JetSuite to revamp fleet with new light and large-cabin jets

US air taxi company JetSuite is planning a major revamp of its business jet fleet to exploit the growing appetite in the USA for its branded, low-cost charter service.

The operator’s will add with 10 Embraer Phenom 300s over the coming year and will also add up to 10 large-cabin jets over the same period, “to accommodate those customers looking to fly further and/or with more passengers,” he adds.

JetSuite

“We already have a dozen [entry-level] Phenom 100s and eight Cessna Citation CJ3 [light] business jets which are working really hard,” he says.

Wilcox will not disclose until the end of March which large-cabin type JetSuite has selected. However, it is likely to be the Embraer Legacy 600/650, in keeping with the company’s strategy to stick with a single manufacturer fleet.

“We operate a point-to-point and coast-to-coast service with the Phenom 100s and CJ3s,” Wilcox says. “The large-cabin aircraft will open up new markets, notably Latin America, which is becoming an increasingly popular destination.”

The Orange County, California-headquartered company is the seventh largest business aircraft operator in the USA in terms of aircraft revenue hours. Each model flies more than 100h per month: “more than twice the utilisation of a typical Part 135 aircraft,” says Wilcox.