Four Corners Aviation launches new solution for private jet owners

It’s not every day the private aviation segment gets a genuinely different solution.

Industry innovations can be summed up in one sentence, from whole ownership and aircraft management to fractional ownership, jet cards, and then by-the-seat and jet sharing.

Four Corners Aviation hopes its new offering – Freedom by Four Corners Aviation – will be a new category.

Mente Group, a leading broker of whole aircraft sales, is behind the venture. It claims over $10.5 billion in transactions since its founding in 2009. Omaha-based investment company City+Ventures is backing the launch.

The venture will operate under Aquila Aviation Ventures, described as “an investment company formed to serve unmet industry needs and leverage resources across entities to scale for future growth. The company identifies and invests in high-growth firms within the business aviation sector.”

Four Corners Aviation and Mente Group and each part of Aquila.

An alternative to your flight department?

So what are they doing?

Four Corners President and COO Cameron B. Gowans describes it as “ownership without the hassles.”

The target is companies and UHNWs that want all the benefits of full aircraft ownership but don’t want to have a private jet on their books.

While the deals are customized, Four Corners acquires your aircraft. With it, they also acquire your employees and facilities associated with your Part 91 operations.

In other words, it’s the same team that was flying you – with the same facilities and support.

Gowans compares it to software as a service.

You pay a monthly services fee, and then you pay for hours flown. The term is a minimum of five years.

Four Corners also arranges supplemental lift solutions as needed – in the same way as if you were still operating your flight department.

Booking flights are handled in the same way – who can fly and when.

Gowans says prior to the official launch yesterday at Corporate Jet Investor in Miami, 11 aircraft from nine companies are already part of the program.

Aircraft so far range from light jets to large cabins.

Gowans says all of your employees who come to Four Corners as part of the transaction remain dedicated to you.

While the flights operate under Part 135, he says the plan is not to make them available on the charter market.