RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT is to offer fractional ownership of its business aircraft through a new subsidiary. Raytheon Travel Air will begin operations in August and will have an initial company-owned core fleet of nine aircraft - three Beech King Air B200s, three Beechjet 400As and three Hawker 800XPs. The operation already has its first customer: golfer Fred Couples has bought a one-eighth share in a Beechjet 400A.
Raytheon Travel Air will operate in North America and Mexico, but Raytheon Aircraft chairman Art Wegner says that international expansion is "possible". Gary Hart, who ran Bombardier's two-year-old FlexJet fractional-ownership programme, has been hired as president of the new subsidiary.
Raytheon's programme is the first to offer fractional ownership of a twin-turboprop - with one-fifth shares in a King Air costing less than $800,000. Quarter shares in the business jets cost just over $1.5 million for the light Beechjet and almost $2.8 million for the mid-sized Hawker. The scheme allows an owner to "migrate" to another aircraft type when desired - for example, a Beechjet part-owner can upgrade to a transcontinental Hawker or downgrade to a short-field King Air. The business jets will be operated across the USA, supported by RaytheonAircraft Services' 14 fixed-based operations, while the King Airs will be based regionally, each serving a 1,000km (540nm) radius. The company believes that it can sell sufficient shares to base three King Airs at most major US cities.
Wegner says that fractional ownership is growing by 50% a year, with 435 businesses and individuals now owning shares - some 80% of them never having owned an aircraft before. Raytheon forecasts fourfold growth by 2001, when a projected 370 aircraft will be involved. The company estimates that there are "easily 80,000" individuals and businesses in North America which can use (and afford) a fractional share in a business aircraft, he says.
Wegner acknowledges that Raytheon Travel Air will compete with Executive Jet's pioneering NetJets fractional-ownership programme, which now includes 22 Hawker 1000s, with 20 Hawker 800XPs on order. "The market is growing rapidly-there is plenty of room for three or more competitors," he says.
Source: Flight International
