Kate Sarsfield/LONDON
Cessna has acquired a 50% stake in the fractional ownership programme operated by New York-based aircraft management specialist TAGAviation. TAG's StarShares programme will be renamed CitationShares and will initially sell holdings in Cessna's Citation CJ1 and Bravo business jets. The joint venture plans to announce a large aircraft order at the Farnborough air show.
Roger McMullin, TAG Aviation's chief executive, says: "The CitationShares programme will provide the lowest entry price for a new jet aircraft in the fractional ownership market." Rivals Bombardier and Raytheon already have their own schemes.
CitationShares plans to place six used Bravos into the core fleet initially, to build critical mass. The first aircraft will be added in 60 days. A further 12 CJ1s and Bravos will join next year.
"Our biggest problem is getting enough aircraft to meet the anticipated high demand for the programme," says McMullin.
Because of the venture, TAG has terminated its StarShares fractional programme, which it acquired from Wayfarer Aviation last year, but says its will honour the five-year commitment to the 30 customers of its five Raytheon King Air 350 turboprops. "We are confident that many will transfer to the CitationShares programme, as a number of them were pressing us to introduce jet aircraft to our programme," says McMullin.
CitationShares, like StarShares, will be based at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York. The regional programme will at first be limited to "the east of the Mississippi river", where McMullin admits "more than 70% of fractional ownership movements are concentrated". A small premium will be charged to travel beyond this border.
Cessna was the original supplier to market leader Executive Jet's (EJI) NetJets scheme and is its largest supplier. The joint venture is unlikely to compromise Cessna's position with EJI because the market-leading fractional ownership scheme does not offer the entry-level CJ1 or the Bravo light jet.
EJI, however, is evaluating the Citation CJ2, which fits between the CJ1 and the Bravo, while CitationShares will consider offering other Citation models "in response to market demand", say the joint venture partners.
Source: Flight International
