Kate Sarsfield/LONDON
Pilatus PC-12 fractional ownership provider Alpha Flying is expanding its Plane Sense network to cover the south east and mid-west regions of the USA.
"Responding to demand from potential customers across the US, we have decided to set up operating bases in Atlanta, Georgia by December and in Detroit, Michigan, in the first quarter of next year," says Pat Reed, Alpha Flying vice president of sales and marketing.
The choice of bases has been a key consideration for the company, based in Nashua, New Jersey.
The Atlanta base, for example, will cover the Carolinas, Washington DC and Columbus. The base in Detroit overlaps Cleveland, Chicago and St Louis. Once these two hubs are operational, Plane Sense will cover around two-thirds of the USA.
Alpha Flying plans to offer the programme throughout the USA and is now eyeing bases in and around California.
Alpha Flying, the only single-engine aircraft fractional provider, operates six PC-12s for its 30-strong customer base. Initially, an extra two Pratt and Whitney Canada PT-6-powered aircraft will be placed at each of the new hubs, but there are plans to expand to 13 aircraft across its programme within a year.
The cost of a quarter share in a PC-12 is $786,000, which entitles the owner to 175 flight hours a year. Monthly management fees and occupied flight hours are priced at $6,000 and $530, respectively.
Pilatus, based in Stans, Switzerland, has received its 200th order for the PC-12 turboprop. The aircraft, ordered by Novamerican Steel, will be used as a corporate shuttle. Production has risen from four to five a month.
Source: Flight International
