Volato To Negotiate Individual Aircraft Purchases

Volato, the private charter and jet card provider, said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that Honda Aircraft had canceled Volato’s fleet purchase agreement on September 10, effective immediately.

The SEC filing did not say the reason for Honda’s termination. Under the agreement, reached in May 2023, Volato was to purchase 23 HondaJet HA-420 aircraft for an aggregate price of $161.6 million. Deliveries were to begin in fiscal 2023 and continue to fiscal 2025. The filing stated that Honda Aircraft will retain the deposits made by Volato, and that Volato can negotiate and execute individual purchase agreements for each aircraft for which a deposit had been paid.

Volato had entered a separate agreement with FlyExclusive to manage its fleet and customers, but it’s unknown if that agreement was related to Honda’s termination. It is also unknown if Volato had sold shares for any of the yet-to-be-delivered aircraft, or how Volato clients with deposits for upcoming HondaJet deliveries will be impacted. Contracts for those shares stipulated a 30% deposit for the cost. Meanwhile, Volato allowed fractional customers to fly under their ownership terms prior to delivery of their aircraft.

Volato CEO Matt Liotta said at the time, “By shifting fleet operations to FlyExclusive, we reduce our operational costs while continuing to focus on delivering value through our aircraft sales and expanding our software solutions, such as the Vaunt empty leg program.”

FMI:  flyvolato.com/