Business is booming at Flexjet
Bombardier’s Flexjet subsidiary reported a strong first quarter, led by growth in new buyers as well as higher levels of activity by existing fractional-share, jet card and lease customers. In the first quarter, new business was up 83 percent, fractional share sales up 108 percent and jet card sales up 48 percent over the same period last year. “Our flying is not only up with all the new sales,” said Flexjet president Deanna White, “but also our existing customers are ramping up their flying time. People are starting to open their wallets again.” Flexjet has rehired furloughed pilots and plans to continue ramping up to meet demand for the peak season beginning in November. While flying usually dips as summer approaches, White said that Flexjet hasn’t seen a slowdown yet. “As new business comes in the door, obviously that brings more flying to us,” she said, adding that Flexjet’s fleet will grow, too, with the new Learjet 70/75 joining later this year, as well as the new Challenger 350. “We’re going to have a mix of [350s and 300s] in the fleet,” she said. “We believe that having both is an option, because there’s a different price point for both.”