Volato Group expects to rename itself SOAR AI on 19 October after leaving jet operations

What happened

Volato Group, the former private jet operator, said it expects to change its corporate name to SOAR AI, Inc. on 19 October 2026. Trading under the new name on NYSE American is expected to begin on 20 October. The ticker stays SOAR, and the CUSIP (the security identifier) is not expected to change.

The rename follows the company's merger with Alignment Engine, announced as complete on 14 September 2026.

The deal involved non-voting convertible preferred stock, plus replacement options and warrants, with the company's release putting the stake at approximately 95 per cent of the fully diluted equity (all shares, counting securities that can be converted or exercised).

Conversion requires stockholder and NYSE American approvals. The closing issued no common shares and did not change control.

Chris Ensey was appointed chief executive of Volato Group, Inc. in connection with the merger closing. The company says it has secured US$1.2bn of contracted customer demand. It said the September 2026 orders with a large AI customer total about US$1.17bn in contract value.

It is building an AI infrastructure campus in Ohio, whose first phase covers data centre infrastructure, power and cooling, AMD GPU compute and networking.

For aviation counterparties, the key point is what remains. The company's 14 September release says Volato and its Vaunt membership platform do not operate any aircraft, and that an approved vendor air carrier operates all flights. Vaunt is described as a technology-enabled private aviation membership platform.

The company's rename release also describes Parslee, an AI platform for automating complex aviation workflows with human oversight.

The retreat from flying is not new. Private Jet Card Comparisons reports that Volato launched in 2021 with HondaJet fractional ownership (shared ownership of an aircraft) and quickly added jet cards. It ranked as the 16th-largest US private jet operator by flight hours in 2023.

It exited fractional and jet card programmes in September 2024 amid a wave of lawsuits and has since sold most of its remaining aviation assets to FlyExclusive.

The same report says Volato extended FlyExclusive's option to buy Vaunt. The sources read did not say which aircraft, leases or lender obligations, if any, remain on the company's books, so that question is open.