Avantair selling majority of its Phenom slots

[727C47]

NJA pilots are like peacocks, any excuse to flash their fancy feathers and get noticed

Geez ,you guys are getting like all the major/legacy folks bashing good ol' SWA,on the all the Major threads. Fancy feathers ?

 

[Geronimo4497]

Geez ,you guys are getting like all the major/legacy folks bashing good ol' SWA,on the all the Major threads. Fancy feathers ?

I believe it was a joke. Laugh already. :nuts:

I for one am not sad to see those options going away. I never did understand how those airplanes fit the model besides adding more aircraft more quickly. With the financial environment that the whole industry is in, slowing growth is probably not a bad thing. Anyway, back to NJA and them thar fancy highfalutin feathers......

 

[Guitar Guy]

So, Geronimo, do you know what your management's interest was in the Phenom originally? I was curious about that.

 

[Geronimo4497]

So, Geronimo, do you know what your management's interest was in the Phenom originally? I was curious about that.

Not a clue. That decision was made long before I got on here and I seriously doubt the pilots would have been in the loop anyway (much like I suspect NJA line pilots don't know about orders until they are announced). As was alluded to earlier, it could have had something to do with the Legacy orders from a past time.

It would have been nice to have the growth but perhaps this will make room for a bigger airframe down the line (or more P.180s).

 

[mainiac]

So, Geronimo, do you know what your management's interest was in the Phenom originally? I was curious about that.

My guess (and I mean that literally) is that we were looking for an even less expensive option to lure in some new biz. The numbers for the Phenom (that I've heard owners batting around) were in the $200K initial/$5k-month range. (again, this is all hearsay)
But, at that rate, it reaches a whole new level of potential frac customer, that, once they've flown frac, won't go back!
Possible hope could have been to bring some new, less $$ folks onboard, then grow them to something larger down the road.
Lot's of our owners (some with shares elsewhere) have called us the Southwest of the fracs, due to our relative costs. Many use us instead of their X or Falcon for the shorter trips, and I suppose some of our own current owners might have done the same with another cheaper share. Hey, what's another 50 hrs or so?
Seems like a cool little jet, with Embraer reputation behind it, but I wouldn't have traded my Piaggio seat for it! Maybe the 300, though?

My .02

And, Happy 4th to everyone else in the hotel appreciation biz today....

 

[johnsonrod]

My guess (and I mean that literally) is that we were looking for an even less expensive option to lure in some new biz. The numbers for the Phenom (that I've heard owners batting around) were in the $200K initial/$5k-month range. (again, this is all hearsay)
But, at that rate, it reaches a whole new level of potential frac customer, that, once they've flown frac, won't go back!
Possible hope could have been to bring some new, less $$ folks onboard, then grow them to something larger down the road.
Lot's of our owners (some with shares elsewhere) have called us the Southwest of the fracs, due to our relative costs. Many use us instead of their X or Falcon for the shorter trips, and I suppose some of our own current owners might have done the same with another cheaper share. Hey, what's another 50 hrs or so?
Seems like a cool little jet, with Embraer reputation behind it, but I wouldn't have traded my Piaggio seat for it! Maybe the 300, though?

My .02

And, Happy 4th to everyone else in the hotel appreciation biz today....

Perhaps Avantair was trying to protect the "low-end" of the market given that the P180 was one of the cheaper options out there for a long time. Flight Options ordered Phenom 300s but they could have ordered 100s as well. Keep in mind that more people can afford cheaper airplanes than really expensive airplanes - it's a bigger market to tap and those customers could eventually have been funnelled into the P180... That's my theory.

It's true that Executive AirShares also operates C90s, B350s and Beechjets. It is my understanding that EAS wants to expand its regional model (currently Midwest) to other regions using the 35+ Phenom 100s it now has on order. So, EAS now offers the cheapest fractional airplanes.

Beyond EAS, another interesting option for price-sensitive West-Coast owners is Jetsuite:
http://www.jetsuite.com/index2.html

It will be interesting to see if Jetsuite actually comes to fruition - it has an interesting model. The founder is a Jet Blue founder. Time will tell...

 

[lowspeed]

Also the sales mark up would be nothing compared to the p180. Why waste resources going after that when you can make four times that with a piaggio. Also there is a few companies going after the same market with the 100. It is like fighting for table scraps when we alreay have a steak dinner on our table.

 

[johnsonrod]

Slight correction - I forgot to add Alpha Flying to the mix. I guess their PC12s would be the "cheapest" mainstream fractional option out there (at least East of the Mississippi).