November 4, 2024
Volato is following Wheels Up sharing more information about performance as the publicly traded private jet companies seek to rebuff critics.
Fractional, jet card, and on-demand charter flight provider Volato has published additional KPIs covering operating performance, business mix, market share, and customer satisfaction.
It follows an announcement earlier this month, which followed a challenge by new Wheels Up CEO George Mattson for private jet flight providers to share more information about operations and financials.
During its Q3 earnings call, Wheels Up disclosed on-time performance and flight completion percentages.
“These expanded disclosures highlight our progress in driving higher aircraft utilization and yield across our light jet floating fleet, ultimately creating greater value for our owners, non-owner customers, and shareholders,” said Mark Heinen, Volato’s Chief Financial Officer.
He continued, “This shift is crucial as it allows us to capitalize on superior economics associated with the program and ad-hoc charter while rewarding owners with revenue sharing and offering these non-owner customers an attractively priced private aviation service.”
Heinen concluded, “Over time, with this strategic shift in demand mix, we expect to achieve lower empty leg rates and improved margins. Further, we expect the addition of new planes to our fleet in 2024 to contribute to revenue and market share growth and support our path to profitability.”
According to this morning’s data release, while flight hours for the 2021 HondaJet start-up grew from 813 hours in Q1 2022 to 3,504 hours in Q4 2024, the empty percentage dropped from 38.0% to 37.9%.
During the eight quarters, the empty percentage ranged from 36.6% to 41.2%.
Volato defines Empty Percentage as live hours for fractional owners, jet card members, and ad hoc charter flights divided by total flight hours.
All hours not flown by the owner, jet card program, or ad hoc charter customers are included in the empty percentage calculation, including, but not limited to, Vaunt, its empty leg membership program, training, and maintenance flights.
Volato believes that Empty Percentage is a valuable metric for measuring the efficiency of its fleet.
The demand mix during the two years has changed significantly.
In Q1 2022, owner flights were 91% of occupied hours, with that dropping to 52% at the end of 2023.
In Q2, owner flying dropped to 45%, according to Volato, before increasing to 55% in Q3 and ending at 52% in Q4.
Volato also disclosed what it terms Blended Yield.
Blended Yield is the average occupied price per hour across its fractional ownership, jet card program, and ad hoc charter.
The disclosure shows hourly yield increased from a low of $4,036 at the start of 2022 to a high of $5,348 at the end of last year.
The gain came as its floating fleet of HondaJet VLJs grew from six to 24.
According to Argus TraqPak, Volato says its market share across Very Light Jets and Light Jets grew from 0.7% to 2.9% over the past two years.
The private jet flight provider also disclosed Net Promoter Scores across 2023 by quarter. They ranged from 86 to 90.
The company said it expects to provide updated KPIs every quarter.
Volato and Wheels Up are publicly traded, and both have been losing money, sparking criticism of their operating models and financial viability.
Much of the critiques have come from competitors and consultants.
Additionally, Jet It, which shuttered in May 2023, blamed operational issues with HondaJet for its problems.
Wheels Up’s Mattson told an audience of industry executives during Corporate Jet Investor last November, “I invite my private aviation brothers and sisters to open up your books too because we all know it’s a challenging industry.”
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