After taking the company public through an acquisition by Altair International Corp., Premier Air Charter (San Diego McClellan Palomar) is now planning to expand into the large business jet segment with GIVs, chief executive Ross Gourdie told ch-aviation in an exclusive interview.
“We have already applied to the FAA for our '10 or more' certificate. That lets us fly aircraft with 10 or more passengers. And we already have acquired two GIVs. Now they're flying with a partner company of ours based in Michigan, but eventually they will be brought over to Premier when we get our 10 or more certificate,” he explained.
The two aircraft, GIV N236CA (msn 1202) and GIV-SP N450EJ (msn 1273), are currently placed with Paradigm Jet Management. Premier Air Charter expects to complete the large aircraft certification and induct the aircraft into its own Part 135 fleet in the third quarter of 2025.
The large GIVs are the last missing part in Premier’s fleet strategy. Earlier this year, the operator inducted its first two Citation Jet 3s. Gourdie said they were “game changers” as relatively young airframes equipped with fast Wi-Fi. They are of 2011 and 2012 vintage, the ch-aviation fleets module shows.
“Everybody wants Wi-Fi these days. And having a small aircraft with Wi-Fi is a great advantage,” Gourdie said.
Premier Air Charter’s fleet of light jets also includes one Citation Jet 2. The three Citation X are a “step up” from this and are frequently deployed on longer routes connecting the West and East coasts. The operator's Part 135 fleet also includes two Challenger 601-3Rs, a type particularly well-suited for Hawai'i charters.
“We cover all bases. We've got small, medium, and large aircraft," Gourdie outlined. "We would want to expand on those types - maybe no more Challenger 601s. I'd want to do something more modern on those. [I'd like to get more] Citation Jet 3s and get some young Citation X, these aircraft are excellent."
The Challenger 601s will likely be replaced by Challenger 604s or Challenger 605s, or possibly even Challenger 300. Gourdie said he would prefer to stick to the Bombardier Business Aircraft aircraft in this segment.
The operator has no plans to look for aircraft smaller than the Citation Jets. Premier Air Charter used to operate King Airs and Eclipse 500 jets but retired all of them by 2022. The operator continues to manage a single King Air 350, but the aircraft is not available for charter.
“It's a great aircraft, but I don't see us going back towards chartering turboprops. We'll be sticking with the jets that we have, and maybe move on to the bigger ones," Gourdie said.
Ownership
The operator does not currently own any of its aircraft but generally has high charter availability on all airframes. Some are managed on behalf of owners, who tend to use them relatively rarely, and some are leased, which gives Premier Air Charter full flexibility in terms of their utilisation.
Gourdie said the company was now looking to buy its own aircraft and would like to do so in 2025.
“I'm open to all options. If there's a good Citation Jet 3 out there, I'll be interested. If there's a young Citation X, Citation X+, I'd definitely be interested. The Gulfstreams are a good option," he listed.
Besides the one King Air, Premier Air Charter currently also has one Citation Jet under a pure Part 91 certificate. Gourdie said the operator had a preference towards aircraft with charter availability but would “never say no to more managed aircraft, especially when we can take care of the maintenance.”
In terms of managed aircraft, Premier Air Charter has no type preference.
California market
While Premier Air Charter floats the aircraft and is open to positioning them at various airports across the country, the majority of its business remains in Southern California. San Diego McClellan Palomar (Carlsbad) is also the operator's main maintenance base.
“If there's maintenance needs to be done elsewhere, we will arrange that. But nine times out of 10, we come back here, get any maintenance, washes, internal cleaning done, and the aircraft is good to go again," Gourdie said.
He added that after a slow start to 2024, the charter market started picking up in the second half of last year and is currently looking very promising. Premier Air Charter is “quite happy being based in southern California”, which is a busy region for charter, but Gourdie confirmed that demand on the East Coast and in Florida is even stronger.
Maintenance investment plans
Premier Air Charter considers aircraft maintenance an important part of its business and wants to expand in this segment.
“I want to get investment to get our hangar and repair station, and I can expand on that. I can employ more mechanics, and we can really, really get into some hardcore maintenance where we can do anything. Already now we're doing engine changes, we're doing landing gear changes, we're doing everything from the day-to-day stuff to the heavyweight maintenance. But I do really want to expand on that. We'll get, hopefully, our own hangar and our own FAA repair station, but that's maybe something more into 2025," Gourdie revealed.
His preference is to invest in a hangar at Carlsbad, but he acknowledged that getting real estate at this busy airport is very difficult. Alternative options would include other airports in the San Diego metro area and towards Orange County and Los Angeles.
In terms of its physical footprint, Premier Air Charter does not plan to invest in FBO facilities as it is happy with its current partnerships in this area.
