Thomas Flohr (born 17 March 1960) is a Swiss businessman, founder and chairman of

VistaJet VistaJet is a global business aviation company founded in 2004 by Thomas Flohr. The firm flies between any two points, under a "pay for hours flown" fare structure. Its fleet consists of 73 privately-owned, mid-to-large-cabin, ultra-long-range ...

, a private jet charter company, amateur racing driver and former

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

. As of March 2018, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' estimated his net worth at US$2.3 billion. In March 2019, Flohr had dropped off the billionaires list.

Early life

Flohr was born in Switzerland on 17 March 1960, the son of a teacher. After school he applied unsuccessfully for flight training at

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

's offices in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. He studied business and political science at

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

Career

From 1985 until the early 2000s, Flohr worked for the Chicago-based technology firm Comdisco. He was President of their European division from 1990 to 1994. He was President of Comdisco's worldwide asset finance division from 1995 to 2000. He would later buy out most of Comdisco's European operations through his Swiss-based group Comprendium Investment, which he still controls. In 2003 he bought his first

Bombardier Learjet 60 The Learjet 60 is a mid-size cabin, medium-range business jet aircraft manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace in Wichita, Kansas. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW305A engines, it has a range (with 4 passengers and 2 crew) of with NBAA ...

. In 2016 Flohr, who spends over 800 hours in the air each year, was named Entrepreneur of the Year by The Living Legends of Aviation awards. He lives in St. Moritz, Switzerland. As a hobby he competes in motorsport, including the

East African Safari Rally The Safari Rally is a rally held in Kenya. It was first held in 1953 as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The event was part of the World Rally Championship from 1973 until 2002, before returning in 2021. It is historically ...

Le Mans 24 Hour The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...

and the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

; he is also a sponsor to the

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Società per Azioni, S.p.A. () is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "The Prancing Horse", in refere ...

team. He collects art, including

Jeff Koons Jeffrey Lynn Koons (; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror- finish su ...

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...

and

Sterling Ruby Sterling Ruby (born January 21, 1972) is an American artist who works in a large variety of media including ceramics, painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, video, and textiles. Often, his work is presented in large and densely packed installatio ...

Personal life

Flohr was married to Katharina Flohr (''née'' Konečný), formerly creative director of Fabergé and editor of Russian Vogue. They had one daughter together,

Nina Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms *National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq * Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology *No income, ...

, who was the former brand director of VistaJet. On 1 September 2020, the former

Greek royal family The Greek royal family (Greek: Ελληνική Βασιλική Οικογένεια) is a branch of the Danish royal family, itself a branch of the House of Glücksburg, that reigned in Greece from 1863 to 1924 and again from 1935 to 1973. Its ...

announced the formal engagement of Miss Flohr with

Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark ( el, Φίλιππος; born 26 April 1986) is the youngest child of Constantine II and Anne-Marie of Denmark, who were the last King and Queen of Greece, reigning from 1964 to 1973. Early life and ed ...

, fifth child and third son of King Constantine II and Queen

Anne-Marie of Greece Anne-Marie, ( el, Άννα-Μαρία ; born 30 August 1946) is a Greek royal family, Greek and Danish royal family, Danish royal who was the last List of Greek royal consorts, Queen of Greece from 1964 to 1973 as the wife of Constantine II of ...

. The couple married in a civil ceremony in Saint-Moritz, Switzerland on 12 December 2020, with Thomas one of only two guests in attendance.

Legal issues

In 2020, the United States Government announced intentions to seize property belonging to Flohr. The $22 million dollar mansion was the subject of scrutiny after its previous owner, an associate of Flohr's, was implicated in a major corruption scandal.

Career results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

^* Season still in progress.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

Living people Swiss billionaires Swiss racing drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Year of birth uncertain 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Former billionaires 1960 births {{WEC LMGTE Am teams AF Corse drivers Le Mans Cup drivers