CitationAir to Cease Flight Operations

CitationAir is planning to end all its flight operations on Oct. 31. The company stopped selling fractional shares two years ago and has been providing charter and management services since then.

CitationAir was founded in 2000 as CitationShares and is a subsidiary of Cessna Aircraft Company. It was formed to take advantage of the growing fractional market and quickly grew to have about 100 aircraft in its fleet.

“After diligently evaluating options for the future of CitationAir, we have made the decision to wind down our operations and exit the business,” said a spokesperson for CitationAir parent company Textron Aviation.

The company is repurchasing fractional interests from current owners. The aircraft resales will then be handled through the company’s pre-owned aircraft sales department.

Market Changes

There has certainly been a lot of reorganization in this marketplace over the last few years. CitationAir was one of the four large fractional ownership companies alongside NetJets, Flexjet and Flight Options.

Towards the end of last years, Flexjet was acquired by Directional Aviation Capital, the parent company of Flight Options.

Avantair, which offered the innovative Piaggio P180 and had over 50 aircraft in its fleet, filed for bankruptcy in the middle of last year.

On the manufacturing side, Textron closed its acquisition of Beech Holdings, LLC, the parent of Beechcraft Corporation earlier this year. This brought the Cessna, Beechcraft and Hawker aircraft brands under one ownership.

All this corporate activity is due to the effects of the recession and its lingering after effects. But the corner has certainly been turned, with the other large providers all announcing large orders for new aircraft.