Aircraft company brings timeshare model to Centennial Airport

It was clear skies Wednesday morning as Executive AirShare’s Embraer Phenom 300 circled Centennial Airport, giving company president and CEO John Own and his team a great bird’s-eye view of the Mile High City.

The Kansas-based aviation company, which sells stakes in private aircraft in a manner similar to timeshares in a condominium, is establishing a base in Colorado at the XJet hangar at Denver’s Centennial Airport.

“Denver is the second most popular destination in the country,” Owen said. “It’s growing like crazy and was a natural fit for our expansion.”

Executive AirShare, the nation’s largest fractional aircraft company, also serves business and leisure customers out of Kansas City, Kan.; Wichita; Tulsa, Okla.; Austin, Texas; Dallas; Houston; and San Antonio.

Other fractional aircraft companies include Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets, CitationShares and Bombardier FlexJet, which, like Executive AirShare, primarily focus on business travel. Smaller Colorado companies, such as Centennial’s ShareWest Aviation LLC and Denver-based Sky Share, offer fractional aircraft shares, which allow customers to purchase a share of smaller local planes.

With 10 times more regional airports than commercial across the country, flying on private planes allows clients to skip the hassles of commercial travel. Wait time between initial reservation and takeoff can be as little as 24 hours.

Executive AirShare jets can fly anywhere in the U.S., as well as the Caribbean islands and parts of Mexico and Canada. Overseas travel is not yet available.

Clients commit to a five-year term and purchase or lease shares of Executive AirShare’s planes in exchange for unlimited full-access to an aircraft for a set number of days per year. A customer’s yearly limit depends on the portion size they purchase, with packages starting at a minimum of 20 days per year and increasing based on a client’s flying needs and frequency. Clients reserve time through a day-based program rather than at an hour-by-hour rate.

“For those companies like franchises, real-estate, insurance, and location scouts who need to travel to places that are less accessible, our fractional aircraft program is ideal,” Owen said. “We’ve had companies say that there was no way they could have grown as fast without us.”

Executive AirShare’s Denver base will feature the Embraer Phenom 100, which seats five passen-

gers, and the Embraer Phenom 300, which seats eight. Clients may request either model depending on their travel needs. Executive AirShare’s full fleet consists of 29 private jets.

Beyond package rates, clients pay a monthly fee to contribute to pilot and crew salaries, hangar rent, and insurance and a hourly fee when using the jet to cover fuel and maintenance costs.

The company also offers a complimentary program that allows private owners to hand the management of their plane over to Executive AirShare.

This provides the possibility of offsetting personal costs by allowing Executive AirShare to charter the plane along with the rest of their fleet.

As its Denver base grows, the company will look to bring on larger aircraft and to possibly expand to overseas destinations.