Future of luxury travel? This company wants you to feel like you're always flying private

December 10, 2025

AI Summary

5 min read

In 2018, while interviewing for the CEO role at PS, Amina Belouizdad Porter’s husband died suddenly in an extreme sports accident. That tragedy gave her a brutal kind of clarity: she knew she did not want to stay in real estate private equity. She wanted to build something. The company she joined, then called Private Suite, had started as a security and logistics play for paparazzi-weary celebrities at LAX. Porter’s central insight was that the business would never scale if it stayed positioned as a privacy product. She pivoted it to a luxury hospitality experience for any traveler willing to pay for time and calm. Today, PS operates private terminals for commercial flyers in Los Angeles and Atlanta, with Dallas, Miami, and Paris coming next. The company’s bet is that a large cohort of customers exists between free airport terminals and private jets—and that they will pay to skip the airport entirely.

From security product to hospitality brand

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What you'll learn

1 (01:00) **The Core Problem: U.S. Airports as a Security Product** - CEO Amina Belouizdad Porter explains the fundamental insight that led her to PS: U.S. airports prioritize security over hospitality, creating a vast white space between commercial and private travel.
2 (03:32) **Founder Biography: From Algeria to CEO** - Amina shares her international background, growing up in Abu Dhabi, studying in Canada, and working for six years in China, which built her global perspective and ambition to be the "architect of her own destiny."
3 (10:24) **Formative Experience: 9/11 and the Arbitrariness of Borders** - Amina describes moving to North America three days before 9/11, an event that shaped her worldview by showing how quickly geographic origin can be stigmatized.
4 (15:05) **Career Arc: The Hospitality Through-Line** - Amina walks through her diverse roles in China, from a hotel investment fund analyst to building out business development for a global design firm, to co-founding Shanghai's first boutique hotel.
5 (19:15) **Origin Story: From Security to Hospitality** - Amina reveals that PS was born from a top-tier security firm (Gavin de Becker & Associates) and was initially positioned as a security offering for high-profile clients.
6 (24:26) **The Business Case: Solving Congestion for Everyone** - Amina argues that PS improves security and reduces congestion for all LAX passengers by removing high-risk travelers (public figures) who create "paparazzi incidents" and crowds.
7 (27:08) **Customer Profile and Business Model** - Amina clarifies that only 10-15% of PS customers are public figures; the majority are premium or occasional premium travelers, including business travelers and people splurging on special occasions.

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Show Notes

Joining us this week is Amina Belouizdad Porter, the CEO of PS, the first operator of private airport terminals for commercial flyers in the US. Its mission? To make you feel like you're flying private — even when you're not. This means even if you're flying — let's say, coach with Delta Airlines — you're getting valet service. Massages. Caviar and champagne. A chauffeur waiting to drive you to your plane. This is what PS, the company formerly known as Private Suite, sees as the future of luxury travel. And it's betting many more people will see it that way, too. In this episode… we actually go there — so you can see it for yourself. (Watch on YouTube — link below!) PS was first born in Los Angeles as a haven for paparazzi-weary celebrities — helping high-profile people avoid traipsing through the airport. Now, the company's expanded to Atlanta, with more terminals coming to Paris, Dallas and Miami. It was recently acquired by Groupe ADP, the operator of dozens of airports, including Paris-Charles de Gaulle. | 00:00 — Introduction | 02:19 — Amina's upbringing | 04:36 — Getting called to become CEO for the first time — and how she felt she was 'designed in a lab' to build PS | 05:14 — Taking inspiration from airports in Singapore, Dubai, Paris and London to offer a hospitality experience at the airport | 08:08 — The itch to become an entrepreneur | 09:14 — How Amina's experience in the US after 9/11 and being from the 'Middle East' shaped her world view | 13:05 — Amina's professional journey — her polyglot background, working in China, attending Wharton Business School, working in real estate | 16:43 — How PS got started | 19:49 — A 'zero-tolerance' approach to error | 21:08 — Lobbying Congress for approval for years | 22:05 — The serious congestion + security problem the company is tackling | 25:13 — The typical PS customer | 28:50 — The "once-in-a-career" moment Amina instantly recognized | 34:10 — Working with private equity + picking the right financial backers in a capital-intensive industry | 36:04 — What's next for PS after being acquired by the operator of Paris-CDG | 38:26 — The 'hardest part' of running the business | 39:10 — Company outlook: new PS locations and goal to be in every major US airport by 2030 | 40:58 — When tragedy strikes: How two life-changing losses shaped Amina's outlook on life and work | 47:08 — Audience question from young founder | 48:43 — Rapid-fire round

| About Behind the Business:

Behind the Business is a video series and podcast hosted by Michelle Toh, CNN and Fortune alum, that explores the decisions and philosophies behind today's most influential leaders. Recorded in person across the US, the show is grounded in the belief that business is in fact personal, providing the backstories of founders, corporate leaders, investors and creators and how they push through to make the most of both work and life each day. What's the worst day you've faced at your company? How do you cope with crisis o