Air Charter?

Aspen, Colorado, has always been known for its abundance of private aircraft in the holiday season. The city is a popular ski resort and a hot spot for the wealthy. Even in today’s declining economic situation, there is still room for growth for private aviation companies in Aspen, however a shift is predicted towards fractional ownership and special jet cards or memberships rather than aircraft owned by a company or person.
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As the world enters its second year of economic recession, companies are struggling to adapt. In the midst of all the bankruptcies and talks of bailout packages, Textron Inc. is trying to fight its way out of a shareholder’s nightmare with the help of their new COO, Scott Donnelly, who left his job at General Electric Co. after working there for over twenty years.
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With the launch of their unique Fleet Exchange Membership program and Flight Program Analyzer tool earlier this month, the future looked promising for XOJet. However, the California-based private aviation supplier appears to have hit a snag after laying off at least twenty employees. The layoffs consist mostly of pilots, but also of some staff in the operations and sales departments.
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On November 18th, the CEOs of the big three automakers, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, flew into Washington D.C. in their private jets to plead for a bailout package. Their use of private aircraft amidst layoffs within their companies caused a media frenzy, prompting them to travel by car on their second trip to Capitol Hill.
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Back in May of this year, Kansas-based Executive AirShare doubled their order of Phenom 300 jets, and then increased it yet again in early October. The company also had 43 Phenom 100 jets on order at the time. Today, they have finally announced the fractional ownership fares for their Phenom 100 jets which will enter service in the second quarter of 2009: buying a sixteenth share costs $299,500 and entitles the buyer to 50 hours of flying per year for 20 days, and buying a quarter share costs $1.18 million and entitles the buyer to 200 hours of flying per year for 80 days.
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The maker of the Very Light Jet (VLJ), Eclipse Aviation, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 25th. The company has run into many troubles in this difficult economic time, including having to lay off almost a third of their workers. On top of that, the company must deal with a pile of lawsuits from unsatisfied customers.
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Sentient Jet Holdings, a leading private aviation company, has partenered with the Trump Organization, the leading entertainment provider when it comes to real estate, casinos, golf clubs, and hotel resorts.
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Bombardier-owned private jet provider Flexjet, which offers aircraft management and fractional ownership, was founded in 1995 in Richardson, Texas. Today, even with the economy in tatters and the air charter business not doing so well, the company has managed to stay afloat.
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Back in 2007, Jetride Inc. operated 27 aircraft and had 140 employees working for them. Since Monday, however, the company’s operations have ceased, their planes are grounded and their operating certificate has been surrendered to the FAA. The Springdale, Arkansas-based air charter service has financial issues to blame.

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Following up last week’s partnership with Radius, Virgin Charter announced their partnership with Signature Travel Network (STN) on Thursday. STN is a leading retail travel cooperative that has been around for about 50 years.

As such, Signature travel advisors will have access to multiple quotes for any given trip from hundreds of operators, as well as a 24/7 toll free number through which they can reach specialists trained by Virgin. Virgin Charter will also be creating the first quality rating system for operators with the help of JD Power and Associates.