If you could.....would you?!

[MrWishful]

Okay guys, a hypethetical question,

If you could raise £2,000,000 - £3,000,000 would you consider buying a small jet and running it for corporate?

In the current financial climate, and with the growth of a few very large VIP/corporate operators do you think there is any way for a small firm operating 1 or 2 jets to survive?

And finally, in your opinion, what kind of start up capital is needed to start an operation such as this?

[smallfry]

There is an old saying along the lines of "to make a million out of aviation, start with two million!"

I wish you well, but you won't buy much of a jet for 3m, and then you need everything else... offices, pilots, paperwork etc.

[cldrvr]

You have two options. One is to start your own AOC, with all the expenses and no revenue while your application gets processed. Option two is to have an existing AOC holder manage the aircraft for you.

Option one means you have to put the infrastructure in place including postholders, maintenance, RVSM approval, MEL, CDL, CAME etc. You will be out of pocket a few hundred thousand before you see any return. Then you have the problem of only having one aircraft, no back-up and no way of cutting out positioning. Lots of brokers will be reluctant to book flights with you as you are a one plane shop.

Option two means you can put the aircaft to work once accepted on the AOC, however don't expect to make a lot of money doing this. Yes you can offset some of the cost and someone else has to worry about maintaining, crewing and scheduling your aircraft.

Another point already mentioned is that 2-3mill will not buy you a lot of aircraft

[sispanys ria]

With 3 millions you can lease something, and if you setup a correct business plan you will be able to raise additional investment.

[Paradise Lost]

You would have more chance of making money if you bought 2-3 million lottery tickets!.........or you could try putting it down as a deposit on your new G650 and hope GA is still flourishing in 2012 and you can sell your position for a profit!
Guess the answer to your question was NO....

[Phil Brockwell]

In my opinion ...yes...why not, there are plenty of people doing it. A 2002 CJ2 @ $5.2, or 2 x CJ's and a few hundred thousand for cashflow and set up costs.

[NZ X man]

Hay do your self a favor, raise the money, put it in NZ dollars at 11% interest and go get a good flying job. Less headaches, like they say want to retire with a small fortune, start with a big one and get into aviation.

Did not mean to rain on your parade by the way.

[ssg]

Buy your jet for $2m. Sell 4 partners a piece for $600k each
Each will pay a monthly fee, plus an hourly usage fee.

Hire three pilots. All single pilot rated, but fly in a crew, have some contract pilots on call just in case.

Manage in such a way that it makes sense, the owners are happy, the plane stays up in the air.

You now have a fractional flight dept...add 4 more partners, buy another plane, add 4 more, buy another, and so on and so on....

[411A]

Yes, it can be done.
For example, I know of one company that did so with the very first dedicated business jet available...the Lockheed JetStar.
Still going too, as far as I know.
A special aeroplane for a special clientelle.
A couple more have done so with Gulfstreams, purchased quite reasonably.

[theWings]

If you're the kind of person that can get your hands on 3m bucks, then you probably already know that its got more to do with YOU than with the plane or the dollar...