Planet 9, the Van Nuys, California-based private charter operator and aircraft management company, has added a fifth Gulfstream business jet to its Part 135 managed charter fleet.
The Gulfstream GV (N779WA) will be based at Naples Airport in South West Florida, a new operating base for Planet 9. Planet 9 has added two more pilots to support the new aircraft. The ultra-long 6,500 nm-range Gulfstream GV is suitable for up to 14 hours’ flying time.
“At a time when the commercial aviation industry is reeling from the effects of the global Coronavirus pandemic, the business aviation sector has really stepped up to offer both repatriation and special flights when the airline industry dramatically scaled back the number of scheduled flights. This has enabled us to get on to the radar of new flyers who hadn’t considered private charter before. These last few months we have widened our customer base, adding a number of first time and also younger clientele choosing us for (primarily) domestic and USA to European flights,” said Matt Walter, Planet 9’s co-founder and director of business development.
“This Gulfstream GV, with its high spec, comfortable interior, will be popular in the charter market and we are very pleased to be adding it to our AOC, and especially from a new Florida base, complementing our Van Nuys and Teterboro, NJ operations.”
Planet 9’s latest Gulfstream GV takes its managed and charter fleet to 11 aircraft. The fleet includes two further sister Gulfstream GV aircraft, a Gulfstream G550, Gulfstream G650 and a Bombardier Global Express. Planet 9 also operates for charter four Dassault Falcon 7Xs.
