Stage 3 and ARGUS Platinum designations.

Kompass Capital

The website for the Kompass Capital says they make equity investments from $5 million to $50 million across multiple industries and geographies.

“We are very excited to partner with Airshare, where we join a talented team dedicated to serving the private aviation needs of business and leisure customers both domestically and internationally,” said Bradley Berger, Managing Partner of Kompass Kapital. “We invest in people, and when evaluating the potential of any opportunity, we start with company leadership. The executive team at Airshare is outstanding, and they inspired us with their vision to strategically expand the company’s geographic footprint, fleet and customer base. The growth prospects are very encouraging, and we believe the company is uniquely positioned to further capture market share.”

Both Kompass and Airshare are headquartered in Kansas City.