Embattled US air taxi operator SATSair will update its pilots and employees today on its decision to temporarily shutdown operations over the weekend, industry sources tell Flight International.
A phone recording on the company’s operations line says scheduled and new air taxi flights would be unavailable on 24, 25 and 26 October “and beyond” due to “circumstances”. The recording continues that customers will be notified if “circumstances allow us to return to service.”
Arguably the most successful single-engine aircraft air taxi company in the US, SATSair had in the past five years built a fleet of 26 Cirrus SR22 aircraft that accumulated 60,000 flight hours and 13 million revenue seat miles.
Earlier this year however, Cirrus, an equity owner in the company, repossessed more than a dozen aircraft it had leased to the company as air taxi revenues plummeted 30% year over year. SATSair had formed ties with other SR22-equipped air taxis to handle its demand with the reduced fleet size, made more critical after several of the remaining aircraft were grounded due to engine overhaul issues.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
