Flight Options Announces Factory-Supported Pricing™

04/09/02 – Flight Options, a leading provider of fractional shares in jet aircraft, today announced Factory-Supported Pricing™, a groundbreaking pricing program unique to the private air travel industry. The company announced its new pricing strategy shortly after finalizing a merger with Raytheon Travel Air, which closed on March 21st.

Flight Options has been a pioneer in the fractional jet industry, offering shares of pre-owned aircraft at a substantial cost savings over competitive programs. With the addition of new aircraft programs to its product line, the company continues its history of innovative pricing, unveiling the Factory-Supported Pricing™ plan.

According to Flight Options’ CEO Kenn Ricci, the concept of Factory-Supported Pricing™ was developed to reflect the real cost of operating a new plane – taking into consideration the aircraft’s factory warranty for the airframe, engines and avionics. “Newer aircraft are less expensive to maintain,” explained Ricci. “Factory-Supported Pricing™ is simply an honest way to price a fractional program that utilizes new aircraft.”

The lower maintenance costs reflected in Factory-Supported Pricing™ result in significant savings over comparable plans using identical aircraft. For example, the hourly operating cost for a Hawker 800XP in the first year is $1,390/hour with Flight Options’ Factory-Supported Pricing™. The same aircraft offered through a competitor costs $1,828/hour – a 24% difference in the first year alone.

“If you’re purchasing a new plane, we believe you shouldn’t have to pay the same price in year-one as you would in year-five,” said Rich Heckman, Vice President of Marketing for Flight Options. “Factory-Supported Pricing™ is structured to fit the age and warranty status of the plane.”

Ricci added, “Flight Options is the first fractional program to quantify the age intangible. Until now, all fractional programs have charged the same for aircraft in its program, regardless of age. Traditionally fractional owners have been paying a price for 'new aircraft,' but are then flown in aircraft that are seven or eight years old. Flight Options’ Factory Supported Pricing™ program assures owners that they will never fly in an aircraft more than five years old.”

Ricci emphasized that the company’s new and pre-owned fleets will operate separately. “Customers who buy new will fly only in new aircraft,” he said. “After sixty months, the aircraft will become part of our pre-owned fleet. This concept of fleet purity is also an advantage not available in competitive programs.”

“It made a great deal of sense for us to bridge the sales options between pre-owned and new aircraft,” added Darnell Martens, Assistant to the Chairman and the company’s head of strategic planning. “We think that our Factory-Supported Pricing™ approach will cause a fundamental shift in the industry.”

Martens said that there are compelling reasons for customers to choose either type of plan, whether new or pre-owned. “Offering a broad product line gives our prospective owners more choices,” stated Martens. “Pre-owned remains an attractive option because a buyer can get a larger plane for the same purchase price as a new, smaller aircraft – or they can spend about 35% less for the same type of plane pre-owned versus new. On the other hand, with our Factory-Supported Pricing™, new aircraft cost less to operate because of warranties associated with new aircraft and our new-aircraft owners utilize a fleet that will never be more than five years old.”

For further flexibility, Flight Options programs are designed so that a customer can migrate from one aircraft type to another, giving an owner access to the entire fleet.

To meet the demands of its rapid growth, Flight Options is expanding its state-of-the-art Operations Control Center (OCC), which monitors every aspect of flight operations. The original design was modeled after the control centers of NASA’s Houston center and Delta Airlines’ facilities in Atlanta, Georgia. Phase II, which was recently completed, doubled the size of the previous center. Once construction is complete, scheduled for 2003, the new OCC will be five times larger than the present facility and will accommodate a fleet of more than 500 aircraft.

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