Aviation Business Journal 4th Quarter 2012 - 23

many deals as we make, so we are
very careful about how we talk about
fleet growth,” Drohan explained.
“Management companies have a fascination
with fleet size, which I realize
is associated with success; but our
feeling is that it is better to be small −
and good at what you’re doing − than
not so good with a big fleet.”
Along that line, Solairus is still
primarily focused on the domestic
market. However, with global charter
authority, the company is looking to
build up its international clientele.
Potential business sources include
Asia, the Middle East, and Latin
America.
“We currently have several internationally-based
management clients,
and we see this as one focal point
in the growth of the business right
now,” Drohan said. “I am cautiously
optimistic that we will see more opportunities
internationally in the next
12 to 36 months.” He added about
40 percent of Solairus’ total fleet
hours are flown on cross-border trips.
Although some international flight
planning is done in-house, most is
contracted out to the major handling
companies. “We have relationships
with virtually all of those companies,
and we encourage our client aviation
managers (CAMs) to select one that
they especially like for international
trip planning,” he explained. All domestic
trips are planned internally.
Current charter clients, aircraft
owners, and Solairus’ employees are
cited by Drohan as the biggest sources
of new business for the company.
“Wholesale work for other operators
is always a part of what we do, and
we’re honored to be trusted by some
great companies to be partners in
Aviation Business Journal | 4th
Quarter 2012
From his office in California’s Wine Country, Drohan oversees an international managed fleet of nearly 60
private aircraft.
their success,” he said. “But we are
very focused on continuing to build
our own retail client base.”
Given the far-flung nature of
the fleet, Solairus has embraced a
decentralized management model,
which, according to Drohan, empowers
the CAMs to manage customer
relationships effectively. Each CAM is
assigned only one client exclusively.
“We place a significant amount of
emphasis on ensuring that each and
every member of the Solairus team is
part of the solution process,” he said.
“It’s not only part of operating a decentralized
management model, but
also simply who we are as a company
and how we are as people.”
But at the same time, safety is
considered to be the company’s single
most important service, Drohan
stressed, “Our entire organization
takes our sustainable culture of safety
and safety management system very
seriously. It is engrained in every element
of what we do.”
Almost from the outset, Solairus
applied for an ARG/US safety audit
and was awarded the agency’s
Platinum Level, which is its highest,
in 2009. It also meets the stringent
safety requirements of the
International Standard for Business
Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO), and
was one of the earliest charter operators
to develop a safety management
system (SMS). In fact, Solairus has a
full-time safety and training officer
who reports directly to the company
president.
“When the SMS programs were
starting, we embraced and adopted
the concept quite quickly, because we
believe that a solid, culturally sound
SMS program is a critical part of any
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Aviation Business Journal 4th Quarter 2012

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