Entries for the Tag:Ainonline
Charter Company Officially Bankrupt
[caption id=“attachment_339” align=“alignright” width=“300” caption=“No Dough, No Go”]
[/caption]JetDirect Aviation, the company that went on a wild acquisition spree in 2007 - snapping up big league companies such as Sentient Jet and Jet Corp - has filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Friday 5/8.
Recently, JetDriect Aviation has sold all of its assets to the JetDirect Aviation Acquisition Company now known as Wayfarer Aviation. The new company has hired roughly half of the former employees back on, but the remainder of those left jobless are still owed unpaid salaries and benefits.
For many months after the acquisition of Sentient Jet, there were internal industry rumblings from charter operators who had flown charters for Sentient but were having a hard time getting paid. The problem, as JetDirect/Sentient put it, was in reconciling several accouting systems causing delays in processing payments. While the era of a JetDirect controlled Sentient Jet has ended, it serves to underscore that explosive growth for its own sake (espeically in a volitile and unsteady economic climate) can often lead to this kind of “house of cards” collapse.
As an industry veteran and firsthand witness to a similar collapse in 2002 of a substantial charter agent, I am always cautions when dealing with a company that grows very rapidly in compressed period of time. Flashy marketing and good PR, do not, a solid company, make. In every industry, but particularly in Aviation, a strong foundation comprised of forward-looking leadership, smart management, loyal employees, and a steady but not-rushed expansion plan is essential to corporate survival. There is an old phrase about the aviation industry - “If you want to wind up with one million bucks in this job, you’d better start with two.”