Fleet will belong to separate division and be unavailable to creditors should owner UAL get into financial problems
United Airlines' fractional ownership subsidiary Avolar has provided more details of its agreement to act as North American distributor and provide flight support for up to 15 Airbus A319 Corporate Jetliners (ACJs). Under the deal, Avolar will also charter out downtime on the large business jet on behalf of customers to offset its cost.
At the same time Avolar has signed letters of intent with Bombardier for 57 Learjet 45s and Learjet 60s and with Raytheon for 28 Beechjet 400As. The deals complete the company's line-up of aircraft, taking commitments to a total of 309 aircraft. Avolar launched operations at NBAA with two refurbished Dassault Falcon 50EXs and a chartered Raytheon Hawker 800.
Under its "joint ownership" programme for the ACJ, Avolar will encourage up to four corporations to form their own holding company to purchase an aircraft, with ownership passing from Airbus directly. Avolar will then crew the aircraft with pilots from United's fleet of A320 family aircraft.
Richard Page, vice-president of corporate jet programmes, says Avolar will also charter out downtime for the ACJs it will manage in the USA. This could offset up to 30% of the cost of the aircraft in the case of a single owner, estimates Page.
Avolar is pitching the service at semi-scheduled shuttle missions and envisages typical customers, which include sports teams and show business performers as well as corporate shuttles, knowing their flight schedules a long time in advance, enabling Avolar to offer the aircraft on the charter market.
Avolar could also consider other large aircraft if the conditions are right, says Page. The ACJ programme will be launched officially in February.
Customers will be given a choice of four modular configurations in front and aft sections of the aircraft. Kendra Robinson, chief executive of Executive Aircraft Interior Designs, which is consulting with Avolar on its completion strategy, says that customers' main priority is speed of delivery.
Avolar says its entry into North American chartering and sales of the ACJ has been planned for 18 months. United Airlines' parent company UAL wanted to launch a rival to NetJet's BBJ, but without the back-up and repositioning problems associated with the guaranteed response time which comes with fractional ownership.
Some industry commentators consider the "joint ownership" programme, under which Avolar never owns the aircraft, to be part of UAL's reluctance to acquire additional assets while United Airlines could be forced into bankruptcy following 11 September.
Chris Lin, senior vice-president of business development at Avolar, calls such speculation "beyond the realms of possibility", but says that Avolar's ordered fleet will be the property of a separate division, and off limits to UAL creditors. The company expects to complete negotiations bringing new investors into the company early next year.
Source: Flight International
