Summary

  • Jet It voluntarily grounded their fleet after an accident, with no set restart date.
  • Financial issues at Jet It hinted at while ceasing operations, whilst blaming Honda for safety concerns.
  • CEO blamed HondaJet service, but financial instability seemed to be the real reason.

Jet It was a fractional business jet operator that launched in 2018, in Greensboro, North Carolina. They were the 11th largest operator in the US based on charter and fractional flight hours according to Argus TRAQPak data. They grounded their fleet of HondaJets citing safety concerns, on May 18th 2023 and ceased operations entirely shortly after. So what happened?

An accident occurred

Jet It voluntarily grounded their fleet of HondaJets and notified their staff after an accident. A HondaJet HA-420 model, owned by Upfrunt Services LLC, had hydroplaned off the runway in Summerville, South Carolina, hit a berm and caught fire. There were five people on board and no one was injured. The aircraft was significantly damaged. The National Transport Safety Board were to investigate the accident.

HondaJet HA-420

Photo: Bluebearwing| Shutterstock

An announcement

The company announced:

Safety concerns?

No date was given for the restart of operations. Jet It notified its stakeholders of the companies decision. The decision was clearly made by the company and not by the aviation authorities or the manufacturer, as HondaJet stated to FLYING:

HondaJet aircraft and hangar

Photo: HondaJet

A lawsuit

Just a few weeks before, the Honda Aircraft Company reached a confidential settlement with Jet It, that ended the breach of contract lawsuit against the operator. It was alleged that Jet It violated their agreement and used ‘disparaging comments’ about the manufacturer. They had also sold one of the jets to a private buyer which was against their agreement.

Honda back-up

The accident had been the eighth runway excursion or overrun by the HA-420 in a year. The Honda Aircraft Company and the HondaJet Owners and Pilots Association (HJOPA) backed the jet. Honda said that they were ‘actively supporting’ the investigation and said that their aircraft were safe to operate. HJOPA advised that members should continue flying, but pilots should be reminded of the importance of planning, training and landing procedures. Jet It had infered that HJOPA had agreed that the HA-420 should be grounded, but they disagreed with the statement.

Hondajet HA-420 flying in the sky

Photo: Thanhliemnguyen | Shutterstock

A coincidence or perfect timing?

The accident coincided with the announcement of the grounding of the Jet It HondaJet fleet, followed by the company ceasing all operations just days later. There were questions about the company’s financial health before the ‘safety concerns’ and grounding happened. There had been an investor presentation at Jet It, that outlined a move to the Embraer Phenom 300 and projected that the company would lose $23.2 million in 2022, after losing $2.6 million the previous year.

Surprising fact

The CEO of Jet It, Glenn Gonzales blamed bad service and lack of support at Honda Aircraft and tried to deflect the blame onto them, that their fractional owners did not have availability of aircraft. Interestly, he had previously worked as a salesman for Honda Aircraft and chose the very aircraft he was selling for the Jet It platform and had called the jet ‘a fine piece of engineering.’ Jet It had a very bad reputation with HondaJet Service Centers for being late in payment, thus they would not release the aircraft and of course slowed down their operation.

A HondaJet HA-420 Parked on an airport apron.

Photo: Oleksandr Naumenko | Shutterstock

Losing money

Jet It owners were flying for as little as $1,600 an hour which is unsustainable. Charter brokers were chartering flights with the company at $5,000 per hour as the industry struggled with demand for aircraft. Some contracts prevented Jet It from adding a mandatory fuel surcharge. There was talk that the main hangar was no longer accessible due to unpaid rent and that the company owed Honda Aircraft $1.6 million. Half of their fleet was in maintenance with growing debts unpaid. When Jet It closed down there was no mention of bankruptcy.

Related: Most Recent HondaJet: A Guide To The HondaJet Elite II

Accidents at Jet It

Jet had three runway excursions in 2022:

  • N903JT: was substantially damaged after the airplane skidded sideways and departed the runway. It traveled tail first over a steep incline and fell into trees on March 13th.
  • N704JT: was pushed off the runway by a gust of wind during landing on October 12th.
  • C-FJJT: was operating in Canada for Jet It by Sky Service Business Aviation Inc. and overran the runway on March 7th.

In conclusion

It was a surprising move by Jet It to ground their aircraft due to ‘safety concerns’ when the past shows conflicts with Honda Aircraft, and it certainly raised eyebrows at the time. It seems that it was all smoke and mirrors to hide financial issues at Jet It. It could have also been a ‘negotiating tactic’ to allow the company to change fractional contracts by ‘force majeure’.

“The problem is that the safety issue doesn’t appear to be the cause of Jet It’s sudden service disruption – but cash does.”

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