flyExclusive Named Honorary Presenting Partner of AeroAngel’s Light Up the Sky Gala
Five-year partnership between the private jet operator and the national children’s medical flight charity has provided nearly 100 flights for children traveling to critical care
RALEIGH, N.C. & ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- flyExclusive, one of the largest private jet operators in the United States, has been named honorary presenting partner of AeroAngel’s Light Up the Sky gala, marking five years of work together that has put nearly 100 seriously ill children and their families on private jets to the medical care they needed.
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flyExclusive Named Honorary Presenting Partner of AeroAngel’s Light Up the Sky Gala
The gala will be held Saturday, September 19, 2026, at Wings Over the Rockies Exploration of Flight at Centennial Airport in Englewood, Colorado. The evening highlights AeroAngel’s mission and raises the funds that make additional flights possible. Ticket and partnership information is available at aeroangel.org.
AeroAngel is a national aviation charity that provides free private business jet flights so that seriously ill children can reach distant, life-saving medical care. Its passengers are children who cannot safely fly on an airline but who do not need an air ambulance. The organization relies on donated flights and some paid charter to fulfill its mission.
HOW THE PARTNERSHIP STARTED
The relationship began in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic with a single flight. Five-year-old Ailani Meyers needed to get home to Baltimore after her second bone marrow transplant at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, California. flyExclusive flew Ailani and her parents across the country with a stop at Centennial Airport. The flight was funded jointly by a flyExclusive aircraft owner and AeroAngel’s Emergency Flight Fund.
In the nearly five years since, flyExclusive has flown close to 100 AeroAngel missions across the country, both donated and paid charter, drawing on its fleet, its crews and its in-house maintenance operation to get families where they needed to be.
“Putting a child on an airplane after a transplant is not something you do with a press release in mind. It takes a crew willing to take the trip, a maintenance team that has the airplane ready and a dispatcher who finds a way to make the schedule work,” said Jim Segrave, Founder, Chairman and CEO of flyExclusive. “Our people have done that nearly 100 times for AeroAngel and they would do it 100 more. Being asked to stand alongside Mark and his team at Light Up the Sky means a great deal to all of us.”
“Nearly 100 flights represent much more than miles traveled. Each one represents a child who needed to reach critical medical care and a family facing circumstances no family should have to navigate alone. For nearly five years, flyExclusive has helped AeroAngel make those journeys possible, and that is what makes this partnership so meaningful,” said Mark Pestal, AeroAngel’s Executive Director and Founder.
“Our partnership with flyExclusive exemplifies an incredible corporate philanthropic synergy that has helped so many children struggling with critical health challenges,” he added. “We’re grateful to flyExclusive’s dedicated and compassionate team and its ‘part of a larger cause’ culture.”
ABOUT FLYEXCLUSIVE
flyExclusive is a vertically integrated, FAA-certificated air carrier providing private jet experiences by offering customers a choice of Fractional ownership, Jet Club, and on-demand charter services to destinations across the globe. The Company operates one of the largest private jet fleets in the U.S., with full operational control over maintenance, refurbishment, and avionics through its in-house MRO facilities in Kinston, North Carolina.
ABOUT AEROANGEL
Founded in 2010 and based at Centennial Airport in Englewood, Colorado, AeroAngel is a national aviation charity that provides free private business jet flights for seriously ill children who need to reach distant medical care and cannot safely travel on commercial airlines. AeroAngel’s flights are made possible through donated private jet flights, paid charter, and the support of individual and corporate partners.
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MEDIA CONTACTS
flyExclusive
Hannah Rose, VP of Marketing
media@flyexclusive.com
AeroAngel
Mark Pestal, Executive Director and Founder
mark@aeroangel.org
Source: flyExclusive
Released September 11, 2026
