Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
Another US company has announced plans to market individual seats on chartered business aircraft via the internet. The plan is to offer a nationwide service to compete with the airlines.
Holding company WorldNet Resource Group plans to launch its SkyZip.com service in June in five different markets "from Dallas [Texas] to the West", says chief executive Stephen Brown. The El Segundo, California-based company is negotiating joint-venture agreements with charter companies which will operate aircraft "under the SkyZip emblem".
Brown says SkyZip plans to have agreements in place with one charter provider per market to make aircraft available at certain times. This will allow the company to offer a scheduled service, which will be "somewhat erratic" until demand builds up, he admits. Initially, SkyZip plans to offer two flights a week in each market.
The services will be operated as public charters, which requires special certification. Brown says the operators he is talking to either have the required approval or are working on it.
SkyZip does not plan to specify the type of aircraft to be used, but cites as examples business jets ranging from Bombardier Learjets and Cessna Citations to Dassault Falcon 50s and Gulfstreams, as well as BAE Systems Jetstream turboprops. The aircraft expected to be available will seat from six to15 passengers, and the break-even load factor will be 65%, says Brown. SkyZip expects to be profitable within 12 months.
WorldNet is not the first to enter this market. Flightserv.com began selling individual seats on chartered business jets over the internet in 1999, but ran into financial difficulties and still only offers one route, from Atlanta, Georgia, to Teterboro, New York.
Last year, Chicago-based Indigo began operating scheduled public charters between Chicago Midway and Teterboro using its own fleet of Dassault Falcon 20s.
The company, backed by travel services specialist American Express, plans "shortly" to launch services to Atlanta, Washington DC and White Plains, New York.
In December, Salt Lake City, Utah-based Executive Airlines announced plans to merge with eJets, an online private charter booking service, to create "a national executive airline" operating a fleet of mid-size business jets.
The company, founded by three former executives of low-cost carrier Morris Air, said in early December it was close to finalising "strategic partnerships with a European jet manufacturer and a major financial institution".
Source: Flight International
