JetFlite ‘Adapts’ To Changing Air Charter Market

Long Beach, Calif.-based aircraft management and charter firm JetFlite International is “adapting to meet the continuing challenges facing aircraft charter.” The company, which also has charter bases in New York and Moscow, said it posted 10-percent growth in charter activity through October before the market “plummeted” in the last quarter.

“The second half of 2011 was a tough market,” said JetFlite CEO Bill Cripe, who added that his company is taking “aggressive steps” to stem any further slide. “We are getting more of our people involved in the sales process,” he said. “We want to have more of a mix in our business base.”

As a result of the changes, Cripe said, JetFlite has already seen an improvement in charter demand, with last month closing as “the best January charter sales in several years;” it included a healthy mix of both domestic and international flights.