Charter
An hour you do not get back
Los Angeles to Las Vegas, measured door to door, where the flight time turns out to be the least interesting number in the comparison.
Where would you like to go?
Fly with Clipper Aviation, the premium general aviation provider based in Van Nuys, California.
Our True North
As aviators ourselves, our True North is defined by what truly matters: earned trust, superior workmanship and unmatched value.
Our fleet of modern, capable and attractive King Air 350 aircraft ensures Clipper Aviation delivers you safely, comfortably and in style, wherever your travels take you.
Our maintenance department proudly serves hundreds of aircraft owners and operators — a trusted partner to leading manufacturers including Textron, Piper, Epic, Cirrus, Williams, Continental and Garmin.
And our flight training program cultivates the next generation of aviators, from first lesson to advanced ratings.
What we do
Three businesses held to a single standard.
Charter, maintenance and training all operate from the same ramp at Van Nuys, under the same leadership, and are measured against the same idea of what good work looks like.
01Charter
Private flights across the U.S., Canada and Mexico
A modern King Air 350 fleet, two-crew operation, and a service experience arranged entirely around you.
02Maintenance
A Part 145 repair station at Van Nuys
Factory-trained technicians supporting piston, turboprop and jet — and a trusted partner to every major general aviation OEM.
03Training
Private pilot through advanced ratings
A modern Cirrus fleet and instructors who began exactly where you are. Discovery flights most days of the week.
The fleet
The aircraft chosen to meet your mission.
The King Air has been the industry's leading executive turboprop for more than sixty years, and the 350 still offers a cabin that outclasses aircraft considerably larger than itself.
Door to door
Measured properly, the day is what you save.
Almost everyone compares private aviation to commercial travel on flight time, which is both the wrong number to look at and the smallest part of the day.
Clipper AviationVan Nuys (KVNY) → Las Vegas
1 hr 10 min~5 min
~1 hr
~5 min
- Arrival & check-in: ~5 min
- Boarding & flight: ~1 hr
- Deplaning & baggage: ~5 min
Commercial travelLAX → Harry Reid International
3 hr 30 min~2 hr
~1 hr
~30 min
- Arrival & check-in: ~2 hr
- Boarding & flight: ~1 hr
- Deplaning & baggage: ~30 min
Los Angeles to Las Vegas, measured door to door on the same scale — a saving of roughly 67% of the journey. The airplane is barely faster. Everything around the airplane is.
Where we fly
Thousands of airports, without the terminals.
Each destination below is plotted at its true distance and bearing from Van Nuys, so the map reads as a chart rather than an illustration. Select one to see its block time.
CYVRBritish Columbia
Vancouver
Customs and immigration handled on arrival.
- Distance
- 923nm
- Block time
- 3 hr 5 min
A selection. The King Air 350 reaches thousands of airports across the U.S., Canada and Mexico — including many with no commercial service at all.
Why a turboprop
Thirty-three hundred feet is the whole argument.
On almost any trip under 800 nautical miles, arriving nearer matters more than arriving faster, and the runway a type needs is what decides how near it can get.
- King Air 350Clipper fleet3,300 ft
- Citation CJ49 seats · reference3,400 ft
- Phenom 3009 seats · reference3,100 ft
- Gulfstream G-IV14 seats · reference5,000 ft
Takeoff distance required, drawn to scale. At thirty-three hundred feet the King Air asks no more of a runway than a light jet does, and seventeen hundred feet less than a large-cabin aircraft — which is what decides whether you land at the field you want or the one that will take you. Comparison types are industry reference aircraft, not part of the Clipper fleet.
Trusted by those who know
A reputation for excellence, recognized industry-wide.
Clipper holds an ARGUS Gold rating, and is trusted as a supplier by leading manufacturers, corporate flight departments and government agencies alike.
ARGUS Gold
Third-party safety rating
Independently audited against the industry's most demanding operational standards.
Part 145
FAA repair station
In-house maintenance on our own aircraft, and on hundreds belonging to others.
Two crew
Every single flight
Trained by the industry's leading providers, evaluated continuously.
Industry partners
The Journal
All articlesNotes from the hangar.
Charter
Why a turboprop beats a light jet more often than you think
On the trips most clients actually fly, the King Air 350 is not the compromise but the correct answer, and the runway is the reason why.
Maintenance
What constitutes a good pre-buy inspection?
You are not buying a machine so much as a complex asset with a history, a set of hidden liabilities and a long-term cost of ownership. Here is how we go about looking at one.
Start the conversation
Tell us where you need to be.
A route, a date and a passenger count are enough to start. We come back with aircraft availability, block times and a price.