Plane Conversations

Today Bill Minkoff, our VP of Marketing / Business Development  is arriving from Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, flying our new Embraer Phenom 100 – N777JQ.  This is a day that we have anticipated for almost two years, from when Bill came on board with us as a partner in JetQuik and brought an order for the new Embraer Phenom 100 with him.  Our company will be managing this new generation business jet for owners in our hometown and chartering it out to the traveling public.

Besides his role as our VP of Marketing and Business Development and partner in our new venture, Bill is also a highly experienced pilot having started his aviation career as a Naval aviator flying the A7E  fighter off the US Midway aircraft carrier.  He moved on to Delta  Air Lines flying as an international Captain and Line Check Airman, finally retiring on the Boeing 767.  Even having made night landings on aircraft carriers, and flying 767’s internationally, I think Bill is enjoying this flight more than anything he has done in a long time.

For our company, as it is for many other charter operators, owner pilots, and corporate flight departments, the arrival of a new aircraft is an exciting event.  I try to be objective about aircraft and focus on numbers – operating costs, performance, cash flow, etc., but when you see the new bird for the first time you set the objectiveness aside and let the emotions and excitement take over.

This aircraft represents a new generation of business jets and a new era for our company.  Like many aircraft charter companies around the world, we have operated the workhorses of the industry for 27 plus years now – King Airs, Lear 35’s and Cessna Citations, to name a few.  All of these aircraft have been safe and reliable and have delivered day in and day out for our owners and charter customers.

The smell of new leather, the sleek design and a simple looking but sophisticated cockpit make this new aircraft exciting.  For a numbers person like me, what is equally exciting is that the new jet will deliver that same safe and reliable transportation as the older workhorses at a much lower operating cost.  

Lower costs for us means lower pricing to the users, which translates into new customers, who have not previously been able to justify using a business jet for travel - if the formulas of supply / demand / price that I learned in college still hold true, that is.  I feel sure that they do. 

I like to use analogies to make a point.  I tell people this new jet is like the Toyota Prius of the new jets.  It isn’t a hybrid (maybe some day) but its fuel efficiency and cost to operate is unmatched for a jet of its size, speed and performance.

N777JQ will be arriving this afternoon from Fort Lauderdale on the last leg of the journey to its new home in Nashville, TN.  

Estimated flight time is 2:37 at a cruising speed of 378  knots (434mph), a cruising altitude of 40,000 feet and an inflight fuel burn of 88 gallons per hour.  Impressive numbers for such a good looking aircraft.

I can hardly wait to see it! 

Our latest addition N777JQ leaving her birthplace in Brazil enroute to her new home in Smyrna, TN.

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