From Flying’s e-newsletter:
Cessna Rebrands Its Frax Program: CitationAir
Calling the existing fractional aircraft ownership model “broken,” Cessna has recast and rebranded its CitationShares program. Cessna launched its Northeast-based CitationShares program in 2000 to compete with NetJets, but last week renamed the program CitationAir by Cessna to reflect a new approach better integrating Cessna’s products and services. CitationAir President Steve O’Neill said, “Our customers have evolved, and so must we.” The new entity will encompass not only fractional ownership, but also jet cards, aircraft management and corporate supplemental lift under its CitationAir Corporate Solutions program. The non-fractional elements of the new CitationAir brand had sprung up and evolved over the past several years, but now they assume new balance in the new integrated program. Where fractional shares used to be 100 percent of the program, they now represent approximately 60 percent. With an estimated 25- to 35 percent of the fractional shareholders having liquidated their interest in business aviation since the economic downturn, Cessna sees a new more fully integrated program as the key to building customer loyalty. The company compares CitationAir’s hoped-for customer relationship with that of its connection to an aircraft buyer who starts with a Skyhawk and ultimately moves up to jet ownership.