CLEARWATER, Fla., Oct. 27, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avantair, Inc. (OTCBB:AAIR), the sole North American provider of flight hour time cards and fractional shares in the Piaggio Avanti aircraft, today announced preliminary flight time card sales and flight hours flown for its fiscal first quarter ended September 30, 2009.
First Quarter Fiscal 2010 Sales Highlights * Flight time cards sold for the three months ended September 30, 2009 increased 69% to 86 compared to 51 flight time cards sold during the fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30, 2009, and 219% from 27 for the fiscal first quarter ended September 30, 2008. * Revenue-generating flight hours flown reached a new quarterly record, increasing 13% quarter-over-quarter to 9,356 hours compared to 8,277 hours for the fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30, 2009, and increasing 11% year-over-year compared to 8,393 for the fiscal first quarter ended September 30, 2008.
Steven Santo, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Avantair, said, "Our record quarterly performance is the result of several key factors: our enhanced sales and marketing initiatives as well as increasing customer awareness of the fuel efficiency of the Piaggio aircraft and the superior cost value of an Avantair program compared to the light-jet programs of our competitors. Our favored eco-friendly operations and low carbon emissions aircraft are also driving the growth and expansion of our business and awareness of the Avantair brand. While we are seeing improvement in the fractional share portion of our business, the main driver of revenue growth is the continued surge of interest in our flight time card programs.
"The outstanding numbers for our September quarter show that we are not only increasing our penetration of the existing market but also expanding our total market as new and referral customers realize the value of our product offerings," Mr. Santo continued. "Our fleet expansion is well-timed in order to keep pace with the strong demand for our flight programs and we continue to build our presence in both existing and new geographical regions. In addition, the significant cost effectiveness of our aircraft has resulted in the expansion of our marketing targets to include a broader and more diverse audience. Widespread environmental concerns and the problems impacting commercial travel make our value proposition clear particularly with those businesses that are most concerned with responsible private transportation alternatives."
Avantair recently announced the expansion of its fleet with the addition of four aircraft, three of which have already been received and one of which is expected to be added before the end of the calendar year. The Company's improved capital structure following the closing of the final tranche of a financing for total gross proceeds of $10.4 million enabled this expansion. Avantair maintains world class FBOs in Camarillo, California and Caldwell, New Jersey and its headquarters in Clearwater, Florida. These FBOs allow the Company to support its operations and deliver premier services to Avantair's customers while maintaining the highest levels of safety. The Company's primary service area currently includes the Continental United States, international locations in Canada within 200 miles of the Continental U.S., and flights between seven select airports in the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Cabo San Lucas, La Paz and Puerto Vallarta.
Avantair will report financial results for the fiscal first quarter 2010 ended September 30, 2009 during the second week of November; details will be forthcoming.
About Avantair
Avantair, the only publicly traded stand-alone private aircraft operator and the sole North American provider of fractional shares and flight hour time cards in the Piaggio Avanti aircraft, is headquartered in Clearwater, FL, with over 400 employees. The Company offers private travel solutions for individuals and businesses traveling within its service area, which includes the continental United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico, at a fraction of the cost of whole aircraft ownership. The Company currently manages a fleet of 55 aircraft, with another 53 Piaggio Avanti aircraft on order through 2013. For more information about Avantair, please visit: http://www.avantair.com .
Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to Avantair's future financial or business performance, strategies and expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as "trend," "potential," "opportunity," "pipeline," "believe," "comfortable," "expect," "anticipate," "current," "intention," "estimate," "position," "assume," "outlook," "continue," "remain," "maintain," "sustain," "seek," "achieve," and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could," "may" and similar expressions. Avantair cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Avantair assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance.
In addition to factors previously disclosed in Avantair's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and those as may be identified elsewhere in this press release, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: general economic and business conditions in the U.S. and abroad, changing interpretations of generally accepted accounting principles, changes in market acceptance of the company's products, inquiries and investigations and related litigation, fluctuations in customer demand, management of rapid growth, intensity of competition. The information set forth herein should be read in light of such risks. Avantair does not assume any obligation to update the information contained in this press release.
Avantair's filings with the SEC, accessible on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov , discuss these factors in more detail and identify additional factors that can affect forward-looking statements.