Ambeo based Cranfield
 

Hi - does anyone have any information about Ambeo based at Cranfield flying VLJs? They are advertising for Capts and FOs on Flightglobal.

Just wondering about package / any company history / other relevant info.

Thanks

Only this I'm afraid ambeo - welcome

Jet-setting Cranfield student launches ?air taxi? flight business

Trust Google - Google is your freind.

So's spellcheck ;)

I really wish them luck but they will need it to raise the necessary capital in the current climate. Also, other VLJ startups have found that demand is not as big as their business plan envisaged - and likely to be even worse next year. Worse, I see they plan to fly Eclipse EA500 which I understand is not likely to be EASA certified any time soon. At least they are seemingly also looking to fly a Phenom, which might end up being a better bet.

EBACE 2008: Hope springs eternal

I would thoroughly recommend getting a full copy of the Richard Aboulafia report on the Eclipse......very interesting.

"Combine the business costs of persuing the jet air taxi myth with government spending on air taxi infrastructure , add the cost of the Eclipse fiasco and you get many billions of dollars in destryed value. Jet air taxis and VLJ's, together constitute the worst misinvestment in recent aviation history"

Phil

So, what you're saying is that it's a risky social experiment with someone else' money?

Or did I misinterpret what you were posting?

How many VLJs does one country need FFS!?

Anyone got any idea where we're suddenly going to get all the additional airports from please? Cranfield's ideal for all of Milton Keynes' millionnaires, but most of them want to fly from London which is already packed.

I must be missing something, maybe it's time for a career change, it's just getting silly now...

Well you see Daifly, we've been making a mistake all these years, we're not in the service industry, we're in the asset management business. I'm so glad that academia have joined forces with the finance proffessionals to show us how we should be doing it.

Straight from the powerpoint presentation to sceptical investment bankers.... :ugh:

If somebody started with one aircraft that they'd financed their house for and grew it on hard work and great customer service then they would get my best wishes. As it stands they want a "fleet" of 500's and 510's purchased by somebody else to play with.

The only difference from dayjet, blink and all the other VLJ startups would seem they pick you up at home.

Vern Rayburn's got a lot to bloody answer for :mad:

Good luck to them they'll need it

LEA seems to be making the Mustang work.

Don't agree with the biz mag article's view on the King Air though.

Angelorange,

I assume you work in the LEA accounts department to make such a statement?

Also, it's hardly comparable. An operator of aircraft with an existing client base, using the companies retained profits to fund expansion on a sensible scale as opposed to the Blink model.

Awhhh ..... rumbled! :ugh:

Well I'll be damned. What have the rest of us been doing all these years?

I thought that an "on demand" service might be when someone calls up and asks to be flown from the point he demands to the destination he demands at the time he demands (or as soon as possible, when urgent demands arise). Of course it can't be, as that is what some of us have been doing for years yet there is apparently a new niche for an 'on demand' plane service.

Anyone up for running a book on this one? What would be the preference, betting on how long he lasts or on how much money he loses?

I think that this statement would do well in a pub with your mates but not with people in the industry. The VLJ revolution is more or less dead.... The aircraft are mainly used for normal charters and instead of growing the market they are used as a substitute for older King Airs. If you think that a Mustang is so much cheaper and hence create a new market do a search on Avinode and find that proven and larger CJ1's are cheaper and roomier! :rolleyes:

Forecast International Projects End of Eclipse 500 Production

NEWTOWN, Conn. [October 28, 2008] — In a new report to be issued in December, Forecast International has projected that production of the Eclipse 500 will soon end. The Connecticut-based market research firm believes that the aircraft’s manufacturer, Eclipse Aviation, will not attract new investment necessary to allow it to continue making the aircraft beyond the first quarter of 2009.

"Eclipse continues to produce aircraft at a low rate as it seeks to preserve cash," said Forecast International aircraft analyst Douglas Royce. "We have forecast production of 162 Eclipse 500s during 2008. We believe that the company will be able to push production out into early 2009 but will be forced to cease production within the first quarter of 2009." Forecast International predicts only about 12 Eclipse 500s will be produced in early 2009, and "even this forecast may prove too optimistic," said Royce.

According to Forecast International, Eclipse Aviation’s business plan depended on delivering a twin-jet aircraft at an extremely low price relative to its competition. This low price was dependent on use of a high-volume production strategy made possible by importing methods of production from the technology and automotive industries. However, the anticipated production ramp-up never occurred and the company has been unable to realize the economies of scale it needs to meet its price target.

Until May of 2008, the list price of the Eclipse 500 was $1.52 million. Thereafter, the aircraft’s price increased to $2.15 million, but Eclipse Aviation is required to deliver aircraft at the earlier, lower price to customers who executed an Aircraft Purchase Agreement and paid the required 60% total deposit. Every aircraft delivered under the old price is delivered at a loss, Forecast International notes. At the moment, the company does not have the financial resources to absorb these losses and survive.

To restructure its operations and reach profitability, Eclipse Aviation has said publicly that it needs $200-$300 million in new equity investment. With credit markets in the midst of a major crisis, Eclipse Aviation is seeking funding at a time when bankers and investors are reluctant to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into a company facing an uncertain future.

Eclipse is facing of host of new competitors in Very Light Jet (VLJ) market. Florida-based DayJet, an air taxi service, accounted for about half of the initial Eclipse backlog when it folded in Sept. 2008. Raising prices any further to cover costs will also cause the company’s backlog to contract. The business jet market overall is also entering a period in which demand is expected to contract sharply in the near term, cutting sales for every participant in the VLJ market.

"Under the circumstances, Forecast International believes that securing new funding, while still possible, is unlikely," said Royce. "Forecast International has cut its forecast for the Eclipse 500 accordingly."

If its not a 'London Oxford' VLJ start up its a 'London Cranfield' VLJ start up. Its a novelty market that just doesnt exist.

The 'London' market is already oversaturated with Citation 2's going out 20% cheaper than 2 years ago, plenty of CJ's that can actually go further than Dover without a fuel stop, and plenty of other much more practical aircraft that you dont need to be shoe horned into.

Talking to someone who flew in the Mustang the other day to try it out(normally uses a Bravo) the response was 'never again' the difference in price is just not worth having for the lack of comfort, and its those simple things that the boffins and failed airline pilots with a 20 min business plan seem to have failed to realise. Is it any coincidence that the guys in the market with many years operating experience (bar LEA) are not touching these things? It sums it all up really.

Why would someone choose to be sitting on a toilet seat for a few 100 quid an hour less than something that fits the puropse of being an Executive Jet!

If I had a pound for every bore I meet at events who is starting up a VLJ operation.....................

:ugh:

We've lost a few flights to LEA, but lost our first one to Blink yesterday. It ran an hour and a half late due tech problems. Bath shaped failure curves and all that.