CitationShares Reduces Staff to Match Flight Activity

By: Matt Thurber

July 2, 2009
Fractional

On Tuesday, fractional-share operator CitationShares laid off 41 office staff and furloughed 52 pilots, according to CEO Steve O’Neill, “to match both the flight activity with staffing levels as well as operating revenue with expenses. We had too much capacity both inside and outside the office for current and projected levels of business.

He further told AIN that the decline in selling and flight activity has begun to level off. “Customers exiting for financial reasons have all but stopped,” O’Neill said.

“Now we feel like we’re in a healthy place. The reduction in staffing levels comprises about 16 percent of CitationShares employees.

In other news, CitationShares announced a new association with Corporate Angel Network, whereby customers can donate their flight hours to a CAN jet card to help cancer patients travel for treatment, and with TerraPass, to allow customers to purchase carbon offsets for their CitationShares flights. “TerraPass demonstrates a key component of our evolving environmental strategy,” said Woody Harford, senior vice president and chief revenue officer, “and CAN affords our clients a way to directly impact the lives of others through their relationship with CitationShares.

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