Even as other well-established and larger fractional ownership operations are quietly laying off employees and reducing aircraft delivery rates in response to the economic crisis, Avantair is hiring and adding to its fleet of 53 Avanti twin turboprops as quickly as Italian manufacturer Piaggio can deliver them.
The fractional company was created in 2002 when Steven Santo’s law firm, along with three partners, decided to buy two Cessna CJ2s and operate them under a fractional partnership agreement. Instead, Piaggio got wind of the deal and persuaded Santo and others to take a flight on an Avanti. “We got on it, and that was it,” said Santo, who is now CEO of the fractional company. Today, Avantair is the only fractional operator with a fleet made up exclusively of the Avanti, an airplane with a midsize cabin but about one-third the fuel burn of a light jet.
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