The company which pioneered the concept of offering individual seats on business jets as an affordable alternative to airline travel has joined the industry it set out to challenge.
Atlanta, Georgia-based fightserv.com was established to sell seats on chartered business jets over the internet, but lack of capital limited the company's "Private Seats" programme to one route - Atlanta-New York - since its launch in April.
As part of a recapitalisation, the company has acquired Internet Aviation Services, which has a $9 million contract to provide charter services to Atlanta-based tour operator Vacation Express. From December, Largo, Florida-based Southeast Airlines will provide six flights a week between Cancun, Mexico, and Charlotte, North Carolina, using McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s. There will also be seasonal flights from New Orleans and Atlanta to Cancun.
Now flightserv has expanded its relationship with Southeast to include the launch of scheduled charter services from Norfolk, Virginia, again using DC-9-30s. Dubbed Skysaver, the low-fare service is scheduled to begin on 17 November with daily flights to New York LaGuardia and Orlando. More routes to Florida will be added in January.
Source: Flight International
