How nice would it be to do this trip on a Private Jet?
In a previous post titled “Do Business travelers Share, Would they Share” I asked the question would business travelers share a ride on a private jet if the price was right, and it saved them time ,and they got the experience of private aviation travel. Those travelers already paying the full price of flying private aircraft may not be willing to share a flight. Price might not be the controlling factor in the decision for current users of private jet travel but what about the 550 million plus passengers who will fly on US airlines this year?
When I fly on the airlines, and end up next to another person who is traveling on business, occasionally we strike up a conversation about what we do. When I tell people I am in the aviation business, and we fly people on private jets, the business people often tell of times they have flown on their company aircraft or a vendors aircraft, and they recount the experience and how nice it was. Others out of curiousity want to know what it is like. Most people have an idea of how nice it would be even if they have never experienced that form of travel. Everyone guesses that it is expensive and maybe only for the CEO of the big company or the music or movie celebrities. Not one single person I have ever spoken to says they would rather not try out flying on a “small jet”.
Have you ever started planning a trip for business where there are three people in your company that need to go to see a customer and you think “how nice would it be to travel on a private jet and do this in a day”, and then you call and get a price for a Learjet from the local charter company and it is twice (or more) what the price is on the airlines? You only need three seats but you have to buy the whole aircraft for the day. So you give up on the idea and end up booking the airline, hotel for the overnight and the rental car to drive to your ultimate destination because the airline only gets you within 70 miles of where you want to go. Thus begins the misery of everyday business travel that millions of people go through every month.
Unfortunately our flight coordinators, who answer the calls from people wanting to charter aircraft, get that scenario all too often, and we can’t find the solution for those two or three travelers who need to go somewhere becasue the whole aircraft price is just too high. As disappointed as the potential customer is, we are equally disappointed when we lose a trip because of price. We can’t run below cost and stay in business, so we shrug it off and keep going.
Is there a way to overcome this barrier that stops so many people from using what we know to be a great means of air travel? There are a lot of empty seats, empty flight legs and underutilized aircraft sitting so there must be a solution.
What do you think?
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to “How nice would it be to do this trip on a Private Jet?”
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Why not compare the trip costs, not just the jet costs? I cover business aviation and have often made the point that the trip costs — airline ticket, rental car, hotel — often equal the price of a jet, especially for more than one traveler. Then there is the cost of the traveler’s time and productivity, especially for destinations that are not on the airline grid. When those are counted in, it’s a no brainer. Then there are the small jets that only have room for three or four. Linear Air is using these successfully, I believe.
I think business travelers would share the ride. In fact, I think there are a lot of web sites that try to match passengers.
Kathryn:
It would be great to have a software tool that takes in to consideration the total trip costs and the person’s value of time to give a quick answer back on comparing mass transit air travel against use of a private aircraft. There should even be a negative $$$ value assigned to the stress created by the airline form of travel – possibly a social or anti- social value factor. A lot of current users of private aviation make their own calls on the productivity – a lot more dont even get to that point of comparing the options.
Our industry needs to do a better job educating those who are not already using us. We seem to spend too much time marketing to the affluent who already use our service.
amen to better education. Yes, a software tool would be great but you can estimate it which would go a long way toward making the case. That would not be so hard. Using a business jet is so much more than the bottom line — biz vs airlines. Hotels — about USD150 p/n, biz fares about 700 r/t x 3. Biz jets would likely be a premium but add in the BLS estimates for executives time and you have a good start on making the case. And go ahead and assign a negative value to airlines. Cheers — K
There already is a service providing the exact solution to the problem you are describing, namely the ability to not have to charter the entire flight, but rather share it among 2 parties wanting to fly the same route at about the same time. Our service launched last year at:
http://www.ShareAJetExchange.com
enables a private charter flyer find another party wanting to fly roughly the same route and by sharing the charter save as much as 50% of the costs. The 2 parties have to agree on the departure and destination airports and the flight schedule. Most flyers wanting to share a private charter flight are willing to be a little bit flexible on the dates and maybe an airport thats in the next town, in order to save 50%. Try it and see for yourself.