New York Post - June 4, 2007
JET SET KIDS FLYING OFF TO CAMP By SHARRI MARKSON
The city's youngest high-fliers are pampered campers whose parents are paying big bucks to jet them off in style to their summer vacations.
In some cases, parents are spending thousands to save kids a bus ride of less than an hour.
The charter company Revolution Air has assigned more than 20 private jets to fly children to summer camp at the end of June, at a cost of about $8,000 a flight.
To cater to their young clients, the company has developed a special menu, including peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches, chicken fingers and ice-cream sundaes.
Property developer and mother of three Robin O'Hara is sending her 8- year-old, Danielle, on a 30-minute flight to Lake Bryn Mawr Camp in Honesdale, Pa.
"The bus takes 31/2 hours. It is crowded, and it's always a very dramatic scene," said O'Hara, of Great Neck, L.I.
"This year, she is not going with her [older] sisters, so we want to make it a special, unique experience for her.
"It's a trend. A lot of my friends do it," O'Hara said. "They play videos, they serve kids' food, sometimes, we'll have a manicurist on board."
Keewaydin camp director Peter Hare said that for the first time in the Vermont camp's history, one of its kids, a 12-year-old, will be arriving by private jet, choosing a one-hour flight over a five-hour bus trip from New York.
"We have one student flying from New York on a private jet. It's a first for us," he said. "We are not a flashy camp at all. We are a rustic, simple camp. We live in tents."
Revolution Air President Ronald Goldstein said bookings are still coming in.
"Now the kids are starting to demand private jets. The children got spoiled on the custom of flying privately," he said.
Goldstein said his clientele are primarily based in New York. "Very Park Ave," he said. Some planes leave from airports in New Jersey or from the Hamptons.
One of the shortest trips the company has booked is 45 minutes from West Hampton to Saranac Lake.
"The last request we got was for someone who wants to go to camp on June 25," he said, adding that the kid has requested Cap'n Crunch be served.
Charlotte Morello, of Connecticut, has organized a birthday party for her 9-year-old daughter, Meredith, on a private jet next month. "All her cousins will come onto the plane," Morello said. "We'll have a manicurist and a model on the runway theme."