Avantair Reboot Plan Faces Owner Pushback

The eleventh-hour proposal to restructure Avantair, the Clearwater, Fla.-based Piaggio Avanti turboprop fractional ownership program, is on hold amid owner resistance. Avantair’s “NewCo” proposal, floated July 3, included a $25,000 per-owner maintenance charge to make its grounded fleet airworthy; halving the service area and shedding a similar percentage of Avantair’s 620-some owners while requiring buy-in by 300 owners; and finding $4.5 million in outside financing bolstered by $2 million in cash and credit the company says Piaggio Aero, the Avanti’s manufacturer, has pledged. (Piaggio America president John Bingham told AIN that Piaggio is “pleased to support [Avantair] in any way we can within the boundaries of the situation,” but declined to discuss specific figures.)

Loading…