PlaneSense

PlaneSense is a fractional aircraft ownership program managed by PlaneSense, Inc. and based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States. As of the beginning of 2020, they managed a civilian fleet of 44 total program aircraft, made up of 36 Pilatus PC-12 aircraft and five Pilatus PC-24 jets. The PlaneSense fractional program provides private air transportation, primarily within the United States, Canada, Mexico, The Bahamas, the islands of the Caribbean and more recently, Cuba. PlaneSense guarantees departure times as soon as eight hours after a flight request, depending on the size of the aircraft share owned for domestic flights on non-peak days. PlaneSense, inc. is not, itself, an air charter provider or commercial air carrier, but charter flights can be arranged through its sister company, Cobalt Air.

History


PlaneSense, Inc., formerly named Alpha Flying, Inc., was founded in 1992. The name was changed on 1 February 2012 to PlaneSense, Inc.. Originally based in Norwood, Massachusetts, Alpha Flying, Inc. was founded by George Antoniadis, initially as a supplemental program to the then Alpha Flying Club, which provided rental and management of high performance piston and turbine powered general aviation aircraft. In 1995, the PlaneSense program was founded, with the first Pilatus PC-12 delivered on 9 September 1995. In 1998, they moved to a facility at Nashua Airport. In 2000, they moved to a facility at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. In 2007, they moved to a new custom built facility at Portsmouth International Airport at Pease in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The PlaneSense program achieved steady growth since its inception 25 years ago, and it has recently surpassed significant flight benchmarks. Notably, it has exceeded the milestone of 400,000 flight hours.

In 1994, George Antoniadis arranged a visit to Pilatus Aircraft Stans, Switzerland, to view their new turboprop model - the PC-12. He reviewed the PC-12, analyzed its operating characteristics and soon became convinced that it was the airplane he'd been seeking. He placed an order in September 1995 and took delivery of the 20th Pilatus PC-12 off the assembly line.

The Pilatus PC-24 jet entered service in early 2018, with PlaneSense taking delivery of the first production model. Building on the success of the Pilatus PC-12 turboprops, the PC-24 aims to offer PC-12 versatility with turbojet powered performance. PlaneSense is the launch customer with a preliminary order for six jets under contract. Before taking delivery of the PC-24, PlaneSense purchased four Nextant 400XTi aircraft, but now the jet program is dedicated to the PC-24 fleet.