Podcast: Why Is JSX Purchasing Hundreds Of Hybrid-Electric Aircraft?

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Jeremy Kariuki:

Hello and welcome to the BCA Podcast by Aviation Week. I'm your host, Jeremy Kariuki, Associate Editor for Business Aviation. This week we're speaking with JSX CEO, Alex Wilcox, about his company's plans to purchase over 300 hybrid-electric aircraft from three different manufacturers. As always, if you'd like to support the show, please consider subscribing, following, or rating us wherever you listen. Enjoy the show. All right, Alex Wilcox, thank you for joining us today.

Alex Wilcox:

It's an absolute pleasure to be here, Jeremy. Thanks for having me.

Jeremy Kariuki:

So JSX recently announced its intent to acquire over 300 hybrid electric-aircraft from three different manufacturers. Could you tell me more about this deal and what the motivating factor behind it was?

Alex Wilcox:

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for the question, Jeremy. JSX, our middle name is innovation, and I think this represents the next step for our business. We want to be able to make the kind of convenient, customer friendly service that we're famous for available to more people than ever. And that means we got to take as much cost out as we can. Currently, we're flying 30-seat turbojet aircraft and they've got a great role and a great market for it, but they're not the most efficient airplanes for short-haul markets. And I am a believer in the next generation of hybrid-electric airplanes. I'm not too much in the eVTOL camp, but I'm very much in the hybrid-electric camp. And I think electric aviation can do a lot to reduce costs and reduce maintenance requirements.

And so we ordered three different kinds of airplanes as you pointed out, and each of them has a specific purpose. We have a nine-seat version, we've got a 19-seat version and we got a 30-seat version. And the nine-seat version I think will be opening new markets for us. It needs very little runway. You can see electric aircraft out of Manassas, Virginia. Probably the simplest of the three to get certified. And I think for that reason, it may be the first among the three to actually get certified into production. Very, very small runway requirements. Like I said, it's not eVTOL aircraft, but it's definitely STOL aircraft only needs a few hundred feet of pavement to get up into the air. So we'll be able to operate that in short markets, including places that we already fly, for example, between Dallas and Houston, or between San Diego and L.A. Or maybe up and down the Eastern Seaboard in short markets from existing airports or from adjacent facilities and much, much smaller airports and even places that today are not considered to be an airport but could be in the future.

So I think that's going to be kind of an intercity, not intra, but intercity. Although you could actually run it from Dallas and Fort Worth every day, probably every 15 minutes if you wanted to for a fast market like that. So that's kind of the first of the three is the nine-seater. They're all hybrid-electric and they're all high-wing. They have that in common. And like I said, I think that's the simplest design and I think that's the most likely to be the early success story in the hybrid-electric industry. Second one is the 19-seater. That aircraft is French in origin coming out of Toulouse. It's the Aura Aero era. The Aura Aero era. And that airplane with 19 seats, obviously, the most you can have without a flight attendant. And the nine-seater will be single pilot capable from day one.

I think the 19-seater could eventually become single pilot capable. We'll see, we have to wait for trade unions and regulators to catch up to the technology. So it'll come out as a two-pilot aircraft. And I think that's going to have a little bit more range, a little bit more speed than the nine-seater. And so we'll be able to do markets, some markets that we already do a little bit longer than the ones I described. So Southern California, Las Vegas, for example. They're very, very comfortable, very commodious, very sleek looking aircraft. And then the last one is more of a direct replacement for the 30-seaters that we're flying today, and that's the 30-seat Heart Aerospace aircraft. And that one I think is pretty much a direct replacement for our markets that are sub-500 miles today that we're flying with the Turbojet.

And that will let us preserve the Turbojets for the longer flights like New York to Florida and Dallas to either coast. And so we want the right tool for the job in each one of our markets. And the great news about these hybrid-electric airplanes is that much, much lower energy costs and much, much lower maintenance costs means that we can dramatically reduce the price of our tickets and provide access to the award-winning JSX service at a much, much lower price point than we have today. That'll make us a much more relevant player across the industry.

Jeremy Kariuki:

And each of the manufacturer's hybrid-electric aircraft are still in some stage of development and certification. What fuels your confidence in the successful or timely launch of these vehicles?

Alex Wilcox:

Well, I think there's a lot of investment and a lot of reasons that we want these airplanes to succeed. Obviously, energy cost reduction, carbon reduction, being chief among those things. And so I think there's a huge effort underway between industry government and among consumers that want this to happen. So without much inertia and positive momentum and backing behind these things, I'm very confident that they're actually going to make it across the line. Having said that, it's pretty early. I'm old enough now to have lived through the VLJ craze about 20 years ago. Everyone's going to have a very light jet in the garage. Obviously that did not come to pass.

I already told you about my thoughts on eVTOL. I think going to be very, very relevant in certain intra-city markets, but maybe not quite as popular as currently predicted across the board. But this is much more of a direct, this is still an airplane, so it's still conventionally powered. It's got a turbo generator on board. The difference is that the actual power units moving the propellers are electric. And so I think it's a much lower certification hurdle than some of the other designs that are out there. So I think between the public inertia and public interest in getting these things done, the cost advantages and I think the achievable technological hurdles, that these are the most likely designs that are going to get certified first and will last the longest.

Jeremy Kariuki:

Does JSX intend to completely replace its existing fleet with these hybrid-electric aircraft at some point in the future?

Alex Wilcox:

No, no. Everything that I see now, there's no hybrid electric aircraft that's going to have the range that we need to accomplish a lot of our flying. So our flights between New York and Florida, our flights from the coasts to the middle of the country are still going to need a turbojet aircraft or something equivalent. So we're going to continue to rely on turbojets, maybe some turboprops, some fast turboprops in some of those markets. There's a couple of those being developed now as well. I think there's still going to be room for a fast airplane, and I think that SAF is going to be the answer for those in terms of the sustainability. So I think we're going to use the right tool for the job. But a hybrid-electric airplane, it's frankly just too slow and doesn't have the range to accomplish the majority of the flying that we do today, frankly.

Jeremy Kariuki:

And how will the addition of these new aircraft affect JSX's flight options across the United States and how much of a change in flight rates will customers see as a result?

Alex Wilcox:

It is going to be a dramatically lower ticket price. This is going to make a JSX ticket for a short flight substantially below what it costs to get on a narrow-body aircraft on a major airline today. And I can say that confidently because of the efficiency of the smaller plane, the lower energy costs, lower maintenance costs. So on a per-seat basis, on a unit basis, in other words, on a short 200-mile or less flight, the operating economics of these aircraft is going to be substantially lower than it is of a turbojet. And so even a big turbojet, even at 321 with 200 plus seats on it, the unit costs these airplanes based upon the representations that the OEMs are making are going to be substantially lower. And so I think you'll see a big reduction. Right now, I've got a substantially higher cost. I'm flying 30 seats in an Embraer 145. That's obviously less efficient on a unit basis than a 50-seat 145.

So these aircraft will be very much more competitive, which will allow our relative cost versus the majors to be actually lower. And so we see a step change in the cost. And in terms of the second part of the question, was your first part of the question, I think it's going to make us a lot more relevant. Right now we're kind of a niche carrier in certain markets with a higher ticket cost. We fly to a lot of places that no one else flies to. In fact, in the majority of JSX markets, we have no competition. We're the only operator in Taos. We're the only operator in Destin. We're the only operator in BGC. We're the only operator in Concord, California. These are examples of airports where without Part-380 flying, without JSX, there would be service unless you have access to private aviation. So that number of airports will exceed logarithmically.

There's going to be an order of magnitude more airports available to consumers when these new airplanes are deployed. And so instead of going, if you live in McKinney, Texas, right now you got to drive down to Dallas if you want to go to Houston and you got to go from Lovefield or DFW to Hobby or Intercontinental. But if you live in McKinney and you're trying to get out to Sugarland, you've got to do a lot of driving. Actually, you got to spend more time in the car on each end than you're going to spend on the airplane. But with this kind of vehicle, you can go to the much smaller markets. And so you can actually fly out of the McKinney airport straight to the Sugarland airport and bypass those big hub airports altogether. Your trip is going to be much more efficient. It's going to be much lower energy impact.

You're not going to have to deal with traffic on the ground. You have a much safer transit because you'll be in an airplane for the majority of your trip as opposed to a car for the majority of your trip. And it's going to be less expensive. So it's a win all around. And so I think that the market selection will be much more dynamic. And you're going to see a proliferation of JSX service in communities that are currently air service zero, air service private jets only. And I think essential air service markets will not be required anymore because these aircraft will be so inexpensive that we won't need federal subsidies to fly to certain smaller communities either. So it's going to be a dramatic game changer.

Jeremy Kariuki:

And will JSX’s fleet of hybrid-electric aircraft remain exclusive to these three manufacturers, or will your company expand to consider other manufacturers, not necessarily eVTOLS, but other sustainable modes of transportation?

Alex Wilcox:

Well, time will tell, Jeremy. Time will tell. We're going to see who gets certified. These are admittedly earlier bets. These are not certified airplanes today. And there are many other people trying to do lots of interesting things. There's different methods of propulsion being developed, and so I wouldn't rule anything out at this point in time. I think we're very early in the game here.

Jeremy Kariuki:

Well, Alex Wilcox, thank you so much for joining me on the show today.

Alex Wilcox:

Absolute pleasure, Jeremy. Thank you.

Jeremy Kariuki:

Thanks for listening to the BCA podcast by Aviation Week Network. This week's episode was produced by Andrea Copley-Smith and Jeremy Kariuki. If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to like or follow us on your podcast app of choice. If you'd like to support us, please leave a rating wherever you listen. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time.