Celebrities help smash walls for Set Jet terminal at Reid airport

Las Vegas Review-Journal

2 years ago

Actors Vanessa Hudgens, center, and Oliver Trevena, right, pose for photographs in front of a S ... — Actors Vanessa Hudgens, center, and Oliver Trevena, right, pose for photographs in front of a Set Jet aircraft during a groundbreaking event at the Atlantic Aviation terminal on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, in Las Vegas. Set Jet is a subscription flight service using private jets. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt

Tom Smith, CEO of Set Jet, a subscription flight service using private jets, poses for a portrait in one of his aircrafts during a groundbreaking event for the company’s new terminal at the Atlantic Aviation terminal on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, in Las Vegas. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt

An employee heads to greet passengers on a Set Jet flight during a groundbreaking event for the company’s new terminal at the Atlantic Aviation terminal on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, in Las Vegas. Set Jet is a subscription flight service using private jets. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt

Passengers arrive from a Set Jet flight during a groundbreaking event for the company’s new terminal at the Atlantic Aviation terminal on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, in Las Vegas. Set Jet is a subscription flight service using private jets. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt

Actress Vanessa Hudgens arrives on a Set Jet flight during a groundbreaking event for the company’s new terminal at the Atlantic Aviation terminal on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, in Las Vegas. Set Jet is a subscription flight service using private jets. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt

A Set Jet flight arrives before a groundbreaking event for the company’s new terminal at the Atlantic Aviation terminal on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, in Las Vegas. Set Jet is a subscription flight service using private jets. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt

Set Jet, a membership-based private jet charter program, on Tuesday broke ground on a new air terminal on the west side of Harry Reid International Airport.

Set Jet CEO Tom Smith was joined by actress Vanessa Hudgens, who portrayed Gabriella Montez in the “High School Musical” series, and Oliver Trevena, host of the “Young Hollywood” celebrity chat show, to swing the first sledgehammers in a renovation kickoff.

The company is taking over the space formerly occupied by Grand Canyon Helicopters at the Atlantic Aviation terminal. The renovation includes demolishing some existing walls and turning the space into a luxury terminal, which Smith hopes to open by summer.

Currently, Set Jet operates its business from the Atlantic Aviation terminal just off Tropicana Avenue.

Hudgens, who celebrates her 34th birthday Wednesday, arrived by Set Jet with some friends to party in Las Vegas. Before heading to the Strip, she took turns with Trevena at smashing holes in a wall with a sledgehammer.

Smith, a licensed pilot, also founded Taser International, now Axon Enterprise, in his garage in Tucson, Arizona, in 1993 after two of his friends were shot and killed.

Set Jet, which recently introduced twice-weekly private jet flights from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City, currently has more than 5,000 members and operates up to four daily private jet charter flights between Las Vegas; Scottsdale, Arizona; Los Angeles; San Diego; San Francisco; and Orange County, California.

The company also plans to expand operations to Aspen, Colorado, and Dallas, Houston and Austin, Texas.

Set Jet’s approach to facilitating private jet air travel was conceived by a group of Arizona-based entrepreneurs with decades of marketing and aviation experience.

It uses a fleet of five Bombardier Challenger 850 twin-engine jets with different floor plan configurations that accommodate between 13 and 16 passengers.

Aircraft cabins are 6 feet tall, 8 feet wide and include finishes such as high-gloss wood, marble, soft leather and carpeting.

Flights to Set Jet destinations use less crowded secondary airports.

The company charges a one-time $100 security check fee, $100 a month for membership and $750 one-way flights. Flights also are available between Los Angeles, Scottsdale and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for $1,330 one way.

The company also plans to offer an elite membership program for $1,000 a month with coast-to-coast domestic flights to New York and West Palm Beach and Miami, Florida, for $4,500 one way. Elite membership also allows two flight changes and cancellations per calendar month and two complimentary pet flights for pets of any size per calendar month.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.