Business & GA

Delays in receiving US Federal Aviation Administration Part 135 and icing approvals for the Diamond DA42 Twin Star proved to be the catalysts that toppled air-taxi start-up Point2Point Airways.

"Without an aircraft certified for flight into known icing, we weren't in a position to properly accommodate our customer base," John Boehle, founder and chief executive of the Bismark, North Dakota-based company told Flight International. Point2Point shut its operations earlier this month.

The company began Part 135 single-pilot operations in August 2005 using three Cirrus SR22s and last summer ordered a mix of 100 Diamond DA42 Twin Stars and D-Jets. At the time, Boehle said Diamond promised to have the twin's icing certification complete by October.

Diamond Aircraft president Peter Maurer says Diamond made that promise, but given that Point2Point had not received its Part 135 approval for the DA42, icing certification was a moot point. "Known ice is Diamond's responsibility, but getting the 135 certificate was [Point2Point's] responsibility," says Maurer. "Without it, they couldn't fly the DA42 in the ice anyway."

Maurer says the DA42 earned its European known-icing certification in January 2006, but FAA validation has dragged on. Point2Point's Part 135 application had also become caught up at the FAA, a marathon Boehle says he had spent 10 months trying to win. He is now looking for new investors to advance up to $1.25 million to quickly restart the company as leaseback arrangements cover some of the fleet financing bills.