flyExclusive Receives $30M Grant From North Carolina To Expand Maintenance And Repair And Develop A New Pilot Training Facility In Kinston

The investment is expected to create more than one hundred new aviation jobs in Lenoir County and further strengthen the company’s deep operational roots in eastern North Carolina.

In addition to the new jobs, once complete the new facility will allow the company to repatriate the bulk of its current spend associated with flight training back to North Carolina. This includes over $5 million per year in direct pilot training costs paid to training providers outside of the state, as well as more than 8,000 hotel room nights per year directly associated with pilot training. Simulators located in the new facility are also expected to increase local property tax revenue, with each simulator valued at approximately $12 million.

The maintenance facilities, which also include state-of-the-art paint, avionics, and refurbishment capabilities will allow the company to complete substantially more of the scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on its fleet of aircraft in North Carolina. The expanded facilities will also enable the company to attract more third-party business as well. The bulk of the company’s more than $75 million in annual maintenance spend is also currently an out-of-state expense.

The funding was authorized under Senate Bill 257 (Session Law 2026-41), signed into law on July 7, 2026. The North Carolina Global TransPark Authority will retain ownership of the facility, which flyExclusive will operate under a long-term lease, and the company will contribute significant private investment alongside the state grant. flyExclusive intends to break ground as soon as possible.

The facility advances flyExclusive’s strategy of vertical integration — owning and controlling the critical inputs to its business rather than relying on third parties. An in-house pilot pipeline is designed to give the company a durable, cost-advantaged source of highly qualified aviators trained to its exacting operational and safety standards, complementing the in-house maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations at its Kinston headquarters. Together, they reinforce an operating model built to scale efficiently, support continued fleet and client growth, and raise service quality and reliability for the company’s Jet Club members, fractional owners and charter customers.

Two of the industry’s most persistent constraints — aircraft maintenance capacity and the availability of qualified pilots — become durable competitive advantages when a company can address them internally. By bringing more of this work in-house, flyExclusive expects to improve operating efficiency, reduce dependence on external providers and labor markets, and support scalable, long-term growth. Few private aviation companies possess the scale or operational integration required to build and operate this much of their value chain in-house — a structure designed to lower flyExclusive’s cost to grow and make its model difficult for competitors to replicate.