High-flyer Ciara not star-struck
HIGH FLYING is a fair description of Ciara Egan’s career. As the vice president of Quintessentially Aviation, the Kildare native admits to spending as much time in the air as on the ground looking after a client list that includes rich and famous celebrities, from her base in Miami.
Specialising in private jet charter for top end clients, it’s turned out to be a 24/7 occupation leaving little time for a private life. “It’s been an incredible nine months,” Ciara explained on a flying visit home last week. “The business is going so well I’ve barely had enough time to get to the beach to top up the tan.”
A public relations graduate from UCD, she previously worked in a managing director role within the Quintessentially Group in Dublin.
“Last month was a very busy time for us, mainly around the Cannes Film Festival,” she says “A lot of our clients are Hollywood people, and as it’s one of the biggest film industry events of the year, we’ve been gearing up for it for months. We arrange everything from private planes to hotels — and this year Quintessentially hosted the amfAR party in Cannes, which is the hottest ticket of the entire festival.”
The black-tie event where millions are raised for AIDS, was at the Hôtel du Cap in Antibes and hosted by Sharon Stone and George Clooney. “It’s a really huge event, with people like Angelina Jolie, Elton John, Ringo Starr and many others supporting the work originally begun by the late Elizabeth Taylor.” Quintessentially members also have automatic access to the Nikki Beach complex on the Croisette where Ciara promises “anything from sunset cruises to dog walking” as part of the package.
For A-list clients like Steven Spielberg, Harvey Weinstein and Oliver Stone, luxury private jet travel across the Atlantic can be as big as the films they promote: “The travel costs of the plane alone can amount to €150,000,” says Ciara. “And then there’s the cost of accommodation and activities they may want when they get there. Many people will use the jets to hop from Cannes to places like Sicily, London or Paris while at the festival.” While discretion prevents her from listing the company’s clients, stars like Sophie Dahl, JK Rowling, P Diddy, Kate Moss and Coldplay have been full of praise over the years.
Ciara has found most millionaires relatively easy to deal with. “A lot of our clients are wealthy, but not celebrity people. Sure, they spend tens of thousands on vacations and trips to New York and St Barths, but you’ll never see their faces in magazines,” she says. “Just a month ago one of our clients here in Miami, a plastic surgeon, hired a jet specially to take me to a jewellers’ in Palm Beach for the day to help him pick a suitable engagement ring for his girlfriend — I had met her a few times so I had a fair idea of what she’d probably like.”
As for her own romantic life, she laughs heartily: “On call 24/7 and stepping over bags in the hall that are still unpacked a year later, I can only tell you that chance would surely be a fine thing.”
There are always those clients who demand that bit extra. “We were looking after the wedding plans of a certain globally known Latino songstress from Miami who, on the morning of her big day, wanted us to find seven albino peacocks to be there strutting across the lawns of her mansion as she exchanged vows.” With just five hours to find said birds, Ciara started to work the phones — furiously. “Never a dull moment, that’s for sure,” she laughs. “We eventually found the peacocks at a zoo in Denver, Colorado, and sent a private jet there to make the pick-up. And we did have them on the lawn of the mansion on Star Island with an hour to spare.” Another job well done? “Yes, we got exactly what the client demanded, but unfortunately the marriage didn’t last.”
Sometimes, it’s the smaller demands that can cause the biggest headaches for Ciara and her problem-solving pals.
“Another global songstress was staying at the Dorchester with her English film director husband and rang us on Christmas Eve looking for a rare type of Indian tea. All shops were shut, no Harrods Food Hall or anywhere to call on — major puzzle.
“Then, in the midst of the panic, someone knew someone else who had just come back from India and, amazingly, had brought home that exact tea. Into a car, screamed up to Bayswater on two wheels, broke in on a family party, got said tea, which was exactly the brand demanded, apologised to all and sundry, and made it back to the Dorchester in under an hour. Mad, completely mad,” she laughs.
Recalling those very rare occasions when Quintessentially couldn’t deliver the goods, it was usually the testy task of table reservations. “The Ivy in London has occasionally been the bane of our lives — especially on New Year’s Eve as they are hanging from the chandeliers, and a client wants a table for four. But it’s just not available — to anyone, there’s just physically no room.
“If you have to say no, make sure you’ve got a better alternative,” Ciara has learned. “We’ll get them a table at The Wolseley instead, and nine times out of ten, they’ll be very happy with it.”
Along with her Irish colleague Lisa Murray, CEO of Quintessentially Aviation, life at the cutting edge of this luxury world has been an all-consuming affair for Ciara Egan. Visits home to the Kildare countryside have been few since her Miami posting began. “I know things are so bad in Ireland at the moment, but it’s been so wonderful to discover the high esteem Irish people are held in around the world,” she says. “Anywhere I go, no matter who I’m dealing with, the fact of being Irish opens so many doors.”
And even on her six-day mini-break home with the family in Kildare, that phone stays switched on 24/7. “Only last night at 3.30am I was woken by a good client in Seoul who needed a jet to Dubai by lunchtime — a bit of a tricky proposition with the poor broadband connections where my parents live,” she laughs. “But he got his plane, on time, and exactly the way he wanted it.”
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