FlyEpic fractional programme surpasses 500 flights

opinion

by Yves Le Marquand

14 September 2026

Yingling, which has been in business for 80 years, operates from a home base at Wichita Dwight D Eisenhower Airport in Kansas.

Real Madrid, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain. The model for success in 21st century elite level football, or soccer, has centred around going big. Premier League clubs spent a record $4.79bn in the 2026 summer transfer window, breaking the $4.23bn record set last year.

But it isn’t the only way. For those without the backing of serious capital, a gap in the market needs to be found. Norwegian club Bodø/Glimt (pronounced BOH-duh-glimt) is one such story. Founded in 1916, the team, which plays home games on an artificial pitch north of the Arctic Circle, did not win its first domestic title until 2020. It has since won titles in 2021, 2023 and 2024, qualifying for the Champions League – the world’s premier club competition – in the process.

Bodø/Glimt’s rise has been credited to its cultural philosophy and talent development. Under the influence of mental coach and former F-16 fighter pilot Bjørn Mannsverk, the squad relies on mental resilience, meditation and process over outcomes. Combined with a profitable model of developing youth talent, underpinned by its in-house AI model designed to find players suited to its system, the team has claimed wins against European giants, including Manchester City, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid.

FlyEpic, which launched its fractional programme using the single-engine Epic E1000 in January, has taken a similar approach. Where fractional brands typically build scale around jets, FlyEpic launched around a simple market gap: a large share of the Western US cannot be serviced by business jets.

“Smaller regional destinations, mountain towns, secondary markets, simply don’t have reliable jet access to begin with, and don’t need jet-level cost to be well served. It needs the right-sized aircraft and predictable access,” Scott Shatzer, CEO of FlyEpic tells us.

“That’s really the founding idea: give owners back time by cutting out the hours lost to commercial routing and connections, without the cost of owning or chartering a full jet.”

Shatzer says FlyEpic has been steadily onboarding new owners and has completed more than 500 flights so far this year. “We don’t share specific share or customer counts publicly, but our Flight Card product has driven the majority of new business to date, and we’re in active conversations with a growing pipeline of potential owners,” he adds.

Customers can purchase ownership shares beginning at one-sixteenth, this includes 50 annual flight hours for $285,000. One-eighth and one-quarter shares are also available, as well as a one-time introductory charter offer of 25 hours for $125,000. Each share equals its proportion of 800 annual hours, and is backed by guaranteed availability. Owners purchase a share sized to their expected usage, and FlyEpic operates the aircraft end-to-end: crew, maintenance, insurance and scheduling.

“The structural commitment is what sets this apart from charter or jet card: availability is contractual, not conditional on aircraft positioning. Repositioning is included at no additional charge across every tier, so there’s no dead-leg exposure and no wasted time passed to the owner,” says Shatzer.

“The cost structure is share price, a monthly management fee and an hourly rate. We built the pricing to be transparent and predictable, so owners see the true cost of ownership without hidden variables.”

As demand grows, FlyEpic plans to scale the fleet accordingly, and its relationship with the OEM Epic Aircraft gives it “direct flexibility” on acquisition timing. Epic Aircraft is based in Bend, Oregon. Prior to the fractional launch, the Epic E1000 was previously only available through direct pilot purchase.

From an operating standpoint, the E1000 gives FlyEpic a fuel-efficient, high-speed turboprop with a carbon fibre airframe that can access regional airports a light jet typically can’t, without the acquisition and operating cost profile of a jet, says Shatzer.

“That access is the differentiator: it opens direct routing into smaller fields, which supports a point-to-point model rather than hub routing, saving owners real time on both ends of a trip while keeping operating costs well below a jet,” he says.

Shatzer adds the E1000, which offers a maximum range of 1,560nm with reserves, supports a business-travel use case with four-passenger capacity and Starlink connectivity.

After three years, Shatzer says success will be a proven operating model at scale, increased owner density across its Western US footprint, expanded regional airport access and a demonstrated track record on the availability guarantee.

“At five years, we want FlyEpic recognised as the structurally sound alternative in this segment, not the cheaper option or the smaller option, but the better-engineered one on time, cost, access and reliability,” he says. “That means a durable owner community, a fleet that’s scaled in step with demand, and an operational safety and reliability record that stands on its own in the industry.”

It often takes years to demonstrate the success of a new model. Bjørn Mannsverk joined Bodø/Glimt in 2017 following the club’s relegation to the Norwegian second tier. It did not win anything until 2020. When Mannsverk arrived, the club had an operating budget of about $5m. Today, having capitalised on its gap in the market, that budget exceeds $80m, and is likely to increase further.