ETIRC Aviation S.a.r.l. today announced that it has signed an
agreement with Atasay, a leading luxury goods company, to provide a
jet taxi service for Turkey's business travelers. The two companies
will establish a joint venture which will see the purchase of 120
Eclipse 500 Very Light Jets (VLJs), with options for a further 60. The
new joint venture company will be responsible for every aspect of the
VLJ service business including plane management and maintenance, plane
sales, scheduling, pilot recruitment and training, and customer
reservations. The agreement covers Turkey, the Turkish Republics and a
broad region around Turkey. All the regional operations will be
managed from Turkey.
The new VLJ service will provide Turkey's business travelers with
a radical travel alternative where flights from any local airport can
be booked to any other local airport in the region at costs in line
with current business class travel, but at times and locations of
their choosing. By avoiding the existing travel frustrations of having
to travel through hub airports at scheduled times, the new service
will deliver a huge productivity benefit to both individuals and the
businesses they represent.
The service is expected to be operational by the end of the year
with an initial small number of jets and will scale to deployment of a
fleet of 120 jets or more by 2009. Passengers will be transported in
VLJ planes including or similar to the Eclipse 500 that feature a high
standard of comfort while benefiting from very low cost per mile
through efficient fuel usage. Financing for the plane purchase and
joint venture setup is confirmed but not announced at this time.
"The VLJ service is a revolution in productivity for business and
Turkey has been the first to seize the opportunity that this
represents," explained Roel Pieper, Chairman of ETIRC Aviation. "The
growth and ambition of this country is matched by its innovation, and
the decision by Atasay to lead Europe in deploying VLJ services is
proof of that."
"For the first time in Turkish history, the economy is resilient
enough and the nation is ready for a far-reaching initiative such as
this," said Cihan Kamer, "I believe that the introduction of on-demand
jet taxi service in Turkey will be as revolutionary for business as
the introduction of the cellphone, creating whole new micro-economies
and benefiting multiple industries with new jobs and new
opportunities. We're working with ETIRC Aviation to achieve this
because we have a shared vision as well as the infrastructure and the
willpower to make this a reality in Turkey and a first in Europe."
ETIRC Aviation is Europe's first Very Light Jet (VLJ) Service
Provider and has been established to provide airlines and aviation
entrepreneurs with the complete white-label infrastructure required to
rapidly build and deploy virtual jet networks (VJNs) and jet taxi
services with a focus on Eastern Europe. The company already has
substantial financing in place that enables the purchase several
hundred VLJ's.
ETIRC Aviation's services will comprise financing and financial
management of VLJ fleets, scheduling and operations systems, human
resources management, aircrew training and maintenance operations.
About Atasay
Atasay, a leader in the jewelry sector is the prime mover of
change and development in the transformation of jewelry artisanship
into an industry and was founded in Civril, Denizli in 1937. Cihan
Kamer is the CEO of Atasay Jewelry, ranking among the top ten jewelry
companies worldwide. Atasay, the leader of the jewelry sector in
Turkey has a 15% share in gold jewelry exports in Turkey and exports
80% of its products. Atasay, which started exporting for the first
time in 1982, offers its designs to 62 countries worldwide. Atasay's
annual export volume is USD 115 million of which 40% is exported to
the U.S., 24% to Dubai and the Middle East, 16% to Europe and 8% to
the Far East. Atasay offers its original products to consumers in
Turkey through 100 franchises and 12 of its own stores.
Atasay Jewelry CEO Cihan Kamer has an initial partnership of USD 1
billion in Turkey with global real estate development giant Emaar
Properties. An investment of USD 5 billion in five years is envisaged
within the framework of this partnership. Kamer also has investments
in the field of energy.
About ETIRC Aviation
ETIRC Aviation S.a.r.l. is a principal driver of the VLJ industry,
creating virtual jet networks for airlines and aviation entrepreneurs.
This will provide business communities with affordable, on-demand,
point-to-point jet travel that drives productivity. ETIRC Aviation
will offer a full range of white-label VLJ services to virtual jet
network and jet taxi operators, including a real-time operations
system, fleet financing, VLJ leasing, business consultancy, pilots,
training programmes and VLJ maintenance centres.
ETIRC Aviation is headquartered in Luxembourg and has offices in
Moscow, Istanbul and Cyprus. The company was founded by Roel Pieper, a
former top-level executive at Tandem Computers, Compaq Computer, and
Philips Electronics. ETIRC Aviation S.a.r.l. has its principal place
of business at 16 Rue Jean-Pierre Brasseur, L-1258 Luxembourg. ETIRC
Aviation is registered under R.C. Luxembourg B 95 627.
For more information, see http://www.etirc.com
