West Coast Aviation Services LLC in Santa Ana will buy eight Piaggio P180 Avanti Evo airplanes to boost short-haul offerings and last month rebranded part of its operations as West Coast Worldwide for global charters.
The purchase represents a commitment of $64 million.
The deal and new brand figure into the company’s plan to sell clients short-haul, midrange and global charter flights.
“It’s a pick-your-mission kind of thing,” said founder and President Gary Standel.
West Coast Aviation has about $45 million in annual revenue from aircraft charters, sales, fractional ownership and maintenance fees.
“We do everything but sell gas,” Standel said.
Annual revenue has been growing at about 10% in recent years, he said.
West Coast’s offices are at John Wayne Airport in the Atlantic Aviation fixed-base operator. FBOs provide facilities for charter airlines and private plane owners.
West Coast has 35 planes parked at JWA and a half-dozen other airports; about 80% of them can be chartered.
Most of its aircraft are owned by others as individuals or in groups through fractional shares that allow regular use; Standel’s companies at any time own only three or four planes.
“We don’t want to own,” he said. “We bought the Evos to re-sell them.”
Italian
The Evo is an Italian turboprop noted for its design and efficiency. Reviews go big on words like “elegance” and say that its exterior curves, wing configuration and engine placement reduce drag and cabin noise.
A son of Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari helped save its maker, Piaggio Aerospace in Genoa, out of bankruptcy in the 1990s; Piaggio says the Evo uses 40% less fuel than comparable jets on just an 11% decline in speed.
Standel is taking his eight over four years—the first arrived late last year, and the second is due this week.
“Ours was the first delivered to a U.S. buyer,” he said.
Each carries seven people and has a range of about 1,500 miles—for trips “west of the Rockies,” Standel said.
His charter fleet includes 12 King Air turboprops for up to nine passengers, with the same range and more cargo space.
He said both models are for short trips but that the bulkier King Air is meant for “guys with all their golf clubs” or a family on a skiing trip, while the Evo is for groups with less luggage—say, executives heading to a business meeting.
The Evos are also about 30% faster than the King Airs.
“The King Airs are like an SUV,” Standel said. “The Evo is a sports car.”
Cuba
Standel’s mid-range fleet also features Cessna Citation models, a Hawker 900 made by Hawker Beechcraft, and a Learjet 45XR, which is manufactured by Bombardier.
His biggest plane—room for 12, range of 3,700 miles—is the Challenger 604, also by Bombardier. West Coast has a half-dozen of those models to provide the company’s recently rebranded “worldwide” flying, which includes cross-country service and routes to Hawaii and Europe.
Standel said West Coast had recently been approved to fly to and from Cuba, though he hasn’t done so yet.
The company also has two Beechcraft Premier 1A planes—“light jets with good speed” to carry “four to five people west of the Mississippi.”
Diverse
Standel started out washing planes, earned his pilot’s license, and founded West Coast in 1987.
“July 1st will be 30 years,” he said.
It employs 100 across the divisions, including about 40 pilots, one of whom is one of Standel’s two sons.
“The key is diversification and a broad, long-term customer base,” Standel said.
The company keeps headquarters here and has offices at airports in Ontario, Carlsbad, Long Beach and Las Vegas. Long Beach also houses its repair facilities.
It is 100% charter, more akin to JWA-based competitor STAJets Inc. than JetSuite Inc., which has lately begun to add scheduled service to its charter work from the airport.
