Scheeringa's GONE!

[gunfyter]

Thats not the words to "... ding dong the witch is dead...."

 

[B19 Flyer]

CV, I'm happy to join in! Thanks for asking. It's a privilege to celebrate with y'all! I'll sing and throw confetti...

Na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye

[fade in]
Hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye

Na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye

[fade in]
Hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye

Be careful what you ask for! :laugh:

 

[Publishers]

I cannot believe the celebreation of such lack of accomplishment and the re arrival of someone whose plan basically failed.
When one celebrates the demise rather than the uplifting, you do not have much of a goal. If it was tough before to get this thing going, wait until you see it now.

 

[EX_CV580FR8Dawg]

I cannot believe the celebreation of such lack of accomplishment and the re arrival of someone whose plan basically failed.
When one celebrates the demise rather than the uplifting, you do not have much of a goal. If it was tough before to get this thing going, wait until you see it now.

Did the Wright Brothers stop trying after their first attempt at flight? Did Mr. Buffett stop after his first failed business deal? I guess what they say about opinions being like a$$h@le$ holds true...everyone has one and there are plenty of them on this site!

 

[Publishers]

You all should read KPMG article : Fractional Aircraft Ownership Programs: A Deeper Look into Why Operators are not Profitable Yet.

 

[FLSTCI]

Excellent post!

Thanks for that, Publishers. For those interested, here's the link. It's a PDF that's about 5 MB in size:

http://www.aia-aerospace.org/pdf/smc_wp-fractionalaviation.pdf

It reinforces the pilot's position that labor cost needs to be taken out of the equation in scaling the business for long-term health. It further emphasizes the importance of adhering to the work rules agreed upon in the labor contract, as greivances drive up the labor cost. Additionally, it points out the importance of not necessarily seeking the lowest cost for logistical issues such as feeding, housing and transporting the crews, acknowledging the resultant value added. The paragraph relating to outsourcing maintenance is interesting in light of Ricci's apparent desire to minimize outsourcing.

 

[EX_CV580FR8Dawg]

You all should read KPMG article : Fractional Aircraft Ownership Programs: A Deeper Look into Why Operators are not Profitable Yet.

Thanks for the link Publishers... will take a look!

 

[jonjuan]

You all should read KPMG article : Fractional Aircraft Ownership Programs: A Deeper Look into Why Operators are not Profitable Yet.

Interestingly, the author of the article works at XOjet.
Miami Herald article:Jet Firm Forecasts Clear Skies
Private Jet Operator XOJET Predicts Robust Growth

http://www.xojet.com/index.html?contentURL=news&leftNav=7&bgContent=newsRoom

With a client base that is relatively immune from an economic slowdown, private jet operator XOJET predicts robust growth.
By Ina Paiva Cordle
Peter Fuchs
Age: 37
Position: vice president, product strategy for XOJET
Previous work: lead director for aerospace and defense in KPMG's Transaction Services practice; finance and operations positions for the regional airline and business jet divisions of Delta Air Lines, as well as a large fractional aircraft ownership company
Career beginning: as a pilot. Holds a pilot certificate with type ratings in Gulfstream, Challenger and Falcon business jets
Education: bachelor's degree from Purdue University; MBA from the Yale School of Management
XOJET, a privately held aviation company, emerged on the scene two years ago and is growing fast, despite U.S. economic turbulence.
The company leases jets that seat up to eight passengers to people who fly a lot and also charters jets flight-by-flight.
Now ranking among the 10 largest companies in its industry, the business has big plans to expand further. And South Florida is a major market for XOJET, whose customers include Related Group of Florida CEO Jorge Perez.
We sat down recently with Peter Fuchs, XOJET's vice president of product strategy, to learn more about the San-Carlos, Calif.-based company and the emergence of the private jet industry.
Q: Tell me first about the company, XOJET. Has the company been growing and what is its strategy?
A: We operate a fleet of about 20 private aircraft throughout the world. We are taking all the advantages of the accessibility and the exclusivity of private jet travel, and we are combining it with a rigorous airline-based operation.
We started only about two years ago, and we have been growing dramatically, 60 percent in 2007 over 2006. And we just placed an order last year, two orders, actually, for 110 aircraft.
Q: What kind of aircraft do you have?
A: Right now we operate about 20 Citation 10s, which are the fastest civilian private aircraft available, and we are going to take about another 30 of those. And this fall we are going to take the first of 80 Challenger 300s, which are a little bit larger, a little bit longer range.
Q: The private aviation industry has been growing by leaps and bounds. Tell me about that.
A: A lot of people think about it as sort of the Sunday Cessna flyers, but in fact there is really a large industry there. And on the back of a couple of things, we have seen a lot of growth.
First of all, we have a great economy, and even though things are slowing down slightly these days, it is really not reflected in the use of private jets. And we're seeing an expansion at XOJET and throughout the industry as new customers are seeing the value.
Secondly, when you look at the options in the airline world, they are just getting worse and worse. And the experience is just so confounding for so many travelers that the private jet option, which for a long time had been seen as the CEO's barge, has been reinvented as a useful and economical tool.
The third thing is international growth, a lot of deliveries internationally as well.
Q: What are the advantages for business travelers when they fly private aviation? And what is the cost?
A: Private aviation is the ultimate in privacy and access. You get to pick the time, the place of your travel. And instead of being stuck with 500 airports or so here in the U.S. that the airlines serve, you've got about 10 times that that you can fly into.
So you can set the time of departure, you know who you are flying with and you can fly closer to where you want to actually go.
So for example, instead of flying into San Francisco International, you can fly into Lake Tahoe or Sacramento and end up a lot closer than having to fly into a major airport and then drive.
It's priced at a premium, obviously, because you get the whole airplane for yourself. You really can't compare it to an airline, first-class seat or something like that, because you are setting all the parameters.
The easiest way to explain it is it all depends on the type of trip you want to take. So a shorter trip takes a smaller aircraft and a longer trip takes a larger aircraft. And it's priced on a flight hour basis and it can be anywhere from $1,000 an hour up to $10,000 or $15,000 an hour.
Q: Where do you see the industry going in the future? And do you see a lot of growth in this market?
A: Growth is the big word. The airlines are going to always provide a great foil for us because the service there is, for the most part, going to continue to suffer. The airlines are operating in a very different environment than we are.
And yet the pace of international flying, of flying here in the U.S., is just going to continue to accelerate because the pace of all business is accelerating. People need to be in front of one another, and they can do things on private aircraft that you just can't do on airlines.
You can be in multiple cities in the same day. For example, here in Florida it's a pretty tough place to travel around. A lot of the solutions on the private side have been introduced here to solve that problem. You are flying from here to Tallahassee, or from Opa-locka to say, Savannah, or something.
But what is emerging is a whole suite of options. So for example, XOJET, we can take you out of Florida to any point in the country, nonstop.
Florida has always been one of the top corners of aircraft travel here in the U.S. But there is a significant concentration of wealth here in South Florida, and that makes it a pretty active starting point and destination for private jet travelers.
Last year XOJET operated into and out of 30 airports in Florida and we flew here from all over the country, and it includes places like New York, Boston, D.C., San Francisco and other places on the West Coast. Las Vegas is a very popular destination out of Florida and also down into the Caribbean as well.
We have seen, as an industry, growth here in the last year or two that is unprecedented and that is already building on strong growth that started back in the late '90s.
Every benchmark, every bellwether, shows that this is an industry that is just hitting its stride. The next 10 years or so are going to be dramatic for the industry -- a lot more ways to access flying, new business models. Companies like XOJET are going to reinvigorate the way that people look at flying. And it's going to allow us to expand into other opportunities both here in the U.S., with other aircraft types, and also other opportunities worldwide.

 

[CaveoFalco]

Congrats!

 

[FlyingHigh262]

Wow I hope that is not true... As much as Bilger needed to go, I feel bad for anyone having to fly with that scumbag. I had the pleasure of dealing with that jacka$$ on my CGF1 arrival for complete BS. Glad that I am gone and wont have to deal with that turd. Good luck to the pilots, hopefully this is the beginning of a turnaround.

what was so bad about him!?!?