After spending much of its initial two decades under a different name and with a more localized mission, Lenexa, Kansas-based Airshare is expanding to the East Coast by introducing its days-based fractional ownership and jet card programs in Florida. President & CEO John Owen explains that the private aviation provider is responding to its customers, with one in seven Airshare flights currently involving Florida.
This expansion is particularly beneficial for Airshare's notable customer, Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, who serves as an ambassador for the flight provider. Mahomes' Kansas City Chiefs are set to play against the Jacksonville Jaguars this Fall, and Miami holds significance as the location of his first NFL championship victory.
Unlike larger competitors such as NetJets and Flexjet, which target customers nationwide, Airshare adopts a regional strategy, although it ranks as the ninth-largest operator in the U.S. based on fractional and charter flight hours.
Airshare's program is structured to eliminate repositioning charges; jet card and fractional clients are required to fly to or from airports within 120 nautical miles of various cities including Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Wichita, Denver, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Buffalo. This footprint encompasses destinations like Cincinnati, Louisville, Milwaukee, and Toronto, Canada.
The new Florida service area spans from Jacksonville in the Northeast to Orlando, over to Tampa, and encompasses all of southern Florida from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. It includes five of the busiest private jet airports in the country.
For existing customers, this expansion means they no longer need to pay repositioning fees for flights from Florida to destinations like New York, Washington D.C., Boston, the Caribbean, or Mexico. For Airshare, this move signifies another step towards its goal of becoming a nationwide aviation player.