Charter & Fractional
JetBird still in the nest
Having delayed its launch for the third time (most recently to December)

Having
delayed its launch for the third time (most recently to December), Ireland-based would-be air-taxi operator JetBird is now publicly no more specific in its planning than to say it will start operations this year. The first aircraft were to have been delivered in September but delays then were attributed to production problems at Embraer. Then, at the end of September, JetBird CEO Stefan Vilner said that bottlenecks in the availability of pilot training would once again push back the launch of services until late 2009.

On November 27, Dublin-based JetBird put its 40 staff (including 14 pilots) under “protective notice,” as required by Irish labor laws, that it might have to lay off at least 10 percent of them. A spokesman for the company indicated that layoffs could be temporary, until it is finally able to launch charter services.