Why Jet It Failed

Jet It sent a letter to employees saying everyone is terminated, and the company is shutting down.

Craig Fuller

Friday, May 26, 2023 at 06:40 PM ET

Verified

Prior to the grounding, Jet It was the largest operator of HondaJets in the U.S. [Courtesy: Jet It]

Key Takeaways:

Jet It, a fractional jet ownership company, abruptly ceased operations and grounded its entire fleet, initially citing unsubstantiated safety concerns about HondaJets, though the real reason was severe financial insolvency.
Fractional owners are now liable for significant unpaid maintenance, fuel, and storage expenses accumulated by Jet It on their aircraft, while numerous vendors, including Honda Aircraft, were left with substantial unpaid bills.
The company's collapse stemmed from an unsustainable business model that offered unrealistically low hourly rates and guaranteed availability, leading to massive operational losses and an ultimately failed reliance on new fractional share sales for cash flow.

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Buying a fractional share of an airplane is supposed to make personal jet aviation effortless, but for Jet It clients it has become a nightmare. On Monday, May 22, Jet It fractional owners were told that their airplanes were being grounded because of safety concerns about the HondaJet.

At the time of the grounding, Jet It claimed that it was taking the action out of an abundance of caution in light of an incident with a HondaJet. The airplane ran off the end of a runway in South Carolina. Jet It CEO Glenn Gonzales told owners that he was concerned about the safety of the aircraft and wanted to understand the reason that HondaJets were more susceptible to runway excursions than similar aircraft.