Pilots are a resourceful lot. They
will find creative ways to keep on flying or start flying
even in trying economic times. One prime example is the
Aircraft Partnership Association. These
days we at Barnstormers are hearing a lot more of the “I
have to sell my airplane or turn it into a hangar queen.
What else can I do?” type of conversations than we
have in the past. Barnstormers has created a new Partnership
section, broken down by state; look for the new Partnership
section in the left-hand pane of the website. The Aircraft
Partnership Association has started posting information
there on what their members are looking for. Over the next
few weeks, the number of partnership opportunities posted
at Barnstormers will number in the thousands. Best of all,
individual membership in the Aircraft Partnership Association
is free.
“There is a lot of partnership activity and it’s
spiking up as the economy slows,” stated David A.
Kruger, President of the Aircraft
Partnership Association (APA). “People who are passionate about aviation
aren’t willing to just stop flying. People who want
to start flying aren’t willing to wait if they can
find a way to afford it now rather than later. We’ve
passed the 2,500 member mark and had over one thousand
new members join just since Christmas. Many current aircraft
owners are joining the APA Association in order to find
potential partners. Others are joining to find existing
partnerships and still others to find sole owners sell
a share or shares of their aircraft. Together they are
actively forming new partnerships, cooperatives, or ownership
flying clubs. Fractional operators are listing unsold
shares, individuals are selling the remainder of their
fractional shares; like we said, there is a lot of activity
in all forms of aircraft co-ownership—and we fully
expect it to keep ramping up.”
APA – you can find them at www.TheAPA.com,
uses web-based programs to match partnership preferences
that include location, aircraft type, budget, flying experience
and more. The APA uses technology to intelligently match
potential partners for new, used or currently-owned aircraft
of any type of any price and, since it is web-based, it
works everywhere.
“The idea of reducing the cost of flying by sharing
the cost ownership has always been a great idea, it was
just never going to happen by posting a flyer on the FBO
bulletin board, especially in our post-911 world. Today,
using a web-based technology as the conduit to connect
the partnership dots, more pilots will be able to realize
the dream of aircraft ownership and more aircraft owners
will be able to keep their planes as an integral part of
their lifestyle or business rather than letting it become
a hangar-queen,” Kruger concluded.
APA is a private association founded by pilots for pilots
who want to help realize the dream of aircraft ownership
on their own terms. To learn more about APA, visit www.TheAPA.com or
call (972)334-0403 today. APA is the first step in Creating
Partnerships That Fly™.
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