If you follow the airline industry, you may have heard of 777 Partners, a Miami-based investment firm. The company was founded in 2015, and claims to be self-sufficient, not dependent on banks or third party investors.
Continue reading: 777 Partners’ Suspicious Airline Investments (Flair & Bonza)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Hi Ben,
Great article as always. Just a small typo. You had ‘usual’ instead of ‘unusual’. Thanks for all the great work you do! Keeps me sane during the day job 🙂
@ DMG -- Thanks for the correction, and thanks for reading and for the kind words, I appreciate it! 🙂
Article needs more research. Who are other management of 777? Where is the company registered? Who is the listed agent for the company? What is the history of the company? How does the leasing cost compare with major leasing companies?
@ derek -- The company is registered in Miami, but has subsidiaries all over the place. You can read about the company's management and alleged history directly on the company's website, 777part.com.
@Ben,
I heard a lot of the funding for Global Airlines came from Miami… hmm interesting
Something living rent free in my head can't stop shouting Timothy O’Neil-Dunne.
Timothy O’Neil-Dunne.
Timothy O’Neil-Dunne!!
Can't make this fluff up.
Delta Air Lines has joined the conversation.
Seems like 777 is a minority owner of Flair, owning 25%. It doesn't seem like they have control over Flair. They are a majority owner for Bonza, however. It is theoretically possible that they could benefit if Bonza overpays for 777 owned aircraft but I have no knowledge if that is actually happening.
If 777 is buying football clubs on the cheap, it could be a way to make money because the general public usually doesn't buy stakes in that industry. I am wary of the profitability of airlines like Flair and Bonza, though.
Yet you probably scream "girl power!" at our former Democratic Speaker of the House, who refused to take action against members of either party for millions in insider trading, despite open/outward (and more importantly: unrefuted) claims BY HER OWN CAUCUS against specific Congresspersons AND HER OWN FAMILY for doing so.
I swear, you hyperpartisan freaks (on either side) will be the end of this country.
I’m not saying that 777 is not shady, but I love how everyone is always convinced there is a scam involved. Why would the idiot management teams of Bonza and Flair agree to buy a $42mm plane for $52mm and/or borrow money at 18%? Sounds like some sour grapes from them…..or they are morons.
For those who don't know the context to this, Tim Dunne is listed as a "Operating Partner at 777".
" Why would the idiot management teams of Bonza and Flair agree to buy a $42mm plane for $52mm and/or borrow money at 18%? "
Because 777 employed them, this lease arrangement is nothing new, maybe just a little more amped than usual. Profit shifting (bleeding) until it goes broke with any debt likely to be workers and service providers to the company.
@Heathrow_LHR Your response to hyperpartisanship is to go on some irrelevant, partisan political rant? Fascinating.
No, a money laundering operation would be sure to have enough money to pay for the planes to keep outsiders from checking their books. This is a Ponzi scheme.
@Pudu, so in your carelessness, you missed those parts about "members of either party" and "on either side," or are you just too stupid to know what partisanship actually signifies? Which is it?
You probably need to understand what money laundering is. They’re not trying to wash money here.
777 Partners recently launched an aviation affiliate called AIP Capital whose principal, Jared Ailstock, was fired from Goldman Sachs over falsifying expense reports and got barred from FINRA. Ailstock failed to mention this little detail to his following employer, Castlelake Aviation, which also resulted in him getting fired. This is public record and well known in the aviation leasing community, despite Ailstock's pathetic and desperate attempts to clean up his image through charity. These people do not have any sense of personal integrity.
https://www.investmentnews.com/finra-bars-ex-goldman-banker-over-expense-report-205005
It's actually Tim Dunn, Fluff Partner at chatGPTim.
Last seen living rent free all over the internet.
During 2022 Christmas meltdown I flew 4 segments on Flair (extremely cheap) within Canada and to Mexico and it was on time on all flights, while almost all flights (costing like 10x of Flair fares) on other airlines were severely delayed, or cancelled stranding thousands of passengers. So I don't know what shady things they are doing with the money, but the actual operation of Flair is impressive.
Flair CEO was bang on when he said the cozy Canadian airline duopoly really does not want him or his airline around. Both pose a BIG threat.
Thee guys are Ndrangheta Mafia straight up they own the Airline industry in Australia and also aircraft financing businesses in Australia they own Air Services and CASA and the whole helicopter industry so this is no surprise to me they are filth
As someone who has experience with South Florida fraud, I've scratched my head in disbelief of the expansion of 777 in such a short time. I just don't see how Wander and Pasko could self-fund deals at these numbers; they don't have the kind of scratch that's been bandied about. Heck, I've heard what I consider credible rumors that Wander was just in the past few years borrowing money on a personal level at obscene rates to fund his lifestyle. One way or another, we'll find out in the next few years what's real or not.
What's the point in sharing this news? It does not affect my points and miles or travel strategy/experience.
Good piece and information. Thanks. What's missing is a comparison to other airline startups. There is no room here for that but do you think American European or Asian airlines get started by people who work three jobs and set money aside? Look closely at investment firms , start digging and you might find a lot of dirt. In this case your conclusion is likely wrong. When you start a business money is made when you go public. It's possible they're overcharging on airplanes. It's possible they make money other shady ways. If it is legal then it is legal. But to make real money you start an airline put Network in place and go public. They couldn't make millions on interest but they could make billions on IPO
Why are the airlines paying so much over market in the first place? Makes no sense
You wrote that there are a lot more informations about Joshua Wander.
Do you have any idea how and where Joshua Wander and Steven Pesko met each other?
These guys have a mysterious connection. A bon vivant and a reputable banker, separated by a significant age difference. Is there any background information on this?
type Josh Wander into miami dade civil court records. He's currently being sued by Randy Gelber for $150k for back rent and trashing his leased apartment. I've known the guy since he was 10 years old. A complete con artist, always in debt. I guess he just finds more suckers to scam
And now Bonza is having its planes repossessed. No more flights operating from today.