After exiting its fractional and jet card programs Volato Group still includes the Vaunt empty leg program and aviation AI software.
Vaunt empty-leg program owner Volato Group has agreed to a merger with Alignment Engine Inc. in an all-stock transaction.
In June, Volato ended its merger agreement with critical minerals firm M2i.
In addition to its empty leg platform Vaunt, Volato Group includes an aviation AI software business designed for operators.
Volato had operated fractional and jet card programs until September 2024.
It exited those businesses via a strategic agreement with FlyExclusive, enabling fractional and jet card customers to transition.
It has since sold several other business divisions to FlyExclusive.
Volato Group CEO Matt Liotta is also the chief business officer for FlyExclusive.
According to the announcement:
‘Volato Group Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to merge with Alignment Engine Inc. in a transaction valuing the Ohio-based AI infrastructure company at approximately $500 million, repositioning the publicly traded company around data centers, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure…The transaction represents a major shift in scale and strategic direction for Volato, which has developed AI-powered software for aviation businesses and operates the Vaunt private aviation membership marketplace. The company had previously announced plans to move into AI infrastructure.’
Alignment Engine is developing its Ohio campus to support high-density computing workloads associated with AI training, inference, machine learning and other high-performance computing applications.
Its platform combines powered data center infrastructure, GPU computing, advanced networking and proprietary technology.
Alignment Engine CEO Chris Ensey will be the top executive of the merged company.
He said, “Power and compute capacity have become critical constraints on the continued expansion of AI.”
Per the announcement, the deal gives Volato a physical infrastructure layer to support artificial intelligence, rather than limiting its AI strategy to software applications.
Volato currently develops operational software for aviation businesses using Parslee, an autonomous-work platform that combines business context, shared memory, and human oversight.
The merger is expected to close shortly after the definitive agreement is executed.
After the merger, the new company will be publicly traded via Volato’s SOAR listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
As of this morning, Volato Group has a market cap of just under $15 million.
SOAR has traded between $0.10 and $3.87 over the past 52 weeks.
It opened at $0.25.
READ: Private Aviation M&A Deal Book
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.
