October 20, 2024
West Coast Aviation Services is introducing an entry-level King Air fractional program targeting former Wheels Up King Air customers.
Turboprop fliers on the West Coast will have another option: West Coast Aviation Services will expand its King Air 350 fractional ownership plan.
After Wheels Up pulled its popular turboprop program from the Western U.S. last year, PlaneSense and SkyShare have been expanding their offerings.
Now, West Coast Aviation will offer a limited number of 1/16th shares, which, under its program, provide 37.5 hours of flights per year.
The Orange County-based operator currently has 15 King Air 350s and 360s.
Sales Director Ivan Dodson tells Private Jet Card Comparisons that the fleet is primarily vintage 2016 and later.
Its primary service area is within 900 nautical miles of John Wayne Orange County Airport (SNA).
The operator also has a charter fleet that includes the Citation XLS, Challenger 604, Falcon 2000EX, Global Express, and Gulfstream 550.
Fractional owners receive reduced rates.
Critical differences in the entry-level shares are a longer non-peak callout – 96 hours versus 72 hours, and a 50% surcharge on peak days.
The purchase price for the 1/16th share is $375,000, with a $4,995 monthly management fee and a $3,195 hourly rate.
The 7.5% Federal Excise Tax applies.
The daily minimum is 60 minutes plus taxi time.
Dodson says a substantial portion of its share customers are part-time residents within the primary service area.
To accommodate their time in a different region, owners can go inactive.
During that period, they still own their share but do not pay monthly management fees and cannot fly.
“This is very convenient if an owner knows they are not going to utilize their share for a period of time for any reason at all,” Dodson says.
Fractional clients can reactivate the share anytime by starting the monthly management payments.
Once the share is active again and the owner makes regular monthly management payments, they can not go inactive for at least six months.
There is also no penalty for early exit from the five-year contracts.
To exit, they provide a six-month notice.
The owner must keep the share active for six months and pay the monthly management fee.
West Coast Aviation markets the share for resale during that period.
If the share has not been sold after six months, the owner can become inactive or wait month to month until it is sold.
If the share sells earlier than six months, the owner is not obligated to pay additional management payments.
Find the perfect solution for your private aviation needs
Save Time. Buy Confidently.
Receive an apples-to-apples comparison of programs that meet your needs from more than 500 jet card and fractional options covering 65 points of differentiation and over 40,000 data points.
