A thoughtful approach

When John Castellano was eight years old, his mother, who worked for British Airways, took him onboard Concorde at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The aircraft had landed just a short while beforehand, so the galley was still in disarray, enabling young John to pick up souvenirs such as discarded eye masks, slippers and toiletries from this icon of the air. “I’ve been fascinated with aviation ever since,” he says.

Born and raised in Queens, New York City, this fascination duly led John to pursue a career in the industry. He started out working at a private aviation firm in 2004, which “took off like a rocket ship, revolutionising the industry”, before being acquired by another private business jet company. 

“I stayed on as a Vice President of Sales, focused mostly on the east coast, sports and entertainment. Upon leaving, I became Regional Vice President at a brokerage firm. Working with more flight departments, pilots and flight attendants, I became the Regional Staffing and Recruiting Manager of the Northeast right as the pandemic hit in 2020. I began at ACS in July 2021, and I could not be happier. We are primed for very exciting growth at perhaps the most dynamic point in the history of the industry.”

Understandably, John had known of ACS for some time before being introduced to our President of North America Richard Thompson, Founder and Chairman Chris Leach and the UK Board of Directors. 

“It’s not every day you see a company with 30 years’ experience, global bandwidth and tremendous reputation looking to innovate and expand. Hearing their vision for the future of the company, I knew I had to be a part of it,” he says.

John’s role involves growing ACS’s Private Jet and Commercial Jet divisions and overseeing the Empyrean Jet Card and the Manhattan office, reporting directly to Richard. He brings with him a wealth of experience in high-end, ultra-luxury customer service. 

“The key to getting it right is having a curious and relentless pursuit of information with proactive communication. You also need to understand what matters most to the client and consistently deliver on those thoughtful touch points,” he summarises. 

He’s also familiar with the pitfalls and has a favoured quote to help keep him on his toes: “The composer Tchaikovsky famously said: ‘Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.’ Too often the most common mistakes are deficient or limited training of client-facing staff. It could begin as early as hiring people with the wrong disposition, or not having the expertise to teach people how to appropriately cater to the luxury clientele. Most simply, though, the most common mistakes are [due to] laziness. It does not take a Herculean effort to learn about your client and be thoughtful.”

When not at work, John enjoys active pursuits – “adventures with my kids, hiking, basketball and watching live music and comedy” – and he brings this energy to his new role at ACS. 

“I look forward to growing the Empyrean jet card programme – there are more customers in the marketplace than ever before, all looking for the most suitable solution for their nuanced travel.”

And John certainly seems best placed to find those solutions. Having turned a childhood moment of wonder into a lifelong passion and career, he is unwaveringly enthusiastic about sharing his love of aviation with the people he employs and, by extension, the clients they serve – a superb addition to the ACS team.

About ACS Manhattan

Working alongside our Long Island office and seven other offices across North America, the Manhattan office is located in the heart of New York City, just a few blocks from Times Square. ACS’s Manhattan office only opened in 2018, but it has gone from strength to strength in that time. 

At the time of opening, CEO Justin Bowman said: “We pride ourselves on personal service and having a base in the business district of the city has been on our list for a while now. In our industry, meeting clients face-to-face is crucial to long-term relationships.”

The office employs six people, including John, and enjoyed a 24 per cent increase in Private Jet sales and 132 per cent increase in Commercial Jet sales between 2020 and November 2021.

Image credit: Getty