| |||||||
Founded | December 31, 1998 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ceased operations | October 31, 2014 | ||||||
Operating bases | Westchester County Airport | ||||||
Fleet size | 114 [1] |
CitationAir by Cessna, founded in 2000 as CitationShares, was a subsidiary of Cessna Aircraft Company that provided private aviation services. It offered services in fractional jet ownership, jet card membership, corporate solutions and whole aircraft management. CitationAir was one of the four major players in the private aviation market during its time in operation. [2] It was a seven-time winner of Best of the Best awards from the Robb Report , most recently in 2009. [3]
In 2009, the company rebranded itself as CitationAir, changed its business model, and streamlined the product names it offered. [4]
In 2012 the company announced that it would stop selling fractional shares. In August 2014 the company announced [5] that it would cease all flight operations on 31 October 2014 and would close down. Following the shutdown, it's FAR Part 135 Operating Certificate was surrendered to the Federal Aviation Administration on 6 November 2014. [6]
CitationAir was known for pioneering an efficient flight schedule based on in-house-developed software and it was responsible for introducing many non-owners to the Citations. [7]
CitationAir offered four different programs for its customers [8] Citation Air Jet Shares, [9] formerly Citelines, referred to the fractional jet ownership program that CitationAir offered. This program incorporated all operating expenses into one annual or twelve monthly payments, regardless of where one flew. This program differentiated between peak and non-peak days, allowing share owners to pick one of four packages: 365 days, 350 days, 335 days or 320 days a year.
Another CitationAir program was the CitationAir Jet Card, [9] formerly the Vector Fleet JetCard. The CitationAir Jet Card gave members access to two different options. The Jet Card option allowed customers to purchase prepaid flight hours in a specific aircraft. The Fleet Jet Card allowed customers to purchase prepaid flight hours which gave them access to the entire CitationAir fleet. With the Jet Card, customers purchased prepaid flight hours instead of shares.
With CitationAir's Jet Access, [10] customers could get the benefits of fractional ownership, without actually purchasing a share.
The CitationAir Corporate Solutions [9] program contained CitationAir's Supplemental Lift which supported corporate flight departments with private aviation needs. Corporations had access to CitationAir's entire Cessna Citation fleet without the financial commitment that is associated with owning and maintaining a whole aircraft, reducing the corporation's capital expenditures and operating costs.
CitationAir Jet Management, [9] formerly JetForth, was designed for people who own planes but did not want the hassle of managing them. Under this program, CitationAir would use a Jet Management customer's aircraft in order to support and backup the CitationAir fleet, making the aircraft available to fractional and jet card members when not in use by owner. This generated revenue for Jet Management customers, which offset the cost of ownership.
On February 6, 2012, CitationAir's president and chief operating officer, William Schultz, announced that though the company intended to honor existing Jet Share and Jet Access contracts until their expirations, the firm had ceased writing new Jet Share and Jet Access contracts. In an announcement electronically delivered to the firm's employees, Mr. Schultz said the company would direct its focus toward the Jet Card, Charter and Jet Management lines of business. [11]
At its peak, CitationAir had a fleet of approximately 100 Cessna Citation Jets. [12] The fleet consisted of 5 different types of Citations:
CitationAir won Best of the Best awards from the Robb Report from 2003–2009. In 2009, it won awards for fractional programs and fractional card programs. [3] It was named the sole Best of the Best in flight services in 2008. [13] It was one of four winners of Best of the Best in fractional flight card programs in 2007. [14]
In 2009, Bill Hall, CitationShares' CIO, won a CIO100 Award from CIO Magazine for creating new business value by innovating with technology. [15]
The Cessna Aircraft Company was an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Cessna produced small, piston-powered aircraft, as well as business jets. For many years the company was one of the highest-volume producers of general aviation aircraft in the world. The company was founded in 1927. It was purchased by General Dynamics in 1985, then by Textron, Inc., in 1992. In March 2014, when Textron purchased the Beechcraft and Hawker Aircraft businesses, Cessna ceased operations as a subsidiary company and joined the others as one of the three distinct brands produced by Textron Aviation.
A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by public bodies, government officials or the armed forces.
The Pilatus PC-12 is a single-engine turboprop passenger and cargo aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Stans, Switzerland, since 1991. The main market for the aircraft is corporate transport and regional airliner operators. The PC-12 is the best-selling pressurized single-engine turbine-powered aircraft in the world and has been for several consecutive years, with 1,700 deliveries as of October 2019.
The Cessna Citation Mustang is a very light jet that was built by Cessna. Launched at the 2002 NBAA convention, it first flew on 23 April 2005. It received its FAA type certification September 8, 2006, was first delivered on November 22. Production ended in 2017 after 479 aircraft were built. The 8,645 lb (3,921 kg) MTOW jet is powered by two 1,460 lbf (6.5 kN) P&WC PW615F turbofans, can reach 340 kn (630 km/h) and has a range of 1,167 nmi (2,161 km).
A very light jet (VLJ), entry-level jet or personal jet, previously known as a microjet, is a category of small business jets seating four to eight people and often with a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of or under 10,000 pounds (4,540 kg), although the Embraer Phenom 100, HondaJet and Cessna Citation M2 are all slightly over. VLJs are considered the lightest business jets and are approved for single-pilot operation.
NetJets Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, is an American company that sells part ownership or shares of private business jets. NetJets was founded in 1964 as Executive Jet Aviation. It was the first private business jet charter and aircraft management company.
Fractional ownership is a method in which several unrelated parties can share in, and mitigate the risk of, ownership of a high-value tangible asset, usually a jet, yacht or piece of resort real estate. It can be done for strictly monetary reasons, but typically there is some amount of personal access involved. One of the main motivators for a fractional purchase is the ability to share the costs of maintaining an asset that will not be used full-time by one owner.
NetJets Europe is a company that offers fractional ownership of private business jets. Being a partially owned subsidiary of NetJets Inc., it is based in Portugal, being the largest business aviation company in Europe.
Fractional Aircraft is a common term for fractional ownership of aircraft where multiple owners share the costs of purchasing, leasing and operating the aircraft. Commercial programs for large aircraft include NetJets, Flexjet, PlaneSense, and AirSprint.
PlaneSense is a fractional aircraft ownership program managed by PlaneSense, Inc. and based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States. As of the beginning of 2020, they manage a civilian fleet of 44 total program aircraft, made up of thirty-six Pilatus PC-12 aircraft, four Pilatus PC-24 jets, and four Nextant 400 XTi jets. Two additional Pilatus PC-24 jets are scheduled to be delivered in 2020. The PlaneSense fractional program provides private air transportation, primarily within the United States, Canada, Mexico, The Bahamas, the islands of the Caribbean and more recently, Cuba. PlaneSense guarantees departure times as soon as 8 hours after a flight request, depending on the size of the aircraft share owned for domestic flights on non-peak days. PlaneSense, inc. is not, itself, an air charter provider or commercial air carrier, but charter flights can be arranged through its sister company, Cobalt Air.
Jet Republic was a privately held company jet company that offered private jet cards and share ownership. It is no longer operational.
Starlink Aviation is a Canadian charter airline and a fixed-base operator. It is based at the Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Dorval.
XOJET is an American on-demand private jet charter company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with a 24/7 operations center at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport and sales offices located in New York City, New York, Newport, California, and Palm Beach, Florida.
Kenneth C. "Kenn" Ricci is an American aviation entrepreneur, the principal of Directional Aviation Capital, which owns or invests in various aviation enterprises including Flight Options and Flexjet, which he also serves as chairman. Ricci also is an operating partner at Resilience Capital Partners, a private equity firm with a wide variety of portfolio companies, including an investment in Flight Options, and has helped found or lead other companies, including Nextant Aerospace and Constant Aviation.
JetSuite is a private jet charter company that suspended operations in April 2020. The company was founded in 2006 by Alex Wilcox. In 2008, the company was re-branded from Magnum Jet after a push from financial backers. Wilcox currently serves as CEO of the Dallas, Texas-based company.
Delta Private Jets, Inc. is an airline of the United States. Its corporate headquarters is on the property of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Boone County, Kentucky. It operates jet aircraft as a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. Its main base is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Tradewind Aviation, LLC, doing business as Tradewind Aviation and Tradewind Shuttle, is an American airline headquartered at the Waterbury-Oxford Airport in Oxford, Connecticut, United States. Tradewind Aviation provides shared charter in the Northeast and the Caribbean, as well as aircraft management services. The air charter company is best known for its Westchester-to-Nantucket summer ticket books, and its Puerto Rico-to-St. Barths shuttle.
A Private Jet Card is a private aviation product that enables holders to use different aircraft at agreed-upon fixed hourly rates. Jet cards are offered by large and small fleet operators and charter brokers. There are many as 65 variables between jet card companies, according to Private Jet Card Comparisons, a buyer's guide to jet card programs.
Michael J. “Mike” Silvestro is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Directional Aviation's private fractional aviation travel businesses, which include Flexjet and Flight Options two of the world's three largest fractional jet companies.
Flexjet is an American provider of fractional ownership aircraft, leasing, and jet card services. Founded in 1995 as a division of Bombardier Aerospace, it is currently owned by Directional Aviation, an aviation private investment firm.
This article relating to a United States airline is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |