The Helicopter Pilot Ferrying Billionaires Around Art Basel
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A few weeks back Miami became New York’s southernmost borough as lathered-up dealers and gallerists descended on South Beach for Art Basel. These migratory scenesters, wrapped in lightweight blazers and oversized glasses, will take over everything from the Soho Beach House to the burrito place on 16th and Alton with brand collaborations and art fair events. Also, they’ll clog the part of Collins where it bends with their 9-person Ubers.
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For Baselites and the locals that loathe them, logistics represent an Escher-esque puzzle. Every company is hosting a launch of some kind, offering free champagne, caviar, and low-key another c-thing, but getting from Party A at the Faena to Party B in Wynwood can take hours. Enter Julian Wheeler, the ironically named hero of the black car set.
Wheeler is a pilot and the Director of Operations for Heliflite, which makes the Blade ‘copter that Goldman analyst flying to Montauk look like the Megabus to Buffalo. But Wheeler isn’t really in the transportation business. He sells something more valuable.
“I’ve had billionaires tell me, ‘With your business, I can buy time…’” Those hours back on the day add up, especially in a tightly-packed agenda like Art Basel week (also, when F1 is in town). “They call us their time machine.”
In Miami, the company has a helicopter based on Watson Island that can be quickly dispatched for pickups and drop-offs. A flight from Miami Beach to Downtown and back, which might take 2 hours via the packed causeway bridges, takes 11 minutes. The cost? Somewhere in the neighborhood of $1100 ($6000 hourly). Given the cost of an Uber, that suggests Wheeler’s clients are paying roughly $1,000 to recover an hour. Regular users — who become addicted to the ease and efficiency — have prepaid cards. If it weren’t for literally everything about the experience, it would be like taking the G Train or the SF Muni.
For the past three years, since the pandemic, really, the fair has grown massively. So have the satellite shows, including events put on by the New Art Dealers Alliance, Design Miami, and CONTEXT. All of this is great on paper (or canvas) but creates a bit of a boondoggle on the ground.
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