Cessna’s Citation Mustang is no stranger to the Farnborough ramp, although usually it resides on the other side of the runway. Owner and operator of the display aircraft is Farnborough-based Blink, the first Mustang operator to use the VLJ in an air taxi role.
Blink’s first aircraft was delivered two months ago and Blink expects to take an aircraft per month over the next two and a half years, says managing director Peter Leiman.
“We’re taking low-cost carrier principles and applying them to business aviation. It is a tool, not excess. It is improving quality of life by saving time,” says Leiman.
Blink has 45 aircraft on order, and Leiman says it is well on track to meet its target of 1,000h per aircraft per year. The service is sold out for the next six weeks.
He says typical prices will be within 25% above or below a fully flexible short-haul business class fare. But Blink is not offering a DayJet-type per-seat fare; the price is for the entire aircraft.
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“We will use A-bases and B-bases, by breaking Europe up into regions. An A-base would be like Farnborough where the aircraft is based, and a B-base is merely a drop-off and pick-up point,” he explains. “What we can do is offer people the chance to fly from a primary city to a secondary, and then from a secondary to another secondary. People can do two or three cities in a day. That just isn’t possible with scheduled airlines.”
Leiman believes Blink is perfectly placed to attract business class travellers who are moving up, and existing business jet users who need a more economical alternative.
“If you look at the average load factor in Europe it is 2.3 passengers. You don’t need a 10-seat jet for a 90-minute journey. We’re seeing people who own large jets using our service,” says Leiman.
Blink plans to have 100 aircraft in five years’ time and the business model calls for profitability by 2010. Leiman believes a break-even point will be at the 600-700h range. “Right now we’re what low cost carriers were in 1994-95,” he adds.
Source: Flight International
