Clay Lacy Aviation, one of the world's largest charter operators and aircraft managers, announced it has added twelve business jets to its expanding fleet since the start of 2016. The new additions include seven long-range, large-cabin aircraft, two super-midsize jets, and three light jets from Bombardier, Dassault Falcon, Embraer and Gulfstream. Nine of these aircraft will be available for private jet charter.
Charter operator Jet Edge International, an industry specialist in long-range and large-cabin private jet charters, announced key business performance indicators that highlight the company’s success, according to a company press release.
“Five years post acquisition, Jet Edge has gained significant distinction by climbing to the top in the business aviation industry and surpassing prominent veteran operators in overall flight hours, safety policies, fleet size, and charter flight activity”
According to the company, by total hours flown, Jet Edge is ranked eighth in Aviation Research Group’s “Top US Part 135 Operators” mid-year report, 2016. With nearly 9,000 charter hours flown on-fleet by the midpoint of the year, this ranking establishes Jet Edge within the top 1 percent of more than 1,000 charter operators globally. Last month, Jet Edge ranked first by a magnitude greater than 10 percent when calculating average distance per flight segment, or cycle, on the company’s large-cabin fleet with 1,198 nautical miles per flight segment.
Earlier this year, Jet Edge reached another key milestone by ranking within the top ten domestic charter operators of 2015 by charter hours flown throughout last year. In 2016, the company is on track to move within the top six domestic charter operators by total charter hours flown.
Since its acquisition in late 2011, Jet Edge has grown by double digits in nearly every business metric year-over-year, including revenue, staff members, and fleet size. Jet Edge has already added 13 charter jets to the company’s charter fleet in 2016, with another eight in the pipeline for delivery later this year. In June 2016 , Jet Edge announced that it had reached the coveted fifty aircraft milestone, positioning the fleet as the sixth largest charter company by fleet size and second largest exclusively large-cabin fleet in the U.S.
Noted by the company as contributing to its increases are key partnerships they established this year, as well as the company’s existing partnership with Asia Jet in Hong Kong. Additionally, newly established strategic marketing partnerships and large-volume supplemental lift agreements have increased the company’s flight activity by more than 40 percent this year, providing consistent charter revenue to both the company and Jet Edge’s aircraft owners, according to the release.
“Five years post acquisition, Jet Edge has gained significant distinction by climbing to the top in the business aviation industry and surpassing prominent veteran operators in overall flight hours, safety policies, fleet size, and charter flight activity,” said Bill Papariella, chief executive officer of Jet Edge.
Jet Edge also added several new key personnel in management, flight operations, and sales this year.
“As our company grows, we’re reminded of the outstanding contributions that every member of our staff brings to Jet Edge, further ensuring our success,” added Geoff Makely, executive vice president and general manager for Jet Edge. “The company absolutely embodies the modern workplace by providing an environment that welcomes new ideas from every staff member, invests in cutting edge resources across every department, and fosters both employee and client loyalty.”
Source: Company Press Release
Service begins May 26 with service between Burbank and Las Vegas daily- Sunday though Thursday. Seats are priced at $129 each way if booked in advance.
Photo: JetSuiteX (Facebook)
By RICHARD N. VELOTTA, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The nation’s fourth largest public charter operator, Jet Suite, will offer a new luxury travel option with scheduled service between Las Vegas and California later this month.
JetSuiteX will offer the advantage of boarding and arriving at private air terminals. The company will operate from the Atlantic Aviation terminal just off Tropicana Avenue and will fly to and from Burbank, California’s Bob Hope International Airport and the JSX Terminal in Concord, California.
Service begins May 26 with service between Burbank and Las Vegas daily- Sunday though Thursday. Tickets are priced at $129 each way if booked in advance.
“Airport congestion and worsening security delays have made short-haul air travel sometimes more of a hassle than it’s worth,” said JetSuite CEO Alex Wilcox. “In fact, between 2000 and 2014, LA-to-Las Vegas air travel lost more than 1 million enplanements to the freeways. After all, who wants to spend more time in the airport than in the air? JetSuiteX was created for people who prefer to fly but want to avoid crowded airport terminals and long security lines.”
A former executive with JetBlue Airways who opened that airline’s route between Las Vegas and Long Beach, California, Wilcox said airline consolidation has driven up airfare prices.
“There’s plenty of air service between Southern California and Las Vegas, but this is a much different experience,” he said.
Because public charters operate under a different security system, passengers won’t have to wade through long lines at the main terminal. The Transportation Security Administration still maintains security checks, but instead of hundreds of passengers going to dozens of flights at the main terminal, it’s 30 passengers going out on one flight in the private terminal.
Wilcox said JetSuiteX is acquiring its jets, once used by American Eagle Airlines, through Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. The company plans to continue to offer its private charter service as well, an opportunity for University of Nevada, Las Vegas sports boosters to reserve private charters to follow teams when they play in California, Arizona or Utah.
Based in Irvine, California, near John Wayne International Airport in Orange County, JetSuiteX now has 200 employees, more than half of them pilots.
Wilcox said the airline’s jet experience will have a private jet feel. The company currently has two 30-passenger, twin-engine Embraer 135 jets configured three across with a single seat, an aisle and two seats. Seat sizes are comparable to domestic air carriers’ business class seats.
U.S. charter operator SevenJet announced the addition of three more Avanti Piaggio turboprops - with still 2 more in conformity coming online soon - making eight total they will operate under Part-135, offering jet cards and on-demand charter.
SevenJet has started a fractional program for Piaggio Avantis at its base in St. Petersburg, Fla., using both former employees and aircraft from bankrupt Avantair. Notably, this marks the return of a fractional program for the Italian twin turboprop since Avantair, which also was based in St. Petersburg, ceased operations in June 2013.
“The Avanti is a great aircraft thanks to its jet-like midsize cabin and speed combined with turboprop economics,” SevenJet president Chuck White told AIN.
White, a former vice president at Avantair, said that the company specifically chose St. Peterburg as the base for its six Avantis—all former Avantair airframes—since there is still a good pilot base for the aircraft there. Paul Woodard, the head of sales at SevenJet and a former customer service director at Avantair, rounds out the company’s leadership team.
“We’re only operating east of the Mississippi for now, as we don’t want to become over-extended like Avantair did when it pushed westward,” he said. SevenJet is operating the Avantis under Part 135 rules and is offering jet cards and charter service in the aircraft. The company’s fleet includes four Beechjets based in Salt Lake City.
SevenJet is a subsidiary of C&L Aviation Group, an aviation maintenance, parts and support based in Bangor, Maine. C&L also maintain’s SevenJet’s fleet.
Source: AINonline and SevenJet
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- A chorus of charter executives in the private aviation industry say business is booming due to several factors - "This is a tremendous time to be in aviation,” according to Cory Rossi, who, with his wife, Shari, owns Eagle Air, a charter operator based at Westchester County Airport (HPN) in White Plains.
By Dave Donelson, Westchester Magazine, 5/10/16
“It’s a very large business in this area,” says Linda Schiavone, charter sales manager for White Cloud Charter, which is also based at HPN. “Just think about the number of major corporations and wealthy individuals; this is the area for it.” According to Rossi, HPN is the third-busiest airport in the country in terms of non-airline flights. Only Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and Van Nuys Airport in California boast more private traffic.
According to the FAA, there were about 125,000 charter, air taxi, and private flights at HPN in 2014, which represented 82 percent of the total takeoffs and landings there. What’s more, they carried more passengers than did the scheduled airlines.
It’s not hard to see why private aviation is growing in popularity: Anyone who suffers the agitation of flying commercial from LaGuardia Airport (LGA)—which Vice President Joseph Biden once described as reminiscent of something in a Third World country—could attest to that. Much the same holds true for JFK and Newark. “The all-day hassle with a two-hour flight in-between is becoming more and more common,” Rossi points out. “Our clientele recognizes this and says: ‘First class isn’t at the level it once was.’”
Eagle’s customers, like those of other charter companies we spoke with, experience something entirely different. Rossi describes the charter experience like this: “Let’s say you live within a 20-minute drive to Westchester airport. Your car drives right on the tarmac to the aircraft; the red carpet is rolled out; your catering is on board; and you have WiFi on the plane. The ground crew will handle your bags and park your car, and the plane will depart within 10 minutes of boarding. At your destination, you will have the same experience on the ground.” Sure, it costs more, but what is your time and comfort worth?
The private-aviation business isn’t monolithic. Some companies, like White Cloud, charter only their own planes, which are also at the (occasional) call of the company’s corporate parent, Conair Corporation. Others, like Aircraft Services Group, operate and manage planes owned by others, providing everything from crews to maintenance, as well as charter service for the aircraft, much like a vacation-home owner who rents out a condo when they’re not using it. Eagle Air does both, as does Tradewind Aviation, which is based in Oxford, Connecticut, but offers flights from HPN.
Eagle Air
Then, there are strictly private planes owned by individuals and corporations for their own use. They, along with the charter operators, support another big part of the business, fixed-base operators. FBOs, as they are known, provide hangars, fuel, and on-site maintenance, as well as ground amenities like passenger lobbies, parking, and rental cars, to planes going and coming through the airport. HPN has five FBO facilities.
Tradewind, meanwhile, serves yet another part of the market. “We’re best known for our Nantucket shuttle,” explains Tradewind president Eric Zipkin. “It is a shared charter, where people buy individual seats on the flights.” The service started with Friday-through-Sunday flights only but has grown to seven days a week. They fly a similar service to Boston and Martha’s Vineyard. The scheduled service is a good business on its own, Zipkin says, but it also serves another purpose: “Our shuttle service is a good marketing concept because people learn about us, then come back and charter individual flights.”
Tradewind operates 18 aircraft, up from 12 just two years ago. The company owns 11 planes, with the balance owned by others. “Our business was up almost 30 percent in 2015, and it’s full steam ahead for this year,” Zipkin says. “Margins in this business run the gamut. Boutique aircraft management companies like ours are in the 20- to 30-percent range. It’s also a high-risk business: If you lose management of an aircraft or two, there goes your profit.”
White Plains-based Wings Air Helicopters represents yet another variety of local private aviation: helicopter service. Wings’ president, Javier Diaz, says his five helicopters serve three distinct markets, including personal travel. “We do up to seven flights a day to the Hamptons,” he says, adding that Saratoga Springs and other locations upstate are popular, too. “We also have a strong business with the Atlantic City casinos, as well as Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods.”
Business travelers take advantage of the versatility and convenience of helicopter service, especially out of Manhattan. “If you want to fly from NYC to Pittsburgh,” Diaz points out, “all you have to do is go to one of the heliports, and you’ll be in the air 90 minutes before you could even get on an airplane from LGA.” About 65 percent of his passengers fly from one of the three heliports in Manhattan. Then there is the aerial-movie-and-photography business, which is so good, Diaz is a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
“As people become busier and wealthier,” Diaz says, “their time becomes more valuable. They need to get to places ‘now,’ and that’s why the demand [for private aviation] is good. The demand will be there for the foreseeable future.”
Speaking of the future, does it hold tailwinds or headwinds for the private-aviation industry? Not surprisingly, regulation and technology may well be the determining factors. Google “air charter Westchester,” and you’ll get about 154,000 results. Almost all of them are for charter brokers—unregulated companies that don’t own, fly, or manage planes and may not even have an office. Brokers aren’t new, but their numbers mushroomed as instant worldwide communication enabled anyone with a cell phone and email address to open shop. Good ones, who can be reached 24/7 and have strong relationships with the charter companies, add value to the experience for both their customers and the airplane owners—but it pays to shop around.
A wave of new private-air-service concepts is rising along with demand in the market. As with anything new, some succeed and others don’t. Beacon Air debuted a Netflix-like subscription service in which passengers paid a flat monthly fee for unlimited flights from HPN to Boston last year, but it has already ceased operations.
ImagineAir, headquartered in Atlanta, started service in 2007 and entered the Westchester market two years ago. Its concept? On-demand private jet service at sharply reduced rates. Its service is aimed at business travelers who might be tempted to drive to their destinations. “We basically turn a three- to eight-hour drive into a one- to two-hour flight,” says President and CEO Ben Hamilton, who adds, “Our average price point is around $1,200, whereas a private jet might be $7,500.”
ImagineAir is able to offer the service because they fly a fleet of Cirrus SR22s, a three-passenger craft that’s very efficient, Hamilton explains. “We do mostly business trips, and the majority of them are three people or fewer. We have enough scale in our fleet of 11 aircraft to mix and match flights and fill dead legs, passing those savings on to the customer.” The company also handles bookings online rather than through a call center and, like a scheduled airline, uses demand-pricing models. “Our average customer books about four days in advance. You can book the same day if it’s available, but the price gets a little more expensive as the time gets closer,” Hamilton explains.
Any number of companies have been hailed as the “Uber of private aviation,” although none have (or probably will) been able to get past the FAA prohibition against selling seats in personal planes flown by amateur pilots. The safety requirements that charter operators have to meet are a major factor. That’s not to say there aren’t companies getting closer. “There are companies who have partnered to market empty seats,” White Cloud’s Schiavone points out. “If you’re in Chicago and want to get back to White Plains, there’s an app for that now. If there’s an aircraft flying empty on a leg, it just makes sense.”
Blue Star Jets, a NYC-based jet broker, recently launched an app that includes 24/7 personal telephone contact, to follow-up on the booking you make on your smartphone. Their business is designed to fill the 30 percent of business aircraft they estimate fly empty to or from their charter destination. The company claims that within four hours of booking a flight, you’ll be in the air.
Still, the industry does face some headwinds. “The uncertainty of the regulatory environment is a long-term obstacle,” Zipkin explains. Potential changes in security procedures, for example, could put a crimp in the private-aircraft experience. “We have internal security, but not the stand-in-line, take-your-shoes-off type of thing,” he says.
Another problem area is a shortage of pilots, according to Zipkin. “The FAA changed the rules for airline requirements for copilots, and that has had a ripple effect throughout the industry,” he says. “We used to pay twice what an entry-level airline pilot would make, because we wanted to attract the best candidates. The airline had trouble filling those seats, so they started raising their pay, which has set off a sort of race.”
Rossi adds one more industry-wide threat: budget constraints on air-traffic control. “The federal government has threatened to shut down operations at a number of small airports around the country,” he says. The ability of private-flight passengers to land at small airports, like Hilton Head Island Airport instead of Savannah International, is a big attraction for the business. “I’d hate to see that becoming a limiting factor on growth of the industry,” Rossi notes.
Overall, however, the private-aviation business in Westchester is strong. As Zipkin says, “The challenges we face are those faced by any business that’s growing. Our product has been very well received, and the market is growing here, so it’s onward and upward.”
Source: Article in Westchester Magazine online
Exclusive Charter Service is introducing special fixed-rate charters from various U.S. airports into the country’s main gateway, José Martí International Airport, according to a release from the company.
Flights in one of the company’s seven-passenger Piaggio Avanti II twin turboprops from Palm Beach International will be priced at $9,000 each way, or $10,000 from Fort Lauderdale or Miami and $11,000 from Orlando.
In a Hawker 800XP, the Palm Beach rate is $10,500, rising to $13,500 from Fort Lauderdale or Miami and $15,500 from Orlando. The same aircraft charter from New York’s JFK International Airport is priced at $19,500.
Exclusive’s clearance to operate into Cuba extends to 17 other airports in Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Key West, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Oakland, Pittsburgh, San Juan (Puerto Rico), Fort Myers, Tampa and Washington. It can also offer another 10 different aircraft types, including the Gulfstream G650.
Cuba flights are operated by Custom Jet Charters, LLC.
Meanwhile, the Florida-based company recently launched a membership program called Aero Club. With an annual membership fee, members receive fixed point-to-point flight-hour pricing for various categories of aircraft.
Source: AIN Online
Available only in FlightList PRO, charter operator JetsPlus flies their Citation light and midsize jets from their base at KFAT Fresno, CA, within easy positioning of the San Francisco Bay Area (132 NM), and Los Angeles (165 NM). The aircraft are operated under FAA Part-135 certificate CVDA043D.
JetsPlus also operates for charter a Cessna 182 Skylane single engin piston based at Fresno Yosemite Int'l Airport.
JetsPlus is listed and available only in FlightList PRO. Free 30-day trials upon request.
Full access for 3 users is available at only $90, no contract, cancel any time.
Flight Options moved forward on Friday with an offer of voluntary separation packages to its pilots as the company lays the groundwork to transform from a fractional operation into an on-demand charter business over the next 12 to 18 months. Flight Options sister operation Flexjet previously made the offer as the two companies begin to reshape their operations, retiring some of the older modelaircraft and moving others into charter.
Flight Options will rebrand as Skyjet, a former Bombardier brand that parent company Directional Aviation recently revived to provide charter brokerage services.
The moves are made as parent company Directional Aviation realigns its more recently acquired Flexjet and Flight Options into complementary services rather than competitors. To help differentiate itself as a planned charter-only entity, Flight Options will rebrand as Skyjet, a former Bombardier brand that Directional initially revived in 2014 to provide charter brokerage services.
Voluntary separation packages are being offered to Flight Options pilots through April 30 as the companies seek to reduce the pilot workforce by 70 positions. Directional principal and Flight Options chairman Kenn Ricci told Aviation International News that this comes as on-demand requires less staffing than fractional. The packages were initially offered to Flexjet pilots, who recently voted for representation by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) but were not yet under a collective bargaining agreement.
Flight Options, which previously had been represented by the IBT, sought union approval to make the offer to its pilots, but the union rejected the request. Flight Options moved forward regardless, and between Flexjet and Flight Options, had 80 pilots indicate plans to accept the agreements—exceeding the company’s goal.
The union has, instead, been pushing for a furlough protection plan that would give all furloughed pilots the equivalent of 12 months of compensation. The IBT had expressed concerns that the voluntary program would primarily affect less senior pilots who would not qualify for the maximum benefit.
The company management, however, disagreed with the IBT stance. “I refuse to accept the notion that a pilot, under the employ of this company, does not have the right to decide his or her own future,” Ricci said in announcing plans to move forward with the voluntary package offers. “It is unconscionable that the Teamsters should unilaterally try to take away a voluntary and materially beneficial option.”
Source: AINonline, by Kerry Lynch
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Clay Lacy Aviation, one of the world's largest charter operators and aircraft managers, announced it has added twelve business jets to its expanding fleet since the start of 2016. The new additions include seven long-range, large-cabin aircraft, two super-midsize jets, and three light jets from Bombardier, Dassault Falcon, Embraer and Gulfstream. Nine of these aircraft will be available for private jet charter.
According to the company, by total hours flown, Jet Edge is ranked eighth in Aviation Research Group’s “Top US Part 135 Operators” mid-year report, 2016. With nearly 9,000 charter hours flown on-fleet by the midpoint of the year, this ranking establishes Jet Edge within the top 1 percent of more than 1,000 charter operators globally. Last month, Jet Edge ranked first by a magnitude greater than 10 percent when calculating average distance per flight segment, or cycle, on the company’s large-cabin fleet with 1,198 nautical miles per flight segment.
Earlier this year, Jet Edge reached another key milestone by ranking within the top ten domestic charter operators of 2015 by charter hours flown throughout last year. In 2016, the company is on track to move within the top six domestic charter operators by total charter hours flown.
- A chorus of charter executives in the private aviation industry say business is booming due to several factors - "This is a tremendous time to be in aviation,” according to Cory Rossi, who, with his wife, Shari, owns Eagle Air, a charter operator based at Westchester County Airport (HPN) in White Plains.
Eagle Air
Exclusive Charter Service is introducing special fixed-rate charters from various U.S. airports into the country’s main gateway, José Martí International Airport, according to a release from the company.
Flights in one of the company’s seven-passenger Piaggio Avanti II twin turboprops from Palm Beach International will be priced at $9,000 each way, or $10,000 from Fort Lauderdale or Miami and $11,000 from Orlando.
In a Hawker 800XP, the Palm Beach rate is $10,500, rising to $13,500 from Fort Lauderdale or Miami and $15,500 from Orlando. The same aircraft charter from New York’s JFK International Airport is priced at $19,500.
Exclusive’s clearance to operate into Cuba extends to 17 other airports in Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Key West, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Oakland, Pittsburgh, San Juan (Puerto Rico), Fort Myers, Tampa and Washington. It can also offer another 10 different aircraft types, including the Gulfstream G650.
Cuba flights are operated by Custom Jet Charters, LLC.
Meanwhile, the Florida-based company recently launched a membership program called Aero Club. With an annual membership fee, members receive fixed point-to-point flight-hour pricing for various categories of aircraft.
Source: AIN Online
Available only in FlightList PRO, charter operator JetsPlus flies their Citation light and midsize jets from their base at KFAT Fresno, CA, within easy positioning of the San Francisco Bay Area (132 NM), and Los Angeles (165 NM). The aircraft are operated under FAA Part-135 certificate CVDA043D.
JetsPlus also operates for charter a Cessna 182 Skylane single engin piston based at Fresno Yosemite Int'l Airport.
JetsPlus is listed and available only in FlightList PRO. Free 30-day trials upon request.
Full access for 3 users is available at only $90, no contract, cancel any time.
Available only in FlightList PRO, charter operator JetsPlus flies their Citation light and midsize jets from their base at KFAT Fresno, CA, within easy positioning of the San Francisco Bay Area (132 NM), and Los Angeles (165 NM). The aircraft are operated under FAA Part-135 certificate CVDA043D.
JetsPlus also operates for charter a Cessna 182 Skylane single engin piston based at Fresno Yosemite Int'l Airport.
JetsPlus is listed and available only in FlightList PRO. Free 30-day trials upon request.
Full access for 3 users is available at only $90, no contract, cancel any time.Flight Options will rebrand as Skyjet, a former Bombardier brand that parent company Directional Aviation recently revived to provide charter brokerage services.