Hubbed and Spoked to Death
AP PETERDIEKMEYER.COM- “Fed up with delays, security checks and the “hub and spoke” airport system, executives are turning to fractional aircraft ownership operators like AirSprint to get greater control of their travel
Earlier this year Jim Hewitt took the business trip from hell. His flight to Greenbriar, Virginia, left Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport an hour late and he missed his connecting flight in Pittsburgh.
The alternate connection brought him 100 miles from his destination and he had to rent a car to do the last leg. The trip ending up costing Hewitt eight hours of stress-filled travel time, for a flight that would have taken just over two hours if he could have flown direct.
“I travel a lot for business. It’s an important part of my life,” said Hewitt, president of Hewitt Equipment, a Caterpillar heavy-equipment dealership that services Quebec and the Atlantic region. “In the old days we used to rely extensively on commercial airlines and we got good service. But not any more.”
Not long after Hewitt’s Greenbriar trip, he signed a letter of intent to acquire a one eighth interest in a corporate jet from AirSprint Inc. a fractional aircraft provider, which set up shop in Quebec last year.
AirSprint, which was founded in 1999 by Calgarian Judson Macor, now maintains a fleet of 11 time-share jets including nine Pilatus PC-12 turbo props, which are owned mostly by corporate users and based across the country. If an exec’s jet is being used by one of the co-owners, another jet is flown in for him. AirSprint sells the aircraft shares, and then manages the fleet for the owners, providing pilots and maintenance services. Although there are several similar businesses in the U.S., notably NetJets, which pioneered the industry, AirSprint is the largest domestic player.
“We never felt that we could justify owning an entire plane,” said Hewitt. “But the shared ownership system ensures that we always have a plane on standby.”
According Fernand Croisetiere, AirSprint’s vice-president (Eastern Canada), Hewitt isn’t the only executive who is fed up with the state of North American business travel.” Click here for the full article.
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