XO Giving 16 Twinjets a Makeover

XO (formerly XOJet) is in the midst of a refurbishment program for 16 of its medium-cabin twinjets that will mean exterior paint and new interiors for some of its oldest Challenger 300s and exterior paint for its Cessna Citation Xs.

Begun in February, the refresh program is an effort to align the XO Challenger 300 fleet with the VistaJet Challenger 350 fleet. (Both companies are units of Vista Global Holdings.) In addition, VistaJet's silver and red livery will be applied to XO's Citation Xs. With fleet hours ranging between 11,000 and just under 13,000 on the Challenger 300 fleet, and between 11,000 and 14,000 on the Citation Xs, Hattaway said it was time for a refresh on the airplanes, as well as to bring a new look and uniformity to them.

For the Challenger 300s, the interior refresh includes seats, carpets, trim, cabinets, and other soft goods, as well as TCAS 7.1 upgrades. “The XO fleet was primarily a U.S. flying operation where TCAS 7.1 was not a requirement,” noted Todd Hattaway, XOJet's senior vice president for maintenance operations. However, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Challenger 300s were increasingly being used for island travel, prompting the company to decide to add TCAS 7.1 across its Challenger fleet.

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Also, it is trying out a Cobalt Aerospace wireless charging pad in the cabin of a couple of the refurbished Challengers to see whether clients like the system, which charges phones and other mobile devices without a cable. “We’ll see what the feedback is [before deciding whether to add the feature to more aircraft],” Hattaway said.

The refresh has been completed on three Challenger 300s and Hattaway expects that four more will be completed by year-end, with an eighth in the painting process as the company crosses over to the new year. He said XO has benefited from some business jet operators doing heavy maintenance on their aircraft during the pandemic while opting out of work such as new paint.

“A lot of people were pulling maintenance to the left, their required maintenance…but not a lot of people were putting aircraft down and having them painted and doing the interior refurbs. So it gave us the ability to get in there and get some really nice paint slots lined up with major maintenance events, which we took advantage of,” Hattaway said.

On XO’s Citation Xs, the refresh is limited to new exterior paint. Two of those jobs have been completed, and a third is in the process. A fourth Citation X is undergoing maintenance but will be headed to the paint shop afterward.

The reason XO isn’t doing a cabin refresh on its Citation Xs is that they are on a program in which items such as wood finishes, seats, and carpet are repaired or replaced on a regular basis, Hattaway noted.