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3.What led you and Co-Founder, Tom Bertels, to form Partners in Aviation (PIA) in 2016?
One beer too many, like any good idea. Tom’s expertise was messaging to the aviation industry while my experience was working with successful entrepreneurs who saw the need for an aircraft, but struggled with cost justification of sole-ownership. It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford the whole airplane, it was that it didn’t make good business sense for the amount of flying they required. Some dabbled with supplemental charter but most saw that as a poor use of their investment. Partnerships made the most sense mathematically, but there was no easy path or well-defined structure.
We wanted to build a company whose sole purpose was matching two regionally-based operators to split the acquisition and fixed costs of aircraft ownership – to become a kind of “match-dot-com” for business aircraft. With the help of experts in aviation tax, law and management, we worked to redefine DIY partnership into managed co-Ownership. This program differs from standard partnerships in four major areas: how you own it; how you share it; how you exit it; and how you are protected, both legally and financially. It borrows from the fractional industry by providing autonomy between Co-Owners, logical exit options and access that rivals sole-ownership – but at a much lower per-hour cost.
4. Who is the primary audience for PIA’s managed co-ownership model?
We cater to operators flying from 75 hours up to 200 hours per year. The majority fly between 100 and 150 hours annually. For those flying less than 75 hours, charter, jet- cards, and fractional-membership programs work best. Above 200 hours, sole-ownership makes sense. But for those flying around 100 to 150 hours/year, co-ownership offers the lowest cost-per-hour. We have matched two owner-pilots, two back-seat riders and owner-pilots with back-seat riders, so our audience includes owners who turn right or left when they enter the airplane.
5. What is one of your all-time favorite flying memories?
When we started flying and demonstrating the Starship which, while not a marketing success, was an amazing airplane in its own right, we would become “the show” at any airport we flew into. People would stop what they were doing•and come over to get a closer look. One day we flew into a small airport in Ohio that was in the middle of Amish country and locals literally came walking out of the corn fields to see this machine that had just flown over their community. It was like a scene out of Field of Dreams. T&T
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