Fractional Provider Avantair Reports Increased Revenues

Avantair has announced its latest quarterly financial results, which suggest that the fractional jet ownership and jet card provider is gaining ground despite the recession. The Clearwater, Fla.-based company, which features Piaggio Avanti twin-engine turboprops, reported revenues of $35.2 million in the fiscal quarter ended September 30, an increase of 8 percent from the same quarter in 2008; and it had operating income of $249,000, compared with a loss of $1.9 million in the same quarter last year. Jet card sales were up 69 percent and revenue-generating flight hours rose 11percent. While calling these results "impressive," Avantair CEO Steven Santo noted that the company is merely "getting close" to its goal of sustainable profitability and he acknowledged "significant barriers to successful entry into our light-jet private transportation category." But he asserted that "we've reached an important inflection point" and added that while competitors are downsizing, Avantair is adding pilots, flight hours and aircraft.