Solairus Aviation says over 80% of Clay Lacy aircraft owners committed to transition ahead of month-end deal close
Why It MattersOwner retention rates during aircraft management consolidation hinge on how operators handle competitive poaching in the weeks between announcement and closing, shaping the real scale of a combined fleet.
What happened
Solairus Aviation's acquisition of Clay Lacy Aviation's aircraft management and charter operations is progressing ahead of expectations, with the deal set to close at the end of this month. Solairus founder and CEO Dan Drohan said more than 80% of Clay Lacy aircraft owners have already committed to transitioning to Solairus, adding, "We expect the number to land even higher." The agreement was announced in early August.
Drohan noted that competition to retain Clay Lacy clients has been intense since the announcement, but said the response has exceeded his expectations. Approximately 60 support team members from Clay Lacy are expected to join Solairus.
Solairus currently ranks as the 7th-largest U.S. operator by charter and fractional flight hours, while Clay Lacy ranks 17th. Including Part 91 flight hours, Solairus recorded 85,067 hours in 2025, which would rank it fourth in the United States — behind only NetJets, Flexjet, and Vista Global — according to ARGUS data.
The FAA's most recent Part 135 aircraft list shows 50 aircraft on Clay Lacy's certificate and 144 on Solairus's certificate. Solairus will transition Clay Lacy's Part 135 aircraft to its Sunset Aviation LLC certificate. Upon completion of the deal, Solairus expects to have approximately 500 private jets under management. Clay Lacy will retain its FBO and MRO businesses, and both teams are working with the FAA on operational integration ahead of closing.
Industry impact & what to watch
Aircraft management consolidation of this kind depends less on the paperwork of a certificate transfer than on whether individual owners actually agree to move their tails to the acquiring company. An 80% commitment rate ahead of closing indicates most of that retention risk has already been resolved before the deal formally completes.
The combined entity's scale looks different depending on which flight-hour category is counted. Ranked on charter and fractional hours alone, Solairus sits seventh nationally and Clay Lacy seventeenth; adding Part 91 hours pushes Solairus to fourth by ARGUS's count, behind NetJets, Flexjet and Vista Global. That gap shows how much of Solairus's activity runs through owner-flown Part 91 operations rather than the charter segment that ranking tables typically emphasize.
The next markers are the actual close date at month-end, the final owner-commitment percentage once it "lands higher" as Drohan expects, and how cleanly the roughly 60 incoming support staff and Clay Lacy's Part 135 aircraft transfer onto the Sunset Aviation LLC certificate under FAA oversight.
