New Venture Aims To Gain From Move Away from Fleets Of Corporate Jets

5 December 2008

Portugal-headquartered Jet Republic believes its start-up selling "fractional ownership" of aircraft will benefit from a corporate reluctance to abandon private aircraft altogether, according to Reuters.

Chief executive Jonathan Breeze said: "The ultra high net worth market has been affected by the current global financial crisis. Many of those people with private jets are looking to sell them and switch to a fractional ownership model or jet card scheme."

Mr Breeze said the proportion of aircraft on the European market that is for sale has nearly doubled from a year ago. "In the last three months, it's jumped to a little under 12 per cent. Another 100 jets have been pushed into the market."

The company estimates 211 business jets with a total value of $3.4 billion are at present on the market in Europe.

Jet Republic, which launched in September 2008 and will start flights in October 2009, said an unexpectedly high 30 per cent of sign-ups were from governments and big corporations, as opposed to the 10 per cent it originally forecast. "Companies are selling fleets of aircraft but they haven't said they are stopping flying on business jets," Mr Breeze said.