OJets launch operations

news
0
SHARE:

Taking its insignia’s inspiration from the Asian ‘enso’ symbol, OJets has been set up in Singapore to capitalise on the increasing numbers of Asian private-jet travellers.

Enso represents strength, elegance and infinity, and the firm say this embodies its philosophy in connecting east and west at in the pinnacle of luxury.

The company’s head is Nick Houseman, a ten-year Bombardier Business Aircraft veteran, who left to found Zenith Jet, a company that specialises in overseeing deliveries of Bombardier Global family aircraft.

Houseman was also the co-owner of Elit’Avia, a Slovenia management and charter company. OJets recently acquired Elit’Avia, which gave it a ready-made AOC solution. Elit’Avia will operate as a separate entity to OJets but will remain under the OJets umbrella. In return, OJets will use the Elit’Avia Maltese AOC.

To get off the ground, the company raised $350 million in equity and debt. The first aircraft, two Bombardier Global 6000s and a Bombardier Challenger 650, arrived in the fleet through a financing agreement with Minsheng Financial Leasing.

“We enjoyed good support from Minsheng and were able to put the business model together,” says Houseman. “We have an investor group that understands the logistics in moving large assets around, and that combination helped us to get going. With the capital, the operational expertise and a knowledge of the Asia market, those three things together have been a pretty good base to start with.”

OJets is launching with two different products. The first is traditional on-demand charter, where clients phone up and request flights. The second is a block-hour programme in which clients join together to purchase a group of hours for later use. The company has already been out into the market talking about its services and had already secured a number of clients ahead of launch.

For clients signing up to the block-hour programme, the company offers 48-hour guaranteed aircraft availability without ferry fees within the service area. There are also initiation or monthly management fees.

Houseman says that another advantage is that OJets own their own fleet of aircraft. This gives the company an advantage against other charter operator in the region, as it will not have to wait for the owners’ approval to release the aircraft for charter.

Through his involvement with Elit’Avia Houseman says that he has seen an increase in requests for charter and block-hour programmes around Asia.

With three aircraft already in service, the company has pledged to bring the size of its owned-and-operated fleet to at least eight aircraft within the next 90 days.

“We are hard at work and expect to make additional announcements in the coming weeks,” concludes Houseman.

Core topics
Organisations
SHARE: