VistaJet, the world’s leading luxury aviation company outside of the Americas, announces that it is set to fast-track the growth of its fleet following greater than expected demand.
The announcement comes as VistaJet takes delivery of its 50th aircraft in just over six years of operations and which is in-line with its policy of maintaining the average fleet age at less than two years and with all aircraft under manufacturer warranty.
As well as expediting the delivery of aircraft from its current $2 billion order backlog, the company is also considering further orders and has taken steps to ensure that requisite financing to complement its own balance sheet strength is in place. Consequently, VistaJet has this week concluded a major $210 million financing facility with ICBC Leasing.
The decision to fast-track the growth of the fleet from its current strength of 32 aircraft comes as VistaJet experiences a higher than expected growth in demand, especially from certain BRINC* countries and other fast-growth markets.
“We recently announced historic agreements with partners in Russia and China that will see VistaJet significantly increase its presence in these countries. In just a few months since the announcements, we have seen extraordinary levels of demand and we’ve concluded that, along with the growth we are seeing in other markets, we must bring forward our plans for fleet expansion.
Thomas Flohr, founder and chairman of VistaJet
The decision to expedite the growth of the fleet comes as VistaJet continues to lead the industry, becoming the first commercial operator of the Bombardier Global 6000** aircraft and has taken delivery of the first two of these aircraft out of an order of ten aircraft. The Global 6000** is considered to be the most advanced and desirable long-range premium aircraft available.
“We took the strategic decision to focus the growth of the business on the BRINC* and other fast-growth markets, particularly where there are concentrations of founder-owned commodity and natural resource companies which are currently driving the rapid growth of luxury aviation in the region. By focusing on these markets, VistaJet is connecting entrepreneurs and Global Enterprises with their next major project, their next business partner. They cannot afford to spend up to two days flying commercially between remote locations either underserved by commercial airlines or from where direct routes to other key business locations do not exist. With our modern, state-of-the-art longhaul fleet, VistaJet is directly connecting locations such as Russia, China and Africa in up to a third of the time, and in style. Our customers, many of whom run major global enterprises and are extremely discerning, have always admired our personalized, luxury service. With our expansion into new markets we are seeing unprecedented levels of demand and now need to fast-track the growth of the fleet to meet that demand.”
Thomas Flohr, founder and chairman of VistaJet
* Brazil, Russia, India, Nigeria and China
**Trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries
