US member-only VIP airline Beacon plans to launch services at the end of the third quarter and has selected US business aviation services provider Dynamic Aviation as its operating partner.
As part of a $400 million contract, Dynamic will acquire, operate and maintain a fleet of 27 pre-owned Beechcraft King Air B200s and 1900s on behalf of Beacon for a 10-year period. The twin-engined turboprops will be added to the fleet over the next three years.
“We will launch services with Dynamic’s aircraft and then begin adding the King Airs at the end of the year,” says Beacon co-founder and chief executive Wade Eyerly.
His decision to acquire used King Airs rather than new aircraft was due to the sizeable inventory of low-time, good quality models. “It makes sense to buy them second hand rather than new,” says Eyerly, co-founder of Pilatus PC-12NG-based members-only operator Surf Air. “We don’t have any choice with the 1900s [which went out of production in 2002],” he continues. ”But these aircraft will have to be reconfigured into a nine-seat executive layout.”
Beacon will initially offer regular services between White Plains, New York to Boston Logan. “We are looking to attract high-frequency, high-end travellers who are fed up with time-consuming airlines and airports and want to put valuable hours back into their lives,” Eyerly says.
"By operating from dedicated business aviation terminals, we can cut travel times between these two cities from around 4h to just over an hour,” he continues.
Beacon plans to expand its network, with Washington DC and Philadelphia the likely locations. “The 27 aircraft will be enough to accommodate demand on these routes,” adds Eyerly. International growth is also under consideration. “We have had a lot of interest from potential partners in Australia, India and the UK who are keen to clone the model. We will get it off the ground in the US first before we look abroad, ” he continues.
Beacon members pay a $1,000 joining fee followed by a monthly subscription of $2,000. For that they get unlimited travel between the two cities, although each customer is limited to four reservations at the same time.
Eyerly is confident Beacon’s members will not treat the programme “like an all-you-can-eat buffet”.
“They won’t want to make any more flights than they do now,” Eyerly says, drawing a parallel with modern appliances. “You have a washing machine because it saves doing everything by hand. But you don’t use it all the time.”
Source: Flight International
