Airshares

[GaryP1007]

Has anyone ever looked into the Airshares Elite program?  Essentially a lease/ownership option on a Cirrus.  I can imagine this question will strike a nerve with many.  LOL

[Oscar Avalle]

I looked into the option several years ago. It depends on what you want. If you want access to an airplane and not more than that, then Airshares is a good option. However, if you like to have your bird, look at it, pad it once in a while, have virtual friends that are as crazy as you are..., work on it and dream about what your next project (ie black hole) will be...then Airshares does not work. At least it did not work for me. My two cents.

[triple8s]

Isnt a Cirrus a Plymouth?? Or was it a Dodge? Wait my bad its a Chrysler.....

[bd32322]

I looked into airshares before buying the mooney. Basically it did not make any sense from a cost perspective given the kind of pleasure flying I do (no business or work flying). If you want to be sure your aircraft is ready for flight whenever you decide to go, then airshares is for you.

Basically when I talked to the sales rep over the phone, he pretty much said I will be better off with the mooney in terms of costs - for the kind of flying I was looking at.

[Spenscot]

I also looked into it. The draw back for me is the limited overnights you are allowed. If your plane is used for day trips, with an occasional overnight it might work out for you. I like to go on vacation with my plane and I can be gone for weeks at a time, and that's not allowed in the Airshares program. Don't let everyone fool you, the Cirrus SR22 is a very nice aircraft, we are all just partial to Mooney.

[Jeff_S]

This program seems to make sense if you just want a great Cirrus to fly around, especially if you are using it for business and can treat the costs as a legitimate expense/deduction.  For pleasure purposes, you lose the intrinsic satisfaction of "ownership" as some have noted above and it doesn't seem to be the most cost-effective way to have a plane.

[flyboy0681]

I too looked into this before getting into the Mooney. It was bookoo bucks and just didn't seem to have any value.

[carusoam]

They don't seem to have a way of singling out their potential customers.

Corporate, day fliers...

Well off, day fliers...

High preference for service, newness and readiness...

Low preference for ownership, speed or efficiency...

There are Mooney pilots and Airshares is the Anti-Mooney (opposite of Mooney) pilot's solution.

The owner cared for Mooney, is a very efficient traveling machine. It is hard to compete with us on efficiency.

Best regards,

-a-

[smccray]

I'm not familiar with Airshares, but PlaneSmart is here in Dallas and I believe it's a similar model.  I work with a gentleman who used a NA SR22 for day trips throughout Texas.  It worked great because they could structure the deal as an ownership or a lease depending on the customer's need, and they took care of everything.  It also provided fleet access to a number of planes which is helpful for business use of the aircraft.  With business in rural TX, the program let him get home at night at a decent hour rather than spending the night in a hotel and flying home southwest the next day.  The fleet access aspect of the program meant that when the plane was down for maintenance he had access to other planes.  It was a transportation program in this case which was perfect for this application.

 

They were great airplanes and it was truely country club flying, but I own 100% of my M20J for about the same cost as a 1/4 share in an SR20.  Definately not the same plane, but it's a better fit for what I'm looking for.

[GaryP1007]

Thanks everyone.