Solairus Aviation Chairman and CEO Dan Drohan knows exactly what fuels his company’s success: its people
By Karen Brost
Flying High
Dan Drohan was lucky enough to have discovered his life’s passion at a very young age. “I started flying when I was 12 or 13,” he explains. Today, he is Chairman and CEO of Solairus Aviation, an aircraft management and private charter jet company headquartered in San Francisco with aircraft and regional offices nationwide. Solairus currently manages more than 50 aircraft but it all started with a single plane.
When Dan was in high school, he worked at an airport and earned his private pilot’s license. He eventually went off to college, but his college career was short lived. “I came back in December of my freshman year for the break,” he explains. “My mother wondered why there was a steamer trunk behind me. At that point, I had decided that aviation was where I wanted to be.”
Within a year and a half, Dan started Sunset Aviation, a one-man operation that offered air tours over the San Francisco Bay and the wine country. He then eventually moved into the world of private jet charters. Over the next fifteen years, he grew the operation into a company with 100 employees and 25 planes. Then, unknown to him at the time, he was about to be in for a turbulent ride.
Solairus Aviation is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area and has over twenty-five base locations across the United States and Europe. With a fleet of nearly 50 managed aircraft, Solairus is one of only 97 Aviation Research Group/US Platinum-rated charter operators in the world. After completion of an intense operations and safety systems audit, the ARG/US Platinum rating is awarded to those who have demonstrated that their procedures meet or exceed industry “Best Practices” in all phases. Solairus has also received the NBAA Commercial Business Flying Safety Award and is an IS-BAO certified company. Solairus offers a full range of services in addition to aircraft management and private jet charters, which includes aircraft charter sales, aviation support services, and consulting. For more information about Solairus Aviation, please visit www.solairusaviation.com or call 800-359-7861.
