Still Happy At Avantair

[johnsonrod]

do u have to pay you're own way to ewr? btw, born and raised in the capital district. miss it. also, it thought pbi was one of the bases?

I don't work at Avantair but I believe Albany was formerly open (probably available when Aft applied) and PBI is flexible (possibly still hiring selectively into that base). Not certain but that is what I assume - I'll wait for Aft to say otherwise. The other bases on the list are open to all newhires.

 

[On Your Six]

That's a nice looking airplane:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?...NY 24 UBHE)) beqre ol ivrjf qrfp&photo_nr=22

Those Italians know something about design (e.g., Ferrari).

 

[celloman]

Just an idea of the places I flew LAST week in the Piaggio.

West Palm, Ft. Lauterdale, TEB, Morrsitown, VNY, Dallas, Boccoa, Los Cabos, San Diego, Las Vegas, Reno, St. Marteen, Beef Island in the British Virgin Islands, Sandpoint ID, Sun Valley, and Aspen.....

There were a few more but I cant remember all of them.

Fly Safe,

celloman

 

[johnsonrod]

Just an idea of the places I flew LAST week in the Piaggio.

West Palm, Ft. Lauterdale, TEB, Morrsitown, VNY, Dallas, Boccoa, Los Cabos, San Diego, Las Vegas, Reno, St. Marteen, Beef Island in the British Virgin Islands, Sandpoint ID, Sun Valley, and Aspen.....

There were a few more but I cant remember all of them.

Fly Safe,

celloman

Wow - you certainly can't beat that variety...

How the quality of the hotels/motels on average? When you overnight at a place like Aspen or Sun Valley, do they put you up in a Howard Johnsons or do they actually put you someplace semi-nice? I suppose it partially depends upon how busy the place is and the time of year...

 

[learflyer]

ain't gonna find a hojo in aspen.....

 

[theskyking]

Just to chime in as an ex regional slave who now enjoys the good life, you guys need to check out the fractionals. I fly for one of the other ones that 182 mentioned, not Avantair.

Life is good. Check all the players out. If you get a chance to come this way, you will work your tail off but have a blast doing it. You will go from some class B airport to some little private strip like Ocean Reef and all the airports in between. No two days are ever alike.

On the other hand, if you need a structured day and you have to know where you are going to overnight, stay 121. I'm sure 182 can chime in for Avantair, but at my company, the plan changes many times a day. The city I think I am going to end up in when I start the day is often on the wrong side of the country when the day is done. You just have to roll with it. The people who end up leaving this job are the ones who can't deal with the constant change.

 

[climbhappy]

just curious....what's the indicated at 410

 

[johnsonrod]

Just to chime in as an ex regional slave who now enjoys the good life, you guys need to check out the fractionals. I fly for one of the other ones that 182 mentioned, not Avantair.

Life is good. Check all the players out. If you get a chance to come this way, you will work your tail off but have a blast doing it. You will go from some class B airport to some little private strip like Ocean Reef and all the airports in between. No two days are ever alike.

On the other hand, if you need a structured day and you have to know where you are going to overnight, stay 121. I'm sure 182 can chime in for Avantair, but at my company, the plan changes many times a day. The city I think I am going to end up in when I start the day is often on the wrong side of the country when the day is done. You just have to roll with it. The people who end up leaving this job are the ones who can't deal with the constant change.

If you like the same-ole routine every day, the fractionals would not be a good idea. If you want to see the country, fly into some interesting places, fly some interesting people and fly some nice equipment, perhaps the fractionals deserve another look...

 

[flyguy75000]

Just an idea of the places I flew LAST week in the Piaggio.

West Palm, Ft. Lauterdale, TEB, Morrsitown, VNY, Dallas, Boccoa, Los Cabos, San Diego, Las Vegas, Reno, St. Marteen, Beef Island in the British Virgin Islands, Sandpoint ID, Sun Valley, and Aspen.....

There were a few more but I cant remember all of them.

Fly Safe,

celloman

All nice destinations, however if you went to all those places plus some you don't remember, you work WAY too much.

 

[molson247]

I'd take that over the 5 - 6 hour sits in an outstation for an airline....The down time in an airport terminal with nothing to do but eat with your crew sucks...and makes you fat.

 

[Wankel7]

We took off from the Caicos....about 30 minutes after a P180 did. Both of us were going to Wilmington NC for customs....

He landed about 10 minutes before we got there. Not bad considering we were in a LR45

 

[realmanofgenius]

just saw on ainonline that avant air posted a 4.8 million quarterly loss up from 3.8 last year. however, revenues were up 52.9%

that's not a big deal if those revenues numbers continue. is this just early growth and start up expenses? fuel? any idea?

i think adding the phenoms would be a great move, offer both

 

[johnsonrod]

just saw on ainonline that avant air posted a 4.8 million quarterly loss up from 3.8 last year. however, revenues were up 52.9%

that's not a big deal if those revenues numbers continue. is this just early growth and start up expenses? fuel? any idea?

i think adding the phenoms would be a great move, offer both

I think you are right about early growth expenses. There is a "scale" effect in the fractional business. You need a certain number of airplanes operating to be efficient and to cover all of your owners adequately. If you have a broken airplane or you just can't get to your customer in a remote location due to a scheduling conflict, you need to outsource the flying to a charter operator - and that gets expensive for you (especially if you need a jet covering for a more fuel-efficient P180). Repositioning costs can also get expensive when you don't have enough aircraft for good coverage - having to fly a few hours to cover a revenue flight in another state can get expensive when you multiply that by 20 flights per day. You need a certain number of aircraft to provide good coverage and avoid some costly outsourcing. I am sure Avantair is approaching that scale number as they add more airplanes.

Everything takes longer at a growing company until systems, processes, procedures and policies are firmly established and followed. For example, a company might not have policies for buying certain goods or parts from a type of vendor. Buying from many different vendors for the same good could get expensive. That is why you consolidate vendors and buy in bulk - imagine doing that for thousands of items. But those types of negotiations take time and start ups tend to focus more on operations initially. I presume Avantair is becoming more mature and finding ways to be more efficient and cost effective with time.

I agree that the Phenom 100 will be interesting for Avantair. Again, it is small enough (and the price point is low enough) that it fits into its niche - these airplanes won't necessarily compete with Netjets Citation Xs or Falcon 2000s. With its low price point, the Phenom 100 would actually compete better with the P180 on low-passenger, short-haul flights - but now Avantair will offer both. Looks like it would be fun to fly like the P180.

 

[Heavy Set]

Good points J-Rod. I agree that scale is critical to an operation like Avantair. For those of you who are on the fence about potentially flying a P180, check out these photos I just found:

Exterior:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?... Ninagv') beqre ol cubgb_vq QRFP&photo_nr=75

Exterior:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?... Ninagv') BEQRE OL cubgb_vq QRFP&photo_nr=13

Cockpit of Avanti II (Pro Line 21 equipped):

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5987907&nseq=106

Interior of Avanti (looks a lot more comfy than the L45 I fly - probably one reason why Avantair shares are selling quickly at the low price point vs. other fractionals):

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6036946&nseq=71

 

[johnsonrod]

Nice pics Heavy Set.

was surprised when I counted 22 Avantair P180s flying at the same time today - that's a pretty good number. Quite a few heading to either sunny Florida or Grand Junction.