April 25, 2024
Volato has already sold its next four deliveries with 30% non-refundable deposits, according to CEO Matt Liotta.
Volato has sold out shares of its HondaJet deliveries through April of 2024.
According to CEO Matt Liotta, the sales are secured by 30% non-refundable deposits.
However, unlike other fractional programs, Volato owners can fly under standard terms from the time they make the deposit.
They don’t get the revenue share the provider offers for charter revenue on their aircraft until it arrives.
Both NetJets and Flexjet offer customers interim leases between signing and delivery.
Because of capacity constraints, the leases have more restrictions than the standard flight contracts fractional owners fly under once their aircraft is delivered.
Volato is positioning its four-in-cabin seat guarantee HondaJet program against the six and seven-seat Phenom 300 offerings from the market leaders.
The 2021 start-up broke into the Top 30 private jet operator list for the first six months of 2023, placing 21st in fractional and charter flight hours, as measured by Argus TraqPak.
Liotta says the HondaJet covers 82% of missions used for its Embraer rival.
However, Volato doesn’t offer a full nationwide Primary Service Area.
Instead, it charges repositioning fees for flights that begin outside of a two-hour flight range from a half dozen base airport locations.
During an interview at the National Business Aviation Association conference last week, Liotta said there are no current plans to add base locations.
“We’re going deep in the existing markets where we have high concentration,” he says.
Liotta says currently, 37% of Volato flights are empty leg repositioning flights, a figure he says is on par with the industry.
Recently, Volato filed its proxy statement in advance of a planned SPAC IPO.
Liotta says so far, he has 120 fractional owners. It also has 89 customers for its two jet card programs.
There are 23 HondaJet VLJs currently in the fleet.
Twenty-four more are due to come by 2025, including the four aforementioned sold-out tails.
Volato is also on track to receive its four Gulfstream G280s next year.
It is part of a new super-midsize fractional offering.
However, with Jet It folding and the extended range and payload of its HondaJet Elite II types, it is now focused on the VLJ segment.
“We want to grow our HondaJet fleet bigger and faster than we had planned,” he says.
Last week, Private Jet Card Comparisons exclusively reported that Volato has signed a LOI to buy Honda’s new long-range light jet, the Echelon.
