News
Rise In Private Jet Travel
While the lengthy security and boarding rituals are commonplace for most travels, more and more wealthy individuals are bypassing the inconvenience of public air travel for the expense of private jet chartered flights.
Private plane travel is becoming increasingly more prevalent with people on holidays as well as for people who need to travel for business. Jamie Gillborn, a private jet executive, pointed out that my businesspeople are currently using the Lear Jets and others to take weekend vacations to places like Nice, Barcelona and Milan. "Senior executives are so time poor," says Gillborn, "They can leave Thursday night for a three-day weekend and arrive 10-15 minutes before departure, or they might decide to stop at a holiday villa on their way back from a business trip."
Reports from the CAA state that the number of commercial passengers has risen from 14 million in 1996 to 202 million in 2006 while the number of private jet travelers rose from 3.5 million to 34 million. Saving time is the most popular reason given by passengers as to why they prefer jet travel. Executives don’t want to deal with the busy crowds and hassle of the major hubs. They want the freedom to drive right up to their plane and, if desired, have a car waiting at the other end to pick them up.
The demand for private jet flights increases during high-profile sporting events, for example Epsom and Wimbledon.
As London grows closer to becoming the top financial capital in the world, and the residents grow wealthier, private jet demand is expected to rise even further. According to Merrill Lynch, the number of residents in London with a net worth of more than 500,000 pounds rose more than 8% to 484,580 in 2006. However, nearly 40 percent of jet charters still come from the government.
Air Partner, a private jet charter company, has an increase of 75% in profits this year. Private jet flight offers many choices to consumers that are simply not available on commercial flight. Crew and plane changes, as well as food choices and even destination plans can be altered at the suggestion of the client. In fact, many clients are choosing to simply purchase their own jet at a cost between £2.5 million and £25 million.
CEO of Air Partner, Davis Savile points out, "Most of our owners are fairly simple straightforward people. You don’t get much evidence of people wanting gold taps. They are not generally ostentatious." Yet, he continues, "Yes, you can find a stretch limo equivalent on the air but they are very rare."
Still, last month at a Paris Air Show, an anonymous person ordered an Airbus A380, custom made to carry 840 passengers. The purpose of this plane is only to transport the individual and their entourage.
Joss Garman, a member of the environmental group Plane Stupid, compared buying a superjumbo jet for private use to "buying a filthy coal-powered power station to use to charge up your mobile phone."
