A question for the Fractional gurus on hear:

1. Is an indicator of financial health for a 135 operation (fractional) the number of non-revenue flights ( I.e empty) that are flown versus revenue generators? Realizing the other part is the average length of those empty flights is critical, PBI To FLL is a lot different than DFW to CLE.

2. Any of those numbers known to APC posters on here?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Based off the nature of day to day operations I don't think it's something that can be succinctly controlled (empty legs).

With the exception of a maintenance flight, generally, as a rule, the cost of the empty legs are either front end, back end loaded to the live in or live out. I some cases, depending on the operation, both live legs share the cost.

Revenue flight time versus repositioning flight time is one of NetJets most important productivity metrics and they are always trying to improve it.

The actual numbers are occasionally shared with flight crew during recurrent. But I certainly won’t share those numbers and I doubt any others will since they are covered by non-disclosure agreements.

Depending on the quote and price paid, the empty leg could also generate revenue. When a passenger goes to hawaii for 2 weeks, the empty legs back to the mainland and back to hawaii 2 weeks later is built into the total price of the trip. Or they pay a daily minimum if they want the airplane to sit out there and wait...

There was a study done by KPMG in 2008. The 26 page report surmises that the problems in the Fractional industry have to do with pricing models more than strictly operational factors. I say surmises in that none of the big Fractional operators, NetJets, Flexjet, are publicly held so they don't report detailed financials.



The report is very interesting and it shows the revenue problems with the Fractional aircraft service model. It is worth reading.



https://www.irmi.com/docs/default-so...p.pdf?sfvrsn=4

I’m no NetJets cheerleader but that report was written a long time ago. NetJets has been consistently profitable for much of the last decade. Although the report lists some interesting factors that will always affect the business model, overall its assumptions and conclusions are woefully outdated.