Fractional Ownership News

European Governments Show Interest In Fractional Jets

Jet Republic, the private aviation company, is seeing a high level of interest in its fractional ownership and jet card propositions from European governments.  It is already in discussions with 8 of the 27 EU governments about their future private jet requirements.
 
Jet Republic says that the current global economic turmoil and the effect this has had on the finances of governments means that many are looking to reduce their aviation costs by cutting the number of jets they own and run, and move towards fractional ownership and jet card schemes. In addition to this, the use of commercial flights by government officials is also becoming more difficult because airlines are cancelling some of their less profitable routes. 

This can cause a serious problem for officials who may need to fly somewhere at short notice, and their only alternative is to fly by private jet.  Analysis1 from Jet Republic reveals that 15 of Europe’s major airlines collectively cancelled 132 European routes between 25th March 2008 and 29th March 2009.  During this period, only 59 new ones were launched, meaning a deficit of 73 routes.

The cost of buying a new midsize jet is around $17.8 million or $11.8 million for a used one2 , whilst the total  annual cost of operating  a leased mid size aircraft  for 200 hours would be in the region of €2.9 million per  year.   Through Jet Republic’s Learjet Ownership programmes, with a similar level of usage this would cost less than half this amount at €1.3 million a year. Jet Republic’s Jet Card buys 25 hours of flying time on a mid size jet for €175,000 so the equivalent of 200 hours usage would cost just €1.4 million.

Jonathan Breeze, CEO of Jet Republic said: “Governments are spending large amounts of money to stimulate their economies and this means that they need to look for ways in which to reduce their costs.  They need their own fleet of jets to meet their ever growing schedule of meetings and work but they can save a fortune by reducing the number of aircraft they own, and make more use of fractional ownership and jet card schemes. 

“Given the growing pressure on public purse strings and based on our initial discussions with officials from some European governments, we believe that this area of our business will see significant growth in the next few years.”
 

01/07/2009