Partners in Aviation reports above pre-Covid activity levels

Partners in Aviation (PIA) has seen an increase in activity to the point it now has more co-owner partnership opportunities than it did, pre-Covid, Mark Molloy, President, PIA, told Corporate Jet Investor (CJI).

The self-termed ‘match-dot-com’ of business aircraft, PIA Managed Co-Ownership matches two owners to one aircraft, connects them to an appropriate management company, and provides a legal structure for them to operate. PIA provides the match, the aircraft and the structure that allows operators flying from 50 to 150 hours-per-year the ability to fly their aircraft, with their crew – it reports at half the cost of sole-ownership or jet-cards.

Molloy told CJI: “Matches we were working on in mid-March were stopped in their tracks, when the country shutdown virtually overnight. As it became clear travel was going to be limited, and in some cases prohibited, our activity dropped by about two-thirds for a period of 90 days. But after 3 months, our inbound calls and website hits came back to where we were in early spring. We are fortunate to now have more PIA Co-Owner opportunities than we did, pre-Covid.”

PIA said it is clear from the bounce-back in charter and jet-card activity, that people who have been cooped up for months are now ready to get some semblance of normalcy back.

“We are benefiting from this same ‘covid-bump’ that other shared-ownership programs in our industry are seeing. Those flying less than 50 hours are moving to jet-card and membership models. Those flying more than 50 hours are finding co-ownership to be a more compelling value proposition.”

PIA is witnessing re-engagement from customers who originally contacted a year or two ago, investigating options, but never made a move. Often, PIA said, they have flying elsewhere either via charter or jet-card, but as flying starts to increase beyond 50hrs, these people are looking for a more cost-effective option.