News

Private Jets stay on the ground

According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), corporate jet travel has decreased by 20 percent, marking an end to the industry’s boom in the UK market.

UK was once home to the fastest growing private aviation market. There used to be a time when these luxury trips were easily availed for executives and self-made millionaires. While these trips did not come cheap, luxury travelers made them feel cheap, especially when bonuses were in the air.

However, the financial crisis has bought industry’s growth to a sudden halt. Travelers will have to wait before they can once again fly in one of these aircrafts. “In straitened times there is likely to be less demand as people and companies shop around for cheaper alternatives,” said Harry Bush, director of economic regulation at the CAA.

“Corporate jets have been hit harder than airlines because they are not locked into schedules so a fall in demand immediately leads to fewer flights,” wrote Dan Milmo, a transport correspondent for the UK Guardian.

Another contributing factor to the industry’s downfall is poor public relations. Since the GM mishap, private jet travel has been taken a beating from political will and public opinion.

“Troubled British firms have also dumped or grounded their fleets in acknowledgement of their new-found status as credit crunch pariahs,” narrated Milmo. “Royal Bank of Scotland, saved by £20bn of state aid, sold its jet and cancelled an order for a new long-range Falcon 7X, worth $45m (£30m).”

The collapse of the industry has resulted in thousands of job losses among aircraft manufacturers. Bombardier, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of executive jets, laid off around 1,000 employees in their factories in Northern Ireland after projecting a 25 percent slump in sales of deluxe aircrafts.

Source: Guardian.co.uk