JetBird cancels deal for 50 corporate jets

DUBLIN-BASED executive jet airline JetBird has cancelled its contract with Brazilian manufacturer Embraer for 50 Phenom 100 very light jets.

But a spokesman for the airline, founded by financier Dómhnal Slattery and backed by Senator Feargal Quinn and his family, said it was negotiating a new deal with Embraer.

JetBird was due to take delivery of an initial 10 Phenom jets in 2009 for its launch from its assigned base in Cologne, Germany. However that launch was deferred several times as the airline encountered financial difficulties and the market for corporate air travel declined.

The spokesman said JetBird and Embraer were now seeking to agree a new deal with a slower delivery schedule.

JetBird is also seeking to raise $5-10 million in additional funding to enable it to launch.

“The old contract has been cancelled,” the JetBird spokesman said. “We’re currently negotiating a new contract with a revised delivery schedule. And JetBird is working on securing new funding.”

According to reports in the aviation trade press, Embraer had built some Phenom 100s for JetBird for delivery last year, but those have been reconfigured and delivered to other customers.

JetBird signed a deal with Embraer to buy 50 Phenom jets with an option to purchase another 50 at a later date.

JetBird was founded in 2006 and backed by investors in Mr Slattery’s Claret Capital private equity business, which has scaled back its activities in the past year.

Cork businessman Barry O’Callaghan is another investor in JetBird.