Per-seat private aviation is a largely unkown corner of the private jet industry, and represents yet another innovation aimed at keeping costs manageable while delivering the perks, privacy, convenience and status of general aviation.

Avion Private Jet Club is one such provider, offering individual seats on private planes along scheduled NY-LA flights. Clients pay a membership fee, annual dues, and a per-seat charge for each flight.

Annual dues are 50% of the one-time membership fee. The per-seat fee is $6,000 plus tax, with no fuel surcharges. Catering and private car service are included. Flights are available once daily on Sundays and Thursdays.

The company is headed by travel-agent-to-the-stars Gary Mansour. His Mansour Travel Agency got its start handling travel arrangements for movie productions, then began managing travel for the beautiful people. Agency clients pay $15,000 annually, because that’s How They Do Things there.

Mansour expanded into private aviation when he noticed clients making uninformed charter decisions. His program is structured to serve as an elite club in the skies, and Mansour notes that the sofa (always reserved as unsold) on his Challenger flights often becomes a gathering place where clients meet one another and chat. He will never sell a facing seat that puts strangers right in front of each other. Aircraft are always heavy jets, either Gulfstreams or Challengers.

Talking to Mansour, it becomes clear that while his goal is facilitating private travel economically, his true interest is in forming an elite club where the affluent mingle at 40,000 feet. We’re interested in hearing the stories of Avion customers. If you’ve flown Avion, send us your thoughts at jets@heliumreport.com.