Story ID: 307TPropProvidersNBAA15
Down Market Goes Upscale
By: Mark Huber
Caption: Turboprop service providers gaining popularity
Word Count: 1280
The markets for turboprop fractional-ownership, per-seat membership and scheduled charter continue their ascendancy, with relative newcomers making solid gains in client and fleet growth, while offering expanded services.

Wheels Up

Founded by jet card industry veteran Kenny Dichter and partners in 2013, Wheels Up has grown to more than 1,600 members by offering a variety of membership options, enhanced services from industry partners and lifestyle events and concierge services called “Wheels Down.”

Wheels Up (Booth N137) operates a mixed fleet of more than 35 new King Air 350i twin turboprops equipped with Wi-Fi and custom interiors (this should reach 40 by the end of the year) and 10 refurbished Cessna Citation Excel/XLS jets. Earlier this year, Wheels Up announced that it is taking its second block of 35 King Airs, part of a 2013 order for 105 of the aircraft. The next block will be fitted with Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion touchscreen avionics with deliveries beginning in early 2016.

Corporate membership fees are $29,500 ($14,500 annual dues starting in the second year) and individual fees are at $17,500 ($8,500 annual dues starting in the second year). Members also pay a flat hourly rate of $3,950 for the King Air and $6,950 for the Citations.

This spring at the EBACE show in Geneva, Dichter said he planned to expand Wheels Up into Europe, although details of this move have not yet been revealed. He plans to grow the company’s fleet to consist of “175 King Air 350i and 50 Cessna Citation Excel/XLS by 2021, and we are exploring ways to incorporate additional Textron products onto the Wheels Up platform.”

Wheels Up members can access the fleets of VistaJet, Jet Aviation and HeliFlite when they need larger aircraft or helicopters, sometimes at discounted prices. The deal with Jet Aviation includes guaranteed availability, guaranteed pricing per occupied hour, and available 25 percent round trip bonus price reduction. The aircraft are available on an hourly basis or a 25-hour pre-purchase program. Similarly, members have preferred pricing on HeliFlite’s fleet of Bell 430s and Sikorsky S-76s for transfers between Manhattan and Tri-state area airports.

PlaneSense

While growing, the shared turboprop model is not new. Portsmouth, N.H.-based fractional turboprop-share company PlaneSense has been operating for almost 20 years with newer Pilatus PC-12 singles, a fleet that now stands at 34. This makes PlaneSense the largest civil PC-12 operator, and now the company is branching into light jets as the launch customer for the Pilatus PC-24 twinjet. As part of its transition to offering jet service, PlaneSense acquired a pair of Nextant 400XTi jets and holds options for three more. PlaneSense PC-12 shareholders will be able to access the Nextants for an hourly exchange rate.

The PC-12s continue to be the company’s focus, with more than 300 owners. Aircraft are retired from the fleet after 6,500 hours on average. The PC-12s are flown by two-pilot crews. PlaneSense’s primary operation area includes most of the eastern U.S., southeast Canada and the Bahamas, meaning there are no empty-leg fees within those regions. Shares as small as 1/16th, good for 50 flight hours annually, can be purchased, and the hourly occupied rate is less than $800. Flexible-hour programs can increase share time. The company offers “short” and “long” programs that cater to varying stage lengths.

The “short program” option includes 50 annual flight hours in a 1/16th share (or 100 hours in a 1/8th share, etc.), has a minimum 30-minute flight charge and has no minimum time deducted. PlaneSense says that this program is best suited for an owner whose typical flight leg is one hour or less. The alternative “long program” option includes 70 annual flight hours in a 1/16th share (or 140 hours in a 1/8th share, etc.), has a minimum 30-minute flight charge and has a minimum 1.4 hours deducted for each flight from the annual allotted hours. The long program is best suited for an owner whose typical flight is greater than 1.1 hours.

Five-year shareholder contracts can be renewed without additional investment, the company helps customers sell their shares, and offers a guaranteed buy-back program if the shares don’t sell at a specified residual value or within a set period of time.

Surf Air

California-based Surf Air, which started flying in 2013, is another company that has built its fortunes on the PC-12. However, unlike Wheels Up or PlaneSense, Surf Air bills itself as a “private air travel club” and offers regularly scheduled flights between various cities in California and an accompanying concierge service.

Monthly individual membership is less than $2,000 plus a $1,000 initiation fee, and entitles customers a seat on these flights and unlimited flying (“all you can fly”) between destinations that currently include the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles Metro Area, Santa Barbara, Carlsbad/San Diego and Truckee/Lake Tahoe. Members also receive four round trip “guest” tickets each year. Surf Air operates nine PC-12s and has nine more on order–five of which will be delivered this year–and options for 50 more over five years. By the end of the year the company expects to have 45 daily flights and nearly 3,000 members. The company is run by former Frontier Airlines CEO Jeff Potter.

Beacon

Three of the founders of Surf Air left that company last year to found Boston-based Beacon, an “all-you-can-fly” service similar to Surf Air that offers scheduled service between White Plains, N.Y, and Boston Logan International with an initial fleet of three King Air 200s operated by Dynamic Aviation. The fleet is expected to grow to 27 aircraft, including King Air 200/250s and Beech 1900 turboprops.

Next summer Beacon plans to add seasonal weekend service to Nantucket, Mass. and East Hampton, N.Y. The monthly membership fee is $2,000 plus a $1,000 initiation fee. The membership includes four continually renewable reservations, and flights can be booked (in 30 seconds via the Beacon app) up to 15 minutes before departure. Beacon CEO Wade Eyerly told AIN that the beginning schedule would feature 12 flights daily between White Plains and Logan, with a reduced schedule on Saturdays.

OneJet

OneJet is taking the next step in building its scheduled charter network with the addition of a route between its Indianapolis International Airport base and Nashville International Airport in Tennessee. OneJet added the new route September 8 with flights from Indianapolis to Nashville in the morning and returning to Indianapolis in the late afternoon.

The addition of Nashville follows the introduction of flights to Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Memphis earlier this year. The company uses three Hawker 400XPs for the service, with Pentastar Aviation operating the flights. OneJet said its load factors have increased to about 80 percent network-wide.

OneJet plans to continue adding locations, with more announcements anticipated over the next year. The company is targeting markets within a 500- to 1,000-mile range that have strong local corporate bases and have “a meaningful demand to the other points already in the market.”

Rise

Rise, a Dallas-based all-you-can-fly membership charter service, has expanded its King Air 350 service to the entire Texas Triangle by adding eight more scheduled flights between Houston and Austin. It started service with the eight-passenger turboprop twin on the Dallas-Houston and Dallas-Austin routes. The Rise-branded King Air is operated by Monarch Air, a Part 135 charter operator based at Addison Airport near Dallas.

Rise memberships, which start at $1,650 per month, are available in Houston, Austin, Midland and Dallas. The company offers three levels of individual memberships for its all-you-can fly model. It plans to offer “Rise Fun Flights” to Austin, Texas; Vail, Colo.; and other destinations on weekends.