Founded

2009

Headquarters

Petaluma, California

Key People

Dan Drohan, CEO

Number of Employees

1,500

Phone Number

(800) 359-7861

Website

Solairus Aviation

Solairus Aviation

A private aviation services company headquartered near San Francisco, Solairus Aviation manages more than 220 aircraft and provides charter operations from 65 bases worldwide. The company employs more than 1,500 people, including pilots, flight attendants, flight coordinators, and client managers.

Solairus founder and CEO Dan Drohan spent his teen years around aviation, working at a Sonoma County, California, airport, and founded Sunset Aviation at the age of 20. Using a refurbished Beechcraft Baron twin-engine propeller airplane purchased from college savings, he began flying passengers on San Francisco Bay Area sightseeing flights from nearby Marin County Airport in 1992.

By 2007 Sunset was operating 25 managed aircraft from five locations in California and Utah, with annual revenues reaching $25 million.

In June 2007, Drohan sold the company to JetDirect Aviation Holdings, a charter retail business that at the time reportedly had the largest fleet of managed aircraft (more than 130). Drohan joined JetDirect as vice president to oversee the company’s Northern California operations.

When JetDirect declared bankruptcy in late 2008, Drohan retained ownership of the Sunset Aviation name and its FAA Part 135 charter certificate. Bringing part of the defunct JetDirect management team and more than 40 managed aircraft with him, he rebranded Sunset as Solairus in July 2009 and began rebuilding the company.

In its first year of operation, Solairus earned Gold and then Platinum certifications (the latter renewed in 2017) from safety audit company ARG/US; received the National Business Aviation Association Commercial Business Flying Safety Award; and achieved International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) certification. Solairus initially earned Wyvern Wingman safety certification in 2013 and has renewed this status every two years since.

Receiving FAA approval to operate aircraft carrying 10 or more passengers internationally in 2009, Solairus added large-cabin Gulfstream, Bombardier Challenger, and Hawker aircraft to its growing portfolio, expanding locations to 12 states by mid-2010 and to 20 states and four countries by 2014.

The company launched its Altitude private charter membership program in 2014, providing 25-hour flight-time blocks or fixed-dollar-deposit options in multiple membership levels. It revamped the program in 2019 to include shorter 60-minute and two-hour daily minimums. Altitude members and non-members can use a Solairus mobile app released in December 2020 to book flights on any aircraft operated by the company.