B/CA Show News - NBAA 2007 - September 27, 2007 - (Page 38)

N B A A 2 0 07 B/CA Fast Five By William Garvey Steven M. Hankin CEO, Sentient Flight Group, LLC, Weymouth, Mass. Formerly head of marketing and technology development at Starwood Hotels, Hankin took over the reins at Sentient Jet, which touts being the pioneer of private jet membership, in 2004. Subsequently, Sentient purchased Atlantic Aviation Flight Services and began its growth story. Earlier this year, Sentient Flight Group formed through a merger with JetDirect Aviation, which had acquired several charter operators, a maintenance business, and FBOs over a short period of time. The company now comprises Sentient Jet Membership, JetDirect Aircraft Management, JetDirect Charter, JetDirect Aircraft Services and JetCorp Technical Services. With some 120 aircraft under its control, the company manages one of the largest charter fleets in North America, and Sentient Jet Membership is one of the leading card programs with more than 3,000 members. A former partner in McKinsey & Co., Hankin, 47, was promoted to his current position last Thursday. The versatile workhorse Twin Otter is back. Viking Air Revives Otters Donald Douglas may have declared, “The only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3,” but he never put his money where his mouth was and reopened the production line. More than a few old light airplanes have had their Type Certificates (TC) dusted off in recent years, but confident, indeed, is the manufacturer who returns a twinprop to the assembly hall after two decades. One such is Viking Air of Sidney, British Columbia. In January 2006, the company scooped up all the old de Havilland Canada TCs in a Bombardier garage sale and then began soliciting the interest of potential customers in brand new DHC-6 Twin Otters. In truth, this was slightly less of a gamble than it might first seem, for with responsibility for keeping the world’s remaining 600 (of 844) Twin Otter airworthy, OEM Viking was already manufacturing 35% of the airframe in its 150,000-sq ft plant in the form of spares. On April 9 this year, with more than double the dozen orders and commitments needed for launch; independent market studies by Conklin & deDecker indicating a ten-year demand for over 400 new aircraft; and with local government support in place, Viking officially returned the DHC-6 to production. The first airplane is scheduled to roll out in the third quarter of 2008 and be delivered to launch customer, Air Seychelles, in April 2009. Viking is producing a new version, which following on from DHC nomenclature, is the Series 400. Power now comes from two 750 shp flat-rated P&WC PT6A-34 turboprops, with three or—optional—four-blade propellers. Systems are upgraded; and the obligatory glass cockpit included. Price is 3.2 million in 2006 U.S. dollars for the standard, 19-seat utility version. And with the announcement at the recent Paris Air Show of a comparatively large contract for 10 from Emirates Advanced Investments, the order/option book has reached 40. Viking is also deeply involved with upgrades of the DHC-2 Beaver and DHC-3 Otter up to the level of turboprop conversion. There’s no objection to putting these back into production, too, providing a large enough launch order can be assembled. —Paul Jackson 1 How goes the P180 Avanti program? purchasing, marketing, training and so forth. Can small operators compete? Hankin: Absolutely. It's difficult to achieve consolidation. Other than us, there have not been many big moves in this industry for a lot of reasons and that fragmentation is likely to continue. In addition, there are many successful small operators, some great ones, and will continue to be. The major threat to them would be increased regulations, which would raise costs that are easier for a large operator to absorb. Hankin: There are still some gaps geographically, even in the northeast, so I expect we'll do a number before the end of the year, and then the pace will probably slow. When we're done, they will all operate under one certificate and under the JetDirect brand. 2 So, will you be done as a broker and use only your own aircraft for charter? Hankin: No. Sentient continues as a broker in the eyes of the DOT and we will continue to use outside operators. There are some 160 Sentient-certified charter operators, but about 20 of them do half the flying. Some operate aircraft dedicated to Sentient members. Together, those outside operators actually cover most of our trips; our aircraft handle only about ten percent of our own flights. Whether the jet is from our own fleet or from one of our operator partners, every flight must pass the same stringent Sentient certification standards. 4 5 Sentient operates almost entirely within North America. Will you set up shop overseas? Hankin: That's something we're looking at right now. It's a very strong market and I expect Sentient Flight Group to be in Europe in the near future. You've come a long way in three years. Did you plan this? 3 38 There are obvious benefits of scale among large operators in fuel and equipment Hankin: Certainly not! But we worked really hard on safety and service and people liked our product. Because of that, we needed more aircraft, so we acquired Atlantic Aviation. Then it became clear we had a bigger opportunity. It's been hard work, but it's been a fun time. September 27, 2007 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

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Why Buy Columbia? Too Much of a Good Thing? The User Fee Fracas Big Toys for Big Boys Honeywell for RNP High Miles Air Taxi Bombardier at Your Service NARA Names Officers Learjet’s Racier Image ILA 2008 in Berlin Gulfstream Hangar Opens Anti-Runway Incursions Like ReallyLarge Cabins? Sentient-Jet Direct

B/CA Show News - NBAA 2007 - September 27, 2007

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