Four Corners Aviation—which launched recently through a partnership between venture capital firm City+Ventures and business aircraft brokerage and consultancy Mente Group—has rolled out its first new product.
Unveiled Tuesday during the Corporate Jet Investor (CJI) Miami 2021 event, Freedom by Four Corners Aviation is designed to provide the benefits of a scalable aviation department without the hassles of ownership, the company said. It offers customized services that include the aircraft, crew, operations, and supplemental lift without the client having to worry about administration, accounting, and uncertainties. Nor would they need to worry about ownership, financing, operations, insurance, crew management, and maintenance.
The program is neither a jet card nor a fractional program nor management, said Brian Proctor, CEO of Aquila Aviation Ventures, which includes Four Corners Aviation and the Mente Group. “In fact," he added, "we are going to be working with all the service providers to deliver the model."
Four Corners looks at the product as a new business aviation segment that it calls “Corporate Jet as a Service” (CJaaS). “What Netjets is to fractional ownership, Freedom by Four Corners Aviation will be to CJaaS,” the company said.
Clients will select a level of service they need to accommodate their flying needs. Four Corners is offering “an ultimate platinum level service tier tailored to senior individual level travel, an exclusive gold tier executive transportation program, a silver tier guaranteed aircraft supplemental solution, and a bronze tier ad hoc flight answer,” said Cameron Gowans, president and COO of Four Corners Aviation.
Proctor added that the program is designed to be simple, with easy billing. Under the model, Four Corners would own the aircraft—used or new—on behalf of the client, and Proctor said the company is “agnostic” about the type. Four Corners is talking to new entrants, as well as flight departments.
The idea is to provide services to flight departments, not replace them. In addition, Proctor sees Freedom as complementary to management firms that maintain aircraft for owners who want the depreciation and other benefits of ownership.
However, he maintained that many organizations do not want ownership. “Over decades as aviation asset advisers to top-tier organizations, [we've seen that] all of them love what the airplane can do for them—for their productivity, for their bottom line, and for their lives,” Proctor said. “None of them really want to own and operate an airplane. However, they were willing to put up with the uncertainties to get what they wanted. With Freedom by Four Corners Aviation, they get everything they want without the hassle.”