Low-cost airlines

Club Airways, the Geneva-based members-only airline, has resumed operations under new ownership and management; it had filed for bankruptcy in late April. The company has resumed service with Citation IIs, Vs and Bravos between Geneva and Paris with three weekly flights and plans to step up to two daily flights in late August. Club Airways wet-leases aircraft from charter operators.

Charter operator Delta AirElite is offering a 10-hour Fleet Membership program through September 30. Pricing for the new program, called Perfect 10, starts at $41,400 for 10 hours in the light jet category, $59,900 for a midsize aircraft and $102,900 for a large aircraft. The program guarantees aircraft availability with 12 hours’ notice, and members can fly all or a portion of their hours as one-way flights.

Rising load factors for the 30- to 120-seat segment are evidence that carriers are becoming more efficient. But with revenues improving only “mildly” and labor costs continuing to inhibit growth, operators continue to look for ways to trim the cost of doing business and to combat the rising price of fuel. That’s the view of Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer as it takes a long-range look at its segment of the airline industry.

The experiment in discount-fare, 50-seat RJ flying known as Independence Air (formerly Atlantic Coast Airlines) ended once and for all when the company transported its last passenger on January 5, a year and a half after it severed ties with former mainline partner United Airlines.