DayJet lay offs 40 in Boca; 100 in total

By John Johnston
Managing Editor

Approximately 40 Boca Raton based DayJet Corporation employees received pink slips this week, joining another 60 persons laid off by the new, and innovative per-seat, on-demand jet service.

Begun in October 2007 with five destinations, DayJet expanded to 28 locations by December and then to 45 by January of this year.

But aided by real estate woes, the bottom fell out of the capital market – creating headaches for start-up firms like DayJet – and whose business plan, according to DayJet President and CEO Ed Iacobucci, began with a successful “proof of concept” phase.

That phase saw the original five DayJet destinations expand to 28 by December 2007 and to 45 by January of this year.

This was to be followed by a “growth phase” – but a phase that “required a $40M infusion of operating capital in the first quarter of 2008,” said Iacobucci.

“I won't dwell on this point, but suffice it to say that given the current state of the U.S. capital markets, the timing of our planned financing could not have been worse.”

The layoffs are a “shift in strategy…..caused by external economic factors and are not a reflection of a weakness in the underlying DayJet business model,”  Iacobucci added.

DayJet Chief Financial Officer John Staten told the Boca Raton News, the employee layoffs are just a ‘small retrenchment.”

Staten said the layoffs will take the firm “to a level that we are able to continue on but with a slower expansion plan.”  DayJet will now “focus on service,” Staten said, while waiting for the capital markets to rebound.

The entire DayJet concept is based on state-of-the-art computer systems and programming making the most efficient use of DayJet’s fleet of Eclipse 500™ very light jets.

The firm has developed the world’s first “Per-Seat, On-Demand” jet service “that makes the convenience of corporate jet travel broadly available and affordable for more people and organizations, turning wasted travel time into valuable business and personal time,” said Iacobucci.

Per-Seat” means customers “only pay for the seat(s) they need, not the entire aircraft, he explained, adding: “On-Demand means customers fly according to their individually negotiated time requirements.”

The firm began operations in October 2007 with five destinations -- Boca Raton, Lakeland, Gainesville, Tallahassee and Pensacola.

“This restructuring will not reduce our existing service region,” said Iacobucci. “It will not impact our quality of service to our customers, and most importantly, it will not impact our commitment to safety, which is the heart of our service. We will continue to operate and expand our service (albeit at a slower rate) to communities across the Southeast in response to customer needs. And when the capital markets recover, then we would expect to resume the growth forecast in our original plan.”