This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Susanna Song, 29, who quit her job as a business analyst-slash-consultant to move from Toronto, Canada, to Miami, Florida with her husband in March. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.
Escape To The Bahamas: Tradewind Aviation Launches New Routes
08.05.2024 - 05:01 / forbes.com
The semi-private jet company is flying on-demand throughout the Bahamas now, with scheduled service from Palm Beach International airport to North Eleuthera and Marsh Harbour starting this winter.
Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Razor Thin Margins!
My nickname seems apt for David Zipkin at this moment, as he teeters along the edge of a multi-million dollar Bahamian bluff in Eleuthera. It strikes us as funny, because in private aviation, it’s often true. Or at least it used to be in 2001, when pilots David and his brother Eric Zipkin co-founded Tradewind Aviation with just one plane, an eight-seat Cessna Caravan turboprop.
Post-pandemic, healthy margins are fueling growth. With a 32-plane fleet of mostly Swiss-made Pilatus PC-12s, Tradewind is now considered one of the top semi-private airlines. Their stock-in-trade is operating private charters as well as scheduled service around the northeast, the Caribbean and St. Barts, with its notoriously short runways. When I first met the Zipkin brothers two years ago, their fleet count was only 23. They say the trick to growth is keeping these planes in the air: “There's nothing more expensive than an airplane sitting on the ground.”
So they opened a new Southeast hub in Florida last September, officially entering a major market. Tradewind’s private clients can now fly pretty much anywhere within 350 nautical miles from Palm Beach International Airport (PBI), which includes all of the Bahamas, an archipelago made up of 700 islands. (There’s a lot more to this place than Nassau).
Eleuthera specifically, the 110-mile island with ferry service to nearby Harbour Island, is of obvious interest to Tradewind because it’s a known hideaway for celebrities and a real estate enclave for billionaires-with-a-B. Lenny Kravitz has a home here. Need I say more?
“We've always known that the South Florida-Bahamas market is very strong and perfect for what we do. I would have loved to be in this market 10 years ago, but we didn't have the infrastructure to support it. Now that we do it's an exciting time because we can commit to new markets,” Zipkin told Forbes.
It’s also an exciting time for travelers, who can take advantage of this fly private-for-less charter model, which operates short distance flights on 8-seat planes. The appeal, apart from mod leather seats, complimentary champagne and fresh-faced pilots, is that they’re small enough to land on remote islands, where you might not otherwise find good, or any, service.
Though Tradewind’s new schedule of charters to North Eleuthera and Marsh Harbour from Palm Beach has not yet been published, pricing will start “in the range of $350 per person one-way,” according to the company. (For updated timing and pricing, check
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