JET CHARTER – THIS TIME IT’S PERSONAL
Personal jet charter business Verijet, flying exclusively the Cirrus Vision Jet, has a bold aim: to be “the safest, most efficient airline on and for the planet”. Words: Mike Stones
COVER STORY VERIJET
On a mission: Husband and wife team Richard and Allison Kane at Verijet plan to open private jet charter to a much wider public at a price point as low as $550 a seat.
COVER STORY VERIJET
JET CHARTER – THIS TIME IT’S PERSONAL
Personal jet charter business Verijet, flying exclusively the Cirrus Vision Jet, has a bold aim: to be “the safest, most efficient airline on and for the planet”. Words: Mike Stones
On a mission: Husband and wife team Richard and Allison Kane at Verijet plan to open private jet charter to a much wider public at a price point as low as $550 a seat.
VERIJET’S FIRST CUSTOMER is also its oldest. Aged 96, the woman client booked a flight from East Hampton, Long Island to Vero Beach, Florida three years ago.
It's a familiar story for Verijet CEO and chairman Richard Kane. “The client flew with us because she didn’t want to catch Covid on an airliner,” Kane tells Corporate Jet Investor. “Her first words post flight: ‘I can’t wait to do that again’. She has flown with us many more times. For her, and many others, the Cirrus Vision Jet has proved transformational.”
Another client, a fearful flyer, ordered a strong drink to calm her fractured nerves. Many flights later, the customer loves the seven-seat Cirrus Vision Jet and now sits next to her captain to enjoy the view.
Verijet was set up in 2020, inspired by a bold ambition. “Our ultimate goal is to empty the first-class cabin of airliners between hundreds of city pairs, where there is no direct service, for flights of less than 700 miles,” explains Kane. It’s a massive potential market, swelled by the Covid-inspired cutbacks to regional commercial air services. And the key to exploiting that market is a light jet optimised for single pilot operations with low approach speeds of about 85mph, says Kane. “Low landing speeds of the Cirrus Vision Jet enable us to operate from about 5,400 airports throughout the US. 98% of us live within 20 miles of one of these airports – often without realising it.”
These capabilities, combined with the aircraft’s overlapping safety systems, deliver low cost, efficient and neutral emissions air travel, according to Verijet. Big attractions for clients are the re-assurance of the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) and Garmin’s Autoland technology. If the pilot becomes incapacitated, passengers can press the big red button located on the cockpit ceiling to activate the Autoland device.
This enables the system to take control of the aircraft, transforming the Vision Jet into an autonomous vehicle that navigates to the nearest suitable airport for landing, communicates with air traffic control, lands and brings the aircraft safely to a halt. Both Autoland and CAPS have won prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophies.
It's proving a winning combination for fearful flyers – many taking to the air for the first time in a light jet. “Safety systems in the jet, such as the Garmin Safe Return and parachute system, are phenomenally important to our customers. At least 20% of clients fly with us because they tell us they have never felt safer,” says Kane.
The jet’s airframe design is also said to minimise the risk of a bird strike incapacitating the aircraft. The air flowing over the canopy acts as an inertial separator preventing bird ingestion into the engine mounted atop the fuselage, behind the cabin and ahead of the V-tail assembly.
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Lights on, ready for action. The Cirrus Vision Jet’s low landing speed enables Verijet to operate from about 5,400 airports throughout the US, says Richard Kane, CEO, Verijet.
Lights on, ready for action. The Cirrus Vision Jet’s low landing speed enables Verijet to operate from about 5,400 airports throughout the US, says Richard Kane, CEO, Verijet.
The jet’s all carbon fibre structure also means that metal fatigue is not a concern. “There’s never been an inflight break up of a Cirrus aircraft in their 21 years of operation,” says Kane.
But it’s not just the Vision Jet’s twin safety systems that draws clients, according to Verijet. The jet’s low-cost flight hours, its sustainability record and the promise of fast regional flights also add to its appeal.
The low cost of flight hours is partly courtesy of the economical Williams engine, which was originally designed to power Cruise missiles. The less-than-thirsty FJ33-5A jet engine, producing 1,846 lbs of thrust, consumes as low as 40 gallons an hour of fuel at long range cruise settings.
Another saving arises from avoiding the need to hire two multi-engine pilots for the Vision Jet, as the aircraft is certified for single pilot operations. “We want to take amazingly good care of our pilots. They are all allowed to fly our jets for personal use and they are encouraged to fly [the company’s] ICON A-5 [amphibious aircraft].”
Precise prices please? Clients pay for flight time at the cost of $3,250 an hour. “We are a Part 135 charter operator, with no membership required. You just call us and fly,” says Kane. The charter company offers 600-nautical mile flights, without repositioning charges, from three bases: White Plains, New York, Orlando, Florida and Santa Monica, California.
For business and leisure. Many Verijet clients are small to medium-sized business owners and leisure travellers.
“If you fill all six passenger seats, you start to reach the $550 a seat price point, which is starting to look like coach class on an airline.” The company has no plans to offer a per seat model, on the basis that either the late-arriving traveller becomes upset at being left behind, or the three people forced to wait for them become equally disgruntled. When someone charters the flight, they can invite up to five other guests and that puts the onus on them to ensure they all turn up on time.
Three jet cards are available. One for 100 hours cuts the flight hour rate to $2,750. The second for 50 hours lowers the rate to $3,150, while the third carries no discount but offers the convenience of enabling clients to keep money on deposit with the company. Investors in the company pay $2,100 per hour.
“The 100-hour card is something different. We offer only 100 of them and buying one opens up access to jet safaris,” he says. This involves offering cardholders the opportunity to invite family and friends to fly a Vision Jet to view polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba, visit a solar-powered catamaran manufacturer or dip beneath the waves of the Bahamas with Verijet’s Blue Research partners. “It’s really about getting people together and having them bring their friends on a flight to discover this amazing machine.”
In addition to safety and economy, the Vision Jet’s sustainability is also important to a significant proportion of Verijet clients. “About one-third of them are willing to help me pay for sustainable aviation fuel. And they appreciate the fact that we are carbon neutral.” Verijet is certified to Bronze Level with (private aviation sustainability specialist) 4Air. Also, the single engine jet has fewer emissions than twins and is said to be quieter.
The convenience of swift regional travel is another reason to choose Verijet, claims the company. The network of smaller airfields across the US helps clients avoid the need for long commutes to and from major airports. “People can spend 40 minutes with us or five, six or seven hours traveling to, from and on an airline. And when there’s two or three people aboard, it’s very economical,” says Kane. Company research claims a home to destination door-to-door travel speed of about 300 miles per hour compared with about 75mph for short-haul regional flights on commercial airlines.
Verijet’s most popular route is Santa Monica to Las Vegas. That’s followed by Boston to Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard. By early November 2022, Verijet had logged 5,400 flights and enjoyed a 50% customer repeat rate. The company has 19 jets in revenue service and a further three Cirrus Aircraft that are used for repositioning flights and crew training. A further two Vision Jets were delivered in December 2022, N34VJ and N35VJ.
Kane makes a point of piloting flights with 100-hour card holders after about 80 hours to gather opinions about the service Verijet offers. (A highly accomplished pilot, he holds an Airline Passenger Transport Licence, has logged 3,000 hours in the SR22 and has speed, distance and efficiency records in piston, turboprop and jet planes).
The company has a capitalisation table of about 60 investors. This ranges in size from the $5bn private equity firm Red Bird Capital Partners (which also invests in Jet Linx, Beta Technologies and Blade) to individual investors who run small to medium-sized businesses. Many individuals decided to invest because they love the Vision Jet and the service Verijet offers, says Kane. He set out initially to raise $7.5m in Series A funding but was over-subscribed by 165% and ended up with $12.5m.
But what about recession? Could soaring fuel prices partially ground even the less-than-thirsty Vision Jet? Not according to Kane. “We have some tailwinds that come from a recession. If the price of fuel doubles – which it has – Verijet has the most efficient airplane.”
Lining up to transform charter. Verijet believes its low-cost operating model, backed by the Vision Jet’s ability to land at small, regional airports, can attract thousands of new clients to business aviation.
Bold ambition: Richard and Allison Kane, Verijet aim to “empty the first-class cabin of airliners between hundreds of city pairs … for flights of less than 700 miles”.
Kane says some passengers, customers and investors have parked their big business jets because they are so expensive to fly short distances around, for example, California. Nor is this economy confined to dollar-conscious high-net-worth individuals. “If corporate flight departments are forced to park their jets, due to soaring fuel costs, CEOs will still need to fly privately,” he says. “That favours Verijet, because for short-haul, regional flights, we enable companies to outsource their corporate flight departments.”
The airlines’ “crumbling infrastructure” will also continue to bring new clients to the charter company. “At the moment, they are cratering customer service and abandoning airports throughout the US,” he says. That inevitably leaves passengers with many fewer direct flight options resulting in longer and more expensive journeys, as cost per seat mile climbs significantly. Recent widely reported “airline meltdowns” and successful recoveries by Verijet of stranded families over the holidays further underscore the point, says Kane.
Then, the airlines have to overcome their training backlog, which Kane describes as “my competitive weapon”. Before Covid, Verijet nearly sealed a $16m training contract with two major airlines to help prepare their staff for the right hand, second pilot’s seat of an airliner.
Covid ended that plan (at the time), forcing Verijet to focus on targetting the private offices of high-net worth individuals. But he is quick to point out the Cirrus Aircraft range of single engine piston aircraft, with their glass cockpits, plus a light jet offers an easy pathway for private pilots who want to speed their commercial career. “There are more than 9,000 Cirrus SR22 [single engine propellor] pilots and they all dream of flying my Vision Jets,” says Kane.
So, who precisely are Verijet’s clients? “We don’t have a lot of large corporations,” Kane tells CJI. “But we do have a lot of small to medium-sized business owners and many leisure travelers.”
The client list contains about 3,000 names, mainly belonging to passengers in their mid-40s. But some clients are in their late 20s. Not forgetting the fearful flyers who became late-life aviation fans – thanks to the Vision Jet. (Strong drink no longer required).
How the Vision Jet was born
The Cirrus Vision Jet arose from NASA’s Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS). Funded by an initial $69m, SATS is a joint research project between FAA and NASA. Also contributing were local airports and other aviation authorities.
Set up after the 9/11 attacks, SATS aims to encourage innovative solutions to the challenges of air travel. “NASA realised that the door-to-door speed of air transportation was about 75 miles per hour,” says Richard Kane, CEO and chairman Verijet. “But if you have a light jet optimised for slow approach speeds, using the network of 5,400 local airports, you can take the door-to-door speed to 300mph.”
NASA and engine manufacturer Williams funded the development of the V2 jet protype built by Scaled Composites. “This project, which ultimately led to the Cirrus Vision Jet, demonstrated the utility of a light jet optimised for single-pilot operations from slow approach speeds and short runways,” says Kane.
CJIConnect
Richard Kane
CEO and chairman | Verijet
+1 833 837 4538
