JetFlite Sets Up New Russian Entity

Charter and management firm JetFlite International (JFI) has signed a partnership agreement with Moscow’s Best-Jets to help JFI penetrate the Russian market. Named JFI Russia, the new entity comes partly as a result of Best-Jets acting as JFI’s handling agent in the country for the past five years. JetFlite CEO Bill Cripe said, “With JFI located in California and New York, trying to get a foothold in Russia is nearly impossible without having staff there.” JetFlite (Booth No. N3136) expanded its presence in Moscow last month with the addition of a Bombardier Challenger 601 based at Vnukovo Airport. This joins a Gulfstream G200 already in place there. According to Cripe, there is a great deal of opportunity for the charter/management sector in Russia. He said that one of the company’s managed fleet flew 80 charter hours in a month. JFI also announced that it has become launch customer for Honeywell’s Mechanical Protection Plan, an extended warranty program for the OEM’s avionics and cabin control systems.