Day Jet Scales back

Dave Siciliano

Dave Siciliano

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Dave Siciliano
DayJet Scales Back after Failed Capital Infusion

By Matt Thurber
May 6, 2008
Charter and Fractional

Eclipse 500 air-taxi operator DayJet has “reduced its employee base across most areas of its business,” according to president and CEO Ed Iacobucci in a statement released earlier this afternoon. DayJet hoped to raise another $40 million of operating capital in the first quarter of this year, he wrote, “but suffice it to say that given the current state of the U.S. capital markets, the timing of our planned financing could not have been worse.

http://tinyurl.com/4y563t

Best,

Dave
 
Yikes, that didn't take long. That's too bad, could'a been a cool operation. Maybe they'll still find a way to pull it out....:fcross:
 
wow, is that aviation industry deja vu or what...
 
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Dave, that means you can help old Ed out by relieving some of his capital expense and taking one of those gently used jets off his hands... :)
 
I priced DayJet for a few trips, and found it non-economical from a time standpoint as well as a cost standpoint. They want to replace driving on biz trips, but they basically require you to give a 4-hour departure window on each leg. Well, there goes your time savings over driving unless you have the luxury of scheduling your business at the destination end at the last minute and to your convenience. Otherwise, you've got dead space at one end or the other, which is OK if you have work to do on a laptop or something. Otherwise, why go to the expense? And if you don't want that huge window, the cost is basically the same as any other charter -- but you still might detour and pick up someone else. Personally, while I would like them to succeed, I think the business model has some serious flaws.
 
Ken Ibold said:
I priced DayJet for a few trips, and found it non-economical from a time standpoint as well as a cost standpoint. They want to replace driving on biz trips, but they basically require you to give a 4-hour departure window on each leg. Well, there goes your time savings over driving unless you have the luxury of scheduling your business at the destination end at the last minute and to your convenience. Otherwise, you've got dead space at one end or the other, which is OK if you have work to do on a laptop or something. Otherwise, why go to the expense? And if you don't want that huge window, the cost is basically the same as any other charter -- but you still might detour and pick up someone else. Personally, while I would like them to succeed, I think the business model has some serious flaws.
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Such as? I've not read much about Dayjet but have wondered considering their chosen aircraft.
 
KennyFlys said:
Such as? I've not read much about Dayjet but have wondered considering their chosen aircraft.
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Well, such as I've outlined. You can't expect business travelers to abandon their cars if you don't make it more convenient to offset the higher cost. It's the combination of window of schedule AND the fact that you may detour for another passenger that blows it out of the water. If, for the price, it could work like a city cab service -- total vehicle, on demand, no detours -- then it would be a service customers would accept more, I think. I've priced several trips on DayJet. In each case, they could get me there in an hour or two, but would not schedule that because of this departure window/detour thing. In each case, a stay overnight was necessary for business that finished by 5 pm. In each case, I would have paid $2500 or more on trips that would involve a 5 hour or so drive each way. Not so customer-friendly.

Add to that the realities of operating the Eclipse 500. Pilots based at DayPorts report hearing the DayJet pilots calling for things like 17 gallons of fuel, so clearly there are payload issues. I do like how the check in counters have scales hidden in the floor in front of them with only the desk person able to see the readout. Personally, I think DayJet should reconsider 2-pilot crews as the standard.
 
Ken Ibold said:
Well, such as I've outlined. You can't expect business travelers to abandon their cars if you don't make it more convenient to offset the higher cost. It's the combination of window of schedule AND the fact that you may detour for another passenger that blows it out of the water. If, for the price, it could work like a city cab service -- total vehicle, on demand, no detours -- then it would be a service customers would accept more, I think. I've priced several trips on DayJet. In each case, they could get me there in an hour or two, but would not schedule that because of this departure window/detour thing. In each case, a stay overnight was necessary for business that finished by 5 pm. In each case, I would have paid $2500 or more on trips that would involve a 5 hour or so drive each way. Not so customer-friendly.

Add to that the realities of operating the Eclipse 500. Pilots based at DayPorts report hearing the DayJet pilots calling for things like 17 gallons of fuel, so clearly there are payload issues. I do like how the check in counters have scales hidden in the floor in front of them with only the desk person able to see the readout. Personally, I think DayJet should reconsider 2-pilot crews as the standard.
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Okay, I had read that portion of your post. I was thinking there were other issues with regard to marketing and management.

Are these trips trying to fill up the cabin, thereby pushing the W&B limit? It seems that way with the minimal fuel orders.
 
Give it 90 days, you'll see another headline:

DayJet Files For Chapter 11 Protection

Aviation is a great way to spend a lot of money...we have a new local aviation company @ OKV. Consulting, management, charter, etc. 2 brand new hangars, lots of press releases, flashy web site, VP of this, Director and Chief of that, pictures on the website showing a Piaggio, with a Vette and a Lotus parked beside it, champaign glasses, etc.

What are they flying? One 421.

Greg
 
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TangoWhiskey said:
Dave, that means you can help old Ed out by relieving some of his capital expense and taking one of those gently used jets off his hands... :)
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Well Troy, hopefully, there will be enough jets produced in total for the servicing to be reasonable. Day Jet had almost one-half of Eclipse's order book.
There are factors now stacking up against the VLJ that weren't there a year ago: capital markets are distressed; dollar is down (hurts out sourced parts prices); may folks (like myself) are seeing a downturn in their business among other things.
Hope it works out for Eclipse, but road seems to be a bit tougher.

Best,

Dave
 
They shoulda hired Martin Aviation Group (tm).
 
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