Summary
- One of the largest providers of Cessna Citation private jets, flyExclusive, has revealed plans to begin managing Volato’s existing aircraft and flight operations.
- The transition will most likely affect both Volato’s jet card members and fractional owners, although slightly differently.
- This agreement expands the fleet and service options for both companies.
On Saturday, August 31, flyExclusive announced that it had officially signed a letter of intent to become the aircraft management services provider for Volato. flyExclusive may be managing Volato’s aircraft as early as this week. Overall, this will bring together two top twenty ranked charters. In a statement to Private Jet Card Comparisons, the flyExclusive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jim Segrave, stated,
“This management agreement marks a significant milestone for our Company as we expand our footprint in the private aviation industry.”
New aircraft management services
Unfortunately, on early Friday, August 30,
Volato
announced company-wide layoffs. However, this is believed to be part of the resulting transition, as some Volato pilots may get moved over to flyExclusive and continue operating their aircraft. In fact, Private Jet Card Comparisons obtained an internal memo sent to all flyExclusive employees.
According to this internal memo, flyExclusive will take over all of Volato’s operations, which includes flight operations, sales, and expenses of the existing Volato business jet fleet. As of right now, Volato operates a fleet of mostly HondaJet aircraft, although it has begun accepting deliveries of Gulfstream G280s. Currently, Volato operates a private jet fleet that consists of 13 fully fractionalized aircraft, 8 leased aircraft and 4 managed aircraft. flyExclusive will operate flights for its existing customer base, which, according to Private Jet Card Comparisons, includes 150 fractional customers and nearly 250 block customers. The two companies will work over the next thirty days to move Volato customers to the flyExclusive customer base.
How this affects Volato
The new agreement will completely move over all aircraft management services that were previously operated internally. However, this service moving externally to flyExclusive will affect both Volato’s jet card members and its fractional owners. Jet card members at Volato will have several options as its flight operations move to flyExclusive. This includes transferring existing balances to flyExlcusive in the form of a promotional flight credit with no additional up-front funds or immediate credit to flyExclusive. Jet card members can also transfer their existing balance with additional deposits to receive an additional promotional flight credit.
Photo: Volato
Volato fractional jet owners will be affected slightly differently. FlyExclusive operates its flights under a different Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certificate than Volato does. Moving to flyExclusive operations will eliminate the federal excise tax (FET) on flights. Additionally, Volato fractional owners will now have a wider range of aircraft selections, as flyExclusive operates several other aircraft compared to Volato.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Volato, Matt Liotta, also spoke about the new deal. He stated,
“flyExclusive is a proven operator with a robust platform and unwavering focus on the customer experience. This agreement provides mutual benefit to both of our companies and, most importantly, our customers benefit by increased flight and service options with the reliable and high-quality service they have come to expect from best-in-class operators.”
How this affects flyExclusive
This deal makes sense for an operator like
flyExclusive
. Both companies have existing infrastructure to run their combined flight operations, making it an easy transition. Volato aircraft can now take advantage of existing flyExclusive facilities, such as the company’s interior shop, avionics installation facility, paint shop, and advanced maintenance facilities.
Volato will also continue selling its fractional programs for its HondaJet and Gulfstream G280 aircraft. This will expand flyExclusive’s currently operated fleet, which includes one of the largest Cessna Citation fleets in the world, among several newly acquired Bombardier Challenger 350s. However, Volato revenue will be accredited to flyExclusive.
Photo: BlueBarronPhoto | Shutterstock
Additionally, Volato’s Vaunt program, which connects users to empty-leg flights, will continue to be expanded by Volato. This software will also be used by some flyExclusive aircraft, helping these aircraft secure more full flights.
In a statement, Segrave continued, stating,
“As a fully integrated operator, flyExclusive is well-positioned to offer synergistic value to Volato’s clients and deliver enhanced value for our overall growing customer base. Over the years, we’ve made strategic investments to remove industry bottlenecks and grow and maintain a leading, consistent customer experience. We’re proud to welcome Volato’s customers and look forward to offering them access to our growing fleet of light, midsize and super-midsize jets.”