April 26, 2017 – 2016 marked the beginning of Latitude 33 Aviation’s 10-year anniversary. We are proud to celebrate this special time with our clients, aircraft owners, partners, and employees who have made this possible. Like most companies, our private jet charter, business jet management, and aircraft sales/acquisitions company has an interesting story regarding its journey.

Read the full Latitude 33 Aviation company story here

Owner-pilots Casey Miller and Solomon Short met by chance on the tarmac at a Phoenix airport in 2008. Casey had been running Latitude 33 on his own since 2006, however, the company was growing so fast he needed help and formed a 50:50 partnership with Solomon in 2011.

Within one month, the two pilots landed their first client together. “After that, it was one client after the other. With no employees, we were doing everything. Now, nearly six years later, we’ve hired 35 employees and now manage 30 light, mid-size and super mid-size jets in 11 cities across five states,” says Solomon. With all the hard work and effort the owners and employees have put into building the company, Latitude 33 Aviation has now grown to become the largest charter operator in San Diego, and the only jet operator in the city to have achieved the ARGUS Platinum safety rating.

2016 was a record year for the company, posting a 25 percent increase in business, and 2017 is on track to break all company records. Consider some of the accomplishments from last year:

• Added seven aircraft to the fleet; moved five of the seven into charter operations
• Expanded to mid and super mid-size categories with Citation Sovereign and Challenger 350
• Received the coveted ARGUS Platinum Rating following a rigorous safety audit process
• Diversified fleet with additions of the first Embraer and Bombardier aircraft
• Completed $60 million in transactions with 14 aircraft sales/acquisitions
• Accumulated over 7,300 flight hours
• Voted San Diego’s Best Air Charter by Ranch & Coast Magazine’s Readers’ Poll
• Hosted 10th Anniversary client thank-you gala
• Hired 10 new employees, bringing staff total to 35

To thank all our clients, aircraft owners, partners and employees who have made our company such a success over the last decade, Latitude 33 hosted a 10th Anniversary VIP gala at its corporate headquarters at McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, California.

We were thankful to share this special occasion with hundreds of our supporters who have made our company what it is over the years, as well as a number of industry and local partners including:

• Cessna/Textron Aviation, Embraer Executive Jets, Bombardier Business Aircraft, LOFT, Jet Source
• O’Gara Coach La Jolla, McLaren Newport Beach, Hoehn Motors, Symbolic International
• Del Mar Country Club, Valley View Casino & Hotel
• Innovision Marketing Group, Redfearn & Associates
• And many others

This year we have given back to the community by partnering with the Rancho Santa Fe Education Foundation, the Hanna Fenichel Center, the Grauer Foundation for Education, the Make a Wish Foundation, as well as providing support for aviation scholarships – and we’re only getting started.

With the phenomenal start to 2017 we have already experienced – including new aircraft added to the fleet, new locations, the addition of several more team members, and the official expansion of our aircraft sales and acquisitions division – we could not be more excited for what the future holds for Latitude 33 Aviation.

We would like to sincerely thank everyone who has supported us over the last decade.  To the next 10!

Maha Elebiary, Marketing Associate (Left) / Shana Hoernke, Charter Sales Associate (Right)

March 06, 2017 – We are pleased to announce the recent addition of Maha Elebiary and Shana Hoernke to our Marketing and Charter Sales departments.

Maha Elebiary is our new Marketing Associate, bringing to the department her international background in hospitality with Hilton Worldwide Corporation marketing for 19 hotels in the Middle East region, as well as her local background marketing for a media broadcasting company in Pasadena, CA. Maha joins Latitude 33 after acquiring her MBA and looks forward to utilizing her experience and passion to help the company reach its aggressive goals.

Shana Hoernke is returning to Southern California from Hawaii after eight years, and brings more than ten years of charter sales and customer service experience in varying capacities.  She returns back to Carlsbad to join Latitude 33’s Charter department where she hopes to be for years to come!

Latitude 33 Aviation welcomes the new team members while expressing gratitude for its hard-working, intensely motivated team, who are the main reason for the company’s continued success.