FlyExclusive (JRE, Kinston) has signed an aircraft management services agreement with Volato (TMB, Houston Hobby), wherein it will assume full operating control of the latter's fleet and eventually transfer it to FlyExclusive's Part 135 certificate. It has also secured the right to acquire Volato.
In the first step, FlyExclusive will take over the management of flight operations, sales, and expenses of Volato's fleet. It will also execute the existing customer agreements between Volato and its 184 fractional customers and 265 block customers. It will aim to sign new agreements with those customers, gradually transferring them to its own business.
The operations will, for now, remain on the existing Volato Part 135 certificate but will be moved to FlyExclusive over the coming months.
FlyExclusive has said it expects incremental revenues of USD75 million per year from the agreement. At the same time, due to the existing infrastructure, the additional overhead costs are minimal.
Volato said in an SEC filing that the agreement also includes a 12-month merger option. If exercised, the price of the acquisition will be based on the volume-weighted average price of Volato's common stock for the 30 trading-day period preceding the announcement.
The operator also announced company-wide layoffs in late August, although at least some of these are related to the transition and will result in employees transferring to FlyExclusive.
"This agreement provides mutual benefit to both of our companies and, most importantly, our customers benefit by increased flight and service options with the reliable and high-quality service they have come to expect from best-in-class operators," Matt Liotta, CEO of Volato, said.
Volato will continue to sell fractional ownership of its HA-420 and G280 aircraft. It will also continue developing a proprietary empty-leg booking system, which will now offer the entire FlyExclusive fleet.
Volato operates 25 aircraft, including twenty-four HA-420s in various variants and a single, recently delivered G280. The fleet comprises 13 fully fractionalised aircraft, eight leased aircraft, and four managed aircraft. In turn, FlyExclusive has one of the world's largest fleets of Cessna Aircraft Company business jets, which currently comprises three Citation Encore+, thirty-five Excels, fourteen Citation Jet 3s, nine Citation Jet 3+, seven Sovereigns, seven Xs, seven XLS, and three XLS+. The operator also has one Challenger 350 and four GIV-SPs.
