AirbusA320

It sure seems like it. The small part 135 operators are undercutting Net Jets according to prior postings. This market is starting to look like the airline legacy operators fighting off low cost startups. Net Jets as legacy and small operators as the low cost operators. Even if the smaller operators burn through their cash and go out of business a new one springs up. Kind of like the carnival game where frogs pop up and you bop them down with a hammer.

Nets Jets will have to re-evalute their business plan. It seems like nowadays time cycles get compressed. Things now happen in Internet time.

BoilerUP

Netjets charges at least double if not closer to triple the industry going rate on certain airframes (depending on a share or card program)...so OF COURSE they're going to be undercut on price point by charter operators!

Its really not that difficult to undercut NJA's per-hour cost (especially on Marquis Card) and still have a healthy profit margin.

What NJA is selling at their price is less basic transportation and more their name (and the experience, service, and huge scale of operation that comes with it).

727C47

I repeat,competition is healthy ! It means there is life out there ! thank God for that ! Bring it on !

727C47

OK this is my last reply, we are not for everybody thats why you have your mom and pop 135s,you can get there cheaper,but you cant get there better,and if mom and pop have a mechanical,good luck with the recovery.Cheers !

ce650

Oh please! We used to do it cheaper and better, let me ask you this , have you ever arrived for the start of a trip and the passengers were waiting for you? I NEVER did. Also I have had mechanicals, and had other operators jump right in and fill the gap, and I bet quicker than nja could have gotten it done.

ce650

[quote=BIRDIE;643043]this stuff about service is just nonsense. there's not a whole lot you can do. you show up, you greet, you pick up their bags, give them some coffee and a newspaper, and get them there. this whole bundle about four seasons service and all... its lip service.

mom and pop 135 stuff is also nonsense. it is yesterday. we now have ARG/US and signifcant brokers that take care of everything for the buyer. this fractional model faces an unsure future.[/quote


What he said

faipsrule

If that's your belief, we'll welcome your owners in a few years. I have no doubt the model will change, but I think RTS and the other folks that invented the first model will help mold the next. If all the owners want is to get from Pt A to Pt B for as cheap as possible, Southwest and US air will go there too. They will probably stay in a Holiday Inn too and sleep 4 to a room in their next family vacation. Yes, NJA sells a name and a brand as much as a service... to people who still will pay and afford to use the best. Quality Matters. Service Matters. If you think there isn't a difference, keep thinking it.

faipsrule

Wow back at ya. Way to take my whole response and focus on one sentance fragment. My point is people who can afford to own their own, aren't interested in chartering. It's apples and oranges. Maybe people who would ordinarily buy a card will charter, or people who were on the fence about bying a share would charter. That's too bad for us, but it represents an economic decision by those people. NetJets survives on people who want to own, not just use an airplane once and a while. If the model is broken, it needs to be fixed for those people, not the folks who are only using 10 to 15 hours a year. Thats my point.

BoilerUP

Not necessarily.

The factors making fractional ownership the best value are highly dependent on a company or individual's needs. If one only does 50 hours of out-and-backs a year from their home base, charter is probably the best financial option, and if somebody flies 350+ hours per year from their home base then their own flight department is probably the best financial option.

If a company has three offices spread out over multiple states, and needs multiple staff from each office to travel all over the place at the same time on a regular basis but not enough to justify the cost of multiple charters or multiple owned aircraft, then fractional can make LOTS of sense because you can utilize multiple airplanes at a single time while only using the hours available within a single share.

With a single quarter share, one could conceivably send multiple airplanes to multiple destinations out of a single location, or multiple locations to a single location, or any other conceivable pattern.

All three options (charter, fractional, and internal department) are viable depending on what one's NEEDS are.

RynoB

There are also companies that own turboprops for short hops, but will by into a fractional for extra uplift, or jets for longer range trips.