hippich
08.05.2021 22:55:21
When it comes to the number of passengers who share a private flight, it may be fewer than you think. Here are the jet categories we offer for charter, along with their typical capacities:
See full version: Pros and Cons of Chartering a Private Jet
When it comes to the number of passengers who share a private flight, it may be fewer than you think. Here are the jet categories we offer for charter, along with their typical capacities:
You can probably list an array of benefits related to chartering a private aircraft. Let’s discuss the details of the major advantages.
When it comes to landing the plane, again, chartering a private jet gives you much more flexibility here. You can, of course, access many commercial airports and FBOs but you can also go to regional airports. At certain locations such as smaller islands or hardly accessible resorts, a turboprop aircraft may be the only way to land. Chartering a private plane means you can land in smaller regions where commercial planes cannot access. But private flights aren’t just for people traveling to isolated destinations.For example, only an extremely low number of the airports in the United States offer commercial airline service. Hiring a private jet, in turn, opens up a whole new world of possibilities in terms of where you can take off and land. more
If you’re weighing up the pros and cons of chartering a private jet, below you’ll find a compilation of its crucial positive and negative aspects to help you decide whether a private plane rental is the right choice for you.
“With on-demand charter, you don’t incur costs such as hangar fees, maintenance fees, crew salaries, insurance, depreciation, interest, not to mention the cost of tying up capital in a multimillion-dollar asset,” says Justin Crabbe, CEO of private jet charter company Jettly. “Less than 100 flight hours per year, the math is quite clear that chartering is much more cost-effective than owning an aircraft outright.” more
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Many private jet companies and apps let you search for empty leg flights and sign up for notifications on when one is at an airport near you. [links]
With fractional ownership, you are essentially buying a share of a physical aircraft. Based on the assumption that a plane operates 800 hours per year, shares are divided into 50-hour increments or less. In the case of AirSprint, it’s 25 hours, which equals a share of 3.125 percent of that aircraft. The advantage is a lower capital cost—that AirSprint 25-hour share costs $575,000—and access to an entire fleet rather than just the individual plane whose share you own. “When your airplane is down for scheduled maintenance, you don’t have to worry because you have guaranteed access to an aircraft that is identical to your own,” Elian says.
The interior cabin of one of AirSprint’s private jets. Photo by Adam Fallwell
This is all to say that time is money. Aviation, after all, is an industry governed by time: of arrival or takeoff, of flight duration, of maintenance. Even the value of a jet, when sold in the fractional market, is measured in operating hours. “Private aviation can create a huge profit as demonstrated by how our clients use business aircraft to grow their businesses,” Gade says. Whatever the costs of ownership are, the time savings are worth it for a select clientele.
Private jets have symbolized extravagance since the dawn of air travel—the stuff of billionaires, celebrities and spendthrift Fortune 500 CEOs. But as the Democratization of Everything has shown, even jet travel can shed the stench of excess. Thanks to lower-cost Uber-style jet charter businesses like Victor and private air shuttles such as JSX and Tradewind Aviation, whose growth have coincided with the rise in jet usage and ownership, the experience of flying private has become more accessible, and its users less ashamed. In 2018, the industry surpassed 3 million flights for the third straight year, according to aviation data company Argus. Meanwhile, VistaJet, a Malta-based luxury charter operator, reported in a 2018 study that the average age of private jet passengers was a younger-than-you-might-expect 38. And there is no shortage of private jet packages offered by hotel companies seeking a piece of the pie: Four Seasons offers weeks-long journeys around the world on a customized 48-person jet run by tour operator TCS World Travel, and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts recently launched cocktail-themed destination-hopping packages with Canadian jet operator AirSprint.
Ownership into this model, popularized in the U.S. by NetJets, also requires an annual overhead membership that covers the plane’s fixed costs—around $85,000 per year for AirSprint—in addition to paying an hourly fee on board. AirSprint’s hourly rate is $3,000, which covers fuel and other operating costs. While less than owning a jet, the fractional model can add up according to usage, and has its limits. “If you fly 300 hours or more, from a break-even standpoint, it does start to approach similar costs as whole jet ownership,” Elian says, “but that kind of usage is rare. The average usage is around 150 to 200 hours.”
Business jets are just time machines.
The 2018 VistaJet report claimed that some potential buyers view preowned planes with suspicion in terms of safety. But because of mandated aircraft refits, the safety factor generally remains the same for both newer and previously owned planes. “You may have to make a significant investment on the preowned to have it at the same spec level as a new plane,” says Steve Gade of Duncan Aviation. “It’s what the FAA has said an aircraft requires in order to be operational. Those are not optional events.” [links]
The industry has touted this advantage for years, and with good reason: It’s the most sensible case for what can be seen as an indulgence. Contrary to the image of the Champagne-swilling socialites that jet-setting influencers project on social media, most aviation companies actually market to business clientele by stressing the increased productivity resulting from private aircraft use. While the evidence for this has been mostly anecdotal, a study published in 2017 by the National Business Aviation Association, the industry’s D.C.–based advocacy group, drew a correlation between companies in the S&P 500 that deploy business aircraft versus those that don’t; the users outperformed non-users by 70 percent. “There’s a huge business benefit by having access to a fleet of aircraft anytime anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice,” Thomas Flohr, founder and chairman of VistaJet, told me at the time. “I can use the executive time of my decision makers better by not flying commercial.”
Private aviation is a uniquely fragmented industry, and before buying a plane there are various ownership models to consider. Whole ownership of a plane may be alluring for its convenience, but its cost is out of reach even for most ultra high net worth individuals. “Often it can be a hassle because you have to worry about the management behind it,” adds James Elian, president and COO of Toronto–based AirSprint, a fractional jet ownership provider. “And if your plane goes down for maintenance for two or three weeks or your crew member gets sick, you’re stuck.” [links]
This is all to say that time is money. Aviation, after all, is an industry governed by time: of arrival or takeoff, of flight duration, of maintenance. Even the value of a jet, when sold in the fractional market, is measured in operating hours. “Private aviation can create a huge profit as demonstrated by how our clients use business aircraft to grow their businesses,” Gade says. Whatever the costs of ownership are, the time savings are worth it for a select clientele.
On the other hand, buying a preowned plane can result in significant immediate savings—and it’s not like you’re buying a jalopy. “Some of those preowned aircraft are barely used, almost new,” says Jamie Walker of Jet Linx, who has seen preowned planes with seats still wrapped in plastic. “Preowned doesn’t necessarily mean 10 years old. It could be a year old. We try to encourage our clients to look at both.” [links]