Vista Global Holding (Vista) has given an overview of the 2021 performance for all its operating divisions, including its VistaJet and XO brands – reporting a record-breaking year. Sales of the group’s subscription solutions and services increased 59%.
The group has seen a 64% increase year-on-year in global flight hours across its operating companies, representing a 57% rise on pre-pandemic figures.
There were also record-breaking flying hours across both brands, with VistaJet selling more than 22,000 annual subscription hours in 2021 – an increase of 90% compared with 2020 figures – and the number of members increasing year-on-year globally by 26%, continuing to convert aircraft ownership to the brand’s subscription model.
Additionally, Vista reported seeing a massive influx of business travellers choosing private aviation over commercial flying across the group. XO deposit members increased 68% in 2021 and there was a huge increase in technology adoption by members, with 84% of flights generated through XO’s marketplace.
Vista said 2022 has continued apace. On 20 January 2022 Vista successfully priced an offering of $1bn of senior unsecured notes due 2030 by two of its subsidiaries, VistaJet Malta Finance and XO Management Holding. Vista said the offering was more than five times oversubscribed with exceptional demand from investors, and that the transaction has raised additional liquidity while simultaneously substantially reducing its cost of borrowing relative to its existing senior notes.
“2021 has been an incredibly strong year for Vista and we have delivered all-time record-breaking figures as a result of the huge demand for our subscription, membership and on-demand offerings,” said Thomas Flohr, founder and chairman at Vista. “There is clearly a paradigm shift in the global client’s view of private aviation and Vista’s world-leading position has enabled clients across the globe to experience its benefits as a critical mobility solution. Vista’s shared economy, asset light and subscription strategy is accelerating this trend.”
“We are seeing contract sizes grow significantly across both VistaJet and XO and we are working around the clock to ensure we have necessary infrastructure and capabilities in place to ensure the complete flexibility and diversification of our services in the most sustainable way,” added Flohr. “We have added over 30 aircraft during the year, strengthening Vista’s over 200-strong fleet offering. Having a fleet of Global 7500 now fully operational has been a game-changing moment since its launch in 2021, and we will build on its success by adding even more new Global 7500 aircraft to strengthen our global offering by the end of 2022.”
“The accelerated completion and upsizing of our unsecured bond is transformational, demonstrating the clear and strong investor confidence in Vista and providing us with a strong platform to deliver our exciting vision and ambitions,” said Flohr. “We are continuing to dominate the business aviation world, by evolving and innovating every aspect of our services to provide the most advanced flying solutions at the very best value to our rapidly growing members’ base. This is only possible thanks to our expanding team of dedicated and passionate colleagues with hundreds more aviation experts helping to deliver our services to the incoming demand during 2021. We are best placed in the industry to capture new opportunities and we expect strong business momentum and sustainable growth throughout 2022 as we remain extremely confident about the future.”
Vista said it remains fully committed to constantly upgrading its services across its entire fleet. The refurbishment of all VistaJet Global and Challenger aircraft is expected to complete by the end of 2022. Vista said demand for private aviation is thriving and it does not expect this to change for at least the next 12-18 months.
