Jet Token announced that it will go public in a SPAC acquisition valued at $105 million. The company will be listed on NASDAQ Capital Markets, which is for companies with the smallest levels of market capitalization within the Nasdaq Composite Index. Further, the company renamed Jet.AI Inc. in a nod to the company’s “new focus on the use of artificial intelligence,” to enhance their traditional “fractional aircraft ownership, jet card, aircraft brokerage and charter service.”
According to the joint press release, the deal will position the company to accelerate its “sale of jet cards, which enable holders to use certain aircraft owned, leased by, arranged and/or managed by Jet Token and others at agreed-upon rates, as well as the sale of fractional interests in aircraft,” and operate their “proprietary booking platform, which functions as a prospecting and quoting platform to arrange private jet travel with third party carriers as well as via Jet Tokens leased and managed aircraft.”
This SPAC acquisition represents the latest in a wave of private aviation businesses taking their companies public, including flyExclusive, Flexjet, Inc. and Wheels Up – each of which are now listed on the New York Stock Exchange. FlexJet announced in October 2022 that it was taking public its subscription-based aviation business. This announcement was on the heels of WheelsUp, which took public its private flight marketplace in July of 2021. Matterhorn Transactions provides comprehensive analysis of each of these deals.
Even as overall air travel had declined during the pandemic, private travel surged. Initially, travelers switched to avoid contracting covid-19 as well as the labor shortages that plagued public airlines, but many flyers never returned to public travel even as concerns have waned. As of Q4 2022, business jet travel had doubled since 2019 and accounted for 25% of domestic flights. And as of last month, private air travel was holding relatively steady during the start of the year, with global private jet activity still 1% above the same period in 2022.
As economists watch for an end to the longest economic expansion in American history, the airline industry is a crucial piece of the mosaic. Accounting for approximately 5% of the U.S. economy at $1.8 trillion in activity, the aviation industry employs 11 million people.
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1239080/us-monthly-projected-recession-probability/
In a promising sign for the overall U.S. economy, American Airlines, JetBlue, and Alaska Air forecast continued high demand for public domestic travel along with further improvement in international travel. Reuters reports, “Airlines are cashing in as consumers snap up tickets following a pandemic-induced slump, making the industry a rare bright spot as markets grasp with runaway inflation, rising interest rates and economic uncertainty.”
With regard to European business aviation, analysts likewise project, “growing demand for private flying among air passengers signals a promising future in this aviation segment this year.” They expect resilience in 2023 “despite recessionary outlook.”
Jet Token is advised by law firm Fox Rothschild LLP, while the SPAC, Oxbridge Acquisition Corp, is advised by Dykema Gossett PLLC and financial adviser Maxim Group LLC.