flyExclusive has secured a $30 million grant from the State of North Carolina to expand its maintenance and repair operation and develop a pilot training facility at the North Carolina Global TransPark in Kinston. The investment is expected to create more than 100 new aviation jobs in Lenoir County.

Once complete, the facility will allow the company to repatriate the bulk of its current spend associated with flight training back to North Carolina. This includes over $5 million per year in direct pilot training costs paid to training providers outside of the state, as well as more than 8,000 hotel room nights per year directly associated with pilot training. Simulators located in the new facility are also expected to increase local property tax revenue, with each valued at around $12m.

The expanded maintenance facilities, which include paint, avionics and refurbishment capabilities, will allow the company to complete substantially more of the scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on its fleet of aircraft in North Carolina, and attract more third-party business as well. The bulk of the company’s more than $75m in annual maintenance spend is also currently an out-of-state expense.

flyExclusive intends to break ground as soon as possible.

The facility advances flyExclusive’s strategy of vertical integration, owning and controlling the critical inputs to its business rather than relying on third parties. An in-house pilot pipeline is designed to give the company a durable, cost-advantaged source of highly qualified aviators trained to its exacting operational and safety standards, complementing the in-house MRO operations at its Kinston headquarters. Together, they reinforce an operating model built to scale efficiently, support continued fleet and client growth and raise service quality and reliability for Jet Club members, fractional owners and charter customers.

Two of the industry’s most persistent constraints, aircraft maintenance capacity and the availability of qualified pilots, become durable competitive advantages when a company can address them internally. By bringing more of this work in-house, flyExclusive expects to improve operating efficiency, reduce dependence on external providers and labour markets, and support scalable, long-term growth. Few private aviation companies possess the scale or operational integration required to build and operate this much of their value chain in-house, a structure designed to lower flyExclusive’s cost to grow and make its model difficult for competitors to replicate.

“Our people are what set flyExclusive apart, and this facility lets us develop the next generation of world-class pilots and create hundreds of high-quality aviation careers for the talented men and women who will help us keep growing here in North Carolina. These new facilities substantially expand our footprint at the North Carolina Global TransPark and substantially strengthen our already strong relationship with the Global TransPark,” says founder and CEO Jim Segrave. “We are excited about continuing to invest and grow at the Global TransPark, and we look forward to breaking ground as soon as possible.”