From the Cockpit with Discovery Jets CEO Darren Banham

Discovery Jets is entering the regional freighter segment in the southeastern United States with its first Beech 1900D freighter. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Part 135 operator, better known for providing executive charters, is managed by a team with extensive knowledge and experience in trading and brokering cargo aircraft. [caption id="attachment_56866784" align="alignright" width="400"] Darren Banham, CEO of Discovery Jets. (Courtesy/Discovery Jets)[/caption] Cargo Facts recently talked to Discovery Jets Chief Executive Darren Banham to learn about the strategy, vision and expectations of the company as it enters the cargo sector. What follows is an edited version of the conversation. Cargo Facts : Give us a brief overview of how and why Discovery Jets decided to acquire a Beech 1900D freighter. Darren Banham: The interest in cargo is diversity. It’s no secret the operation that we currently have is predominantly corporate jet aircraft: Citation 10s, Hawker 1000s and the like. We don’t really have any issues there, but looking forward to the future, we want to add some diversity to our fleet structure. Most of us here at Discovery Jets came from an aircraft trading brokerage company that specialized in cargo itself, so we’re very familiar with cargo. When you look at where we operate out of in South Florida, it’s a very well-positioned location to create that bridge to the islands, the Caribbean and local cargo markets, which, in our opinion, are underserved. As a Part 135 operator, we must keep it below 7,500 pounds, so looking predominantly at those feeder markets, in our opinion, while it’s not recession-proof, it’s certainly consistent. Looking deeper into the feeder service, you have Saab 340s, Metroliners, IFL with some of the older vintage type freighters — and that’s not our market either — Shorts 360s: What type of aircraft are we going for? That’s really where we found a good fit with the Beech 1900D. It’s got great engines with the Pratt and Whitney PT6s and, with the 1900D model, you get the extra 200 to 300 cubic feet of volume because it can carry up to 5,700 pounds. It was a good fit into that feeder market for the range required with the payload, volume and big door. Our partners down in South Africa are 25% shareholders of Discovery Jets and they operate a fleet of twenty-five Beech 1900D model aircraft. Familiarization of the type within the group of companies was another advantage, so it was almost a natural progression and that’s really what led us to the Beech 1900D. CF : South Africa-based National Airways Corp. (NAC) is the partner you are referring to? DB: That’s correct. They’ve been in business for more than seventy-five years and celebrated their anniversary in 2022 and I think they operate somewhere in the range of eighty to ninety rotary and fixed-wing aircraft on their certificate. CF : How does your Part 135 certificate support your operational flexibility? DB: Having NAC's experience to support us — with them operating the Beech 1900D for fifteen to twenty years — their wealth of knowledge on that aircraft is an asset. They have aircraft in Afghanistan and Africa operating for various NGOs and governments. You couldn’t buy that experience and familiarization with that aircraft. To have that internally within the operation, I think, is a great advantage. We’re certainly sharing ideas and troubleshooting everything down to spare parts. We’re going to be working closely toward the ability to grow our fleet in conjunction with our business partners. CF : What does Discovery Jets’ cargo division look like in the next three to five years? DB: Honestly speaking, I only really try to look maybe a year to a year and a half ahead. However, for the sake of this conversation, we certainly have the option to take three or four more of these freighters. So, obviously aircraft No. 1 is going to be a toe-in-the-water type of thing to take the temperature and make sure that what we expected the market to be is what the market is. We have the second unit lined up and ready for us and expect to take delivery once we verify that the market is what we think and look to add two more Beech 1900Ds after taking the second. I would like to see and envisage our cargo business operating, within the next twelve to twenty-four months, around four to six freighters. CF : What would be the next freighter type that gives Discovery Jets the same leverage, operational capacity and revenue potential as this Beech 1900D? DB: We’re not looking at that right now, we are very much focused on the moment. We’re an incredibly flexible business. Everything’s on the table, and I think for us it’s very difficult to be boxed in by creating your own parameters. We have operational and legal obligations as an operator, which we maintain and fully operate within. Outside of that, we will go anywhere, and we’ll do pretty much everything within the legal parameters. CF : With the level of competition in Southern Florida, what are the pros and cons of operating the Beech 1900D freighter in this environment? DB: If you look at the categories of regional aircraft that we’re competing with, the Beech 1900D falls almost dead center between freighters like the Metroliner, Shorts 360, -330, Saab 340, the Brasilia and the 1900C. That's the spread of what our competition is and, you know, the Metroliner with its small capacity and payload. The Beech 1900D has effectively doubled that volume capability and has about 30% to 40% greater payload capability than the Metroliner. The Metroliner is not really a competitor, but at the same time, the Metroliner is probably 40% cheaper to operate than a Beech 1900D. If you’re going to establish a direct competitor, you can probably say the Shorts 360 and maybe Saab 340 freighters are as close as it gets. The Saab 340F gives you another 300 cubic feet of volume, and maybe another tonne or 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of cargo payload capability, but you also have 20% to 30% higher direct operating costs on the Saab 340 than the Beech 1900Ds. It’s a competitor and probably as close as it gets as far as where I see our competition with the Saab 340. The Shorts 360, -330, there isn’t anything left of those but maybe one aircraft, so I’m not too concerned about those types. Then we move to the Embraer 120 Brasilia, which is more of a competitor to the Saab 340 than the Beech 1900D. So, we're targeting anywhere between 3,000 to 5,500 pounds, up to 800 to 900 cubic feet, which is really where I do see the Saab 340 fitting in. That’s definitely in the crosshairs. CF : What are your thoughts on UAVs as they advance through the certification process and the role they're eventually going to play? DB: I don’t think anybody is going to suggest otherwise when it comes to unmanned vehicles. It’s technology — everything advances. It must, whether it’s manned aircraft or unmanned vehicles, there’s no difference. UAVs are going through the testing process so far but is it what I would consider to be a long way off? In my personal opinion, yes, I think it is because several factors come into play here. There’s a long testing process and we all know the rigorous requirements of the FAA for certification. So, could it be a year? Absolutely. Could it be five years? Absolutely. I mean, at this stage, nobody knows. Even if it does come into play, let’s say hypothetically within the next twelve months, there are still several parameters that are going to come into play with the unmanned aspect. One is insurance: there’s not much data associated with unmanned vehicles, and we have no idea what impact it’s going to have on the insurance market, which is a very hard market right now. Do they have the appetite to start insuring unmanned vehicles as well? Who knows? And if there are, there could be a high surcharge on the premium. So that’s the first aspect. Second — which is why I have no concern or fear of that whatsoever — is you’ve still got cost to market. Yes, it’s being tested in the Cessna 208, but what would be the cost aspect of putting that type of technology into older aircraft? We’ve seen it with the Beech 1900D model in particular: a large majority of them don’t have autopilot. The reason for that is because the cost aspect of having that modification is so extreme, that you would never recover that cost to recoup that modification investment. And I do believe that that’s going to be the barrier to entry for a lot of these UAV companies.

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