5 myths of executive jet charters
private jet charter sounds far-fetched to many people. Many believe it is an option that is only accessible to extremely wealthy individuals or large corporations. In reality, though, that is not entirely accurate. Here are five widely held myths about private aviation, some of which might surprise you.
1. Private jets are only for the elaborate escapades of the rich, famous or royalty
Actually, a majority of private jet charters are for business use. Private jet charters allow greater flexibility when traveling for business and provide service to hundreds of airports that commercial airlines do not have access to. This places employees on the ground closer to where they need to be. As a result, this generates savings in ground transportation and quite often in accommodation fees as well. It also enables employees to bypass agonizing long airport lines, economizing businesses and its employees in terms of time, stress, and money.
2. All airports are the same
Commercial airports require long lines and extensive security measures for a much larger group of people. This process is time consuming and cumbersome for travelers. Smaller regional airports, on the other hand, serve smaller groups of people throughout the day, are located more conveniently throughout the country, and provide more central access to smaller locales where you conduct business.
By the numbers, though, there are approximately 450 large commercial airports in 50 U.S. states. That leaves a lot of territory not served by commercial airliners. By contrast, there are more than 3,000 general aviation facilities throughout the U.S. available for private jet traffic.
3. Private jet charter pricing is confusing
Private jet charter pricing is transparent and easy to understand. In fact, it is just as easy, if not easier, than booking an airline ticket on a commercial flight. The underlying types of costs on a private jet charter flight are the same such as aircraft cost per hour, crew salaries, passenger taxes, and airport landing fees.
Businesses or individuals chartering jets know the total cost upfront, unlike some commercial airlines that may charge disguised fees for checked bags, overweight bags, carry-on bags, set preference fees, ticket exchange fees, blanket fees, in-flight food fees, and more.
4. Private jet charter flying isnt as safe as commercial flights
Private aviation is regulated by stringent FAA safety standards, just as commercial flying is. In practice, FAA regulations and inspections, which include regularly scheduled inspections and surprise inspections, carefully monitor the operation of private jet charters. Not only does the FAA tabulate safety inspection scores, but outside inspection firms, such as Wyvern, do too. These private chartered flights scores include everything from plane maintenance to pilot training, to pilot flight experience and procedures for flying.
5. Private jet travel is too expensive
Cost is the bottom line concern of most businesses. The costs of executive private jet charters are comparable, in many instances, to first class flight tickets per person with the benefit of the time saving process of leaving on your timetable with the ability to drive almost right up to the jet for boarding, rather than going through prolonged security checkpoints at the airport.
Private planes can generally fly directly to the location where you need to conduct business. This saves time and money for employees as car rentals can often be bypassed. More importantly, though, your team can continue working, in private, throughout the flight on private jets, something thats simply impossible to do on commercial airlines. This makes the travel time itself productive. Empty legs flights, which are return “legs” of flights where passengers only chartered a one-way passage, are another way to save money on a executive jet charter.
Now that these myths have been debunked, its time to explore the many reasons why private jet charters may be the perfect solution for your business travel needs.
Oscar Arce is the CEO of Presidential Private Jet Vacations.
If you would like to be a guest blogger on A Luxury Travel Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.
The idea of flying on a Did you enjoy this article?
Receive similar content direct to your inbox.
Very good article debunking some of the myths people have regarding private jet charter. I am looking forward to reading about the many reasons why private jet charters could be the perfect solution for business travel.
Great article on these myths. I think more people should look into private jets as it’s not something that’s often thought of as a viable option when traveling.
Your article is unaccurate on one important point : let’s say you want to fly from A to B, stay 5 days at B and then flyback to A. The price of your charter flight will not be transparent at all. To compute the final price the charter company will charge you : (1) the empty leg from their base to A ( in case they have no base in A ), (2) the charter flight from A to B, (3) the return flight ( empty leg ) to their base, (4) the flight back from their base to B in order to pick you up 5 days later ( this is because they cannot afford to leave the aircraft and the crew awaiting for you for 5 days ) (5) the return flight from B to A and finally (6) the flight back to their base. None of these pricing tricks have been shown in the article. Are you sure you know the charter flight industry ?
Hello Paul… thank you for dropping by and commenting. I would imagine the transparency of the pricing will be dependent on who you purchase from. I think it’s a little disrespectful, however, to suggest that the CEO of a private jet company might not know the industry, but I’ll let Oscar or someone from Presidential respond more fully.
Paul
Paul,
Each private jet operator and charter broker calculates the cost of a trip based on numerous factors: position of the aircraft, pre- and post-flight trips, landing fees, taxes, special passenger requests and others and, of course, each company has their own pricing structure. Clients are presented with a detailed quote that is typically all-inclusive (if it is not, it is clearly noted) so they know upfront what they will pay for each trip with no additional costs, unlike when flying commercial as we mentioned on our post.
I do not think that we could have put it in better words than Paul Johnson did: the transparency of the pricing will be dependent on who you purchase from. Going by your comment, you may have had some bad experience in the past. If you would like further details, we invite you to call us a +1.954.772.8622, identify yourself and talk to our Director of Charter who can give you specifics about sound basics that our quotes are build upon. He can also give you information about any other topics you may like to learn about relative to the private jet charter industry.
Paul Johnson and Oscar Arce : thank you for your quick reaction. I don’t want to be unrespectful to anyone and I am sorry if someone may feel so, but some times some hard words generate a good, frank and respectful discussion. I fly since 1976, mostly in Europe, I have all my FAA ratings and my concern ( because I am cost conscious ) is to save my own money when I fly. Fair right ? OK, visiting 4 or 5 400nm distant business places in 1 or 2 days in Europe in simply impossible without flying charter, everybody knows that. But if you have to go to one place, sit down with another party for 4/5days for some resons, THEN the cost of your charter will kill you as I have explained in my first post. Any explanation will just be littérature. In this case the only way will be that you fly with your osn airplane. And it is another story. Fly safe.
I think Paul has a point. If someone is paying for a RoundTrip then he/she should be able to be informed that they have a choice what to do with their own empty leg that he/she paid for on the return. With such a high cost sometimes.
If you’re getting a TRUE oneway price (often a great deal) then people like Paul wouldn’t be commenting on cost. I’m guessing……..
Awesome Articles about myths!! There are a number of people who is not traveling with executive jet charters, because they knew that myths are true. Your blog will clear all about this myth.
Hey,
I’ve flown budget airlines, economy, business, first and I’ve chartered. I really don’t think this article busted any ‘myths’, because nobody (surely?) ACTUALLY thought that chartering is only for Royalty or the famous, that all airports are the same or that it isn’t safe. I’m pretty sure the type of person in a position to charter a private jet wouldn’t find the costs confusing. And for the very vast majority of the planets entire population, it is too expensive.
I know plenty of people in a position to charter a jet who don’t fly because they’re afraid of flying. Rich powerful people hate feeling vulnerable and/or not in a position of being in control. If you want to ‘plug’ the industry and sell flights, perhaps try and angle an article suggesting PJs are less weather affected or something.
Just my input.
Regards
This is a really interesting article with the truth behind some of the myths and misconceptions about chartering a jet, and very informative. Thank you!
Sounds like Paul may have used the wrong company. Most private companies use 10+ aircrafts in their fleet so that when someone needs picked up in NYC, one of their pilots are already close by. I’ve never been charged for going back to A and then coming back to B 5 days later to pick me up. Great article.
Excellent article! I believe people who have never flown by private jet charter, but do have the means would appreciate the information provided in this article. Whether new or old money, there are always first timers! Then the experiences are gained.Thanks for sharing!
Paul,
Let’s say the cost is not “transparent”, this isn’t like the insurance industry where you don’t know what you get. You will pay a price to fly from A to B and the company will fly from A to B on the selected dates at an agreed price. How that price is made up is irrelevant as long as you know what you are getting.
Put it this way, if you had the choice to buy a car from one dealer for $50,000 and the dealer was making $20,000 profit, or buy the same car for $60,000 and the dealer was making $10,000 profit, you would go for the cheaper option for the same product. How much profit they are making is irrelevant as long as it doesn’t affect the product. that’s why the majority of goods and services in the world do not come with a tag saying “we have made x% profit on this product”
Any intelligent customer (and lets face it the majority of the private jet customer base are) would weigh up the quality of aircraft, the quality of service and the price and make their decision based on that.
Some airlines will take a risk and offer a low price to the customer in the hope of selling the empty legs, some will not and charge on the assumption they will not sell the empty leg. Some would even pay the parking and leave the aircraft at the destination and there would be no empty leg or even do a local charter based out of the destination airport.
I guess the point you are missing Paul is that whilst i’m sure you may mislead customers by using this argument in order to increase your own business, Transparency on its own does not actually give a customer a cheaper price or even give them anything more in terms of service.
Going to multiple suppliers and checking price and service is the only way to ensure you are getting good service and a good market rate.
From a business point of view, if operators could not sell their empty legs then prices would simply go up all round, and that would be worse for the customer. Companies need to make a profit, or they don’t exist. Making a profit does not mean they are ripping customers off.
Thank you for this article. I’m no millionaire, but I’ve always wanted to charter a private jet for our annual ladies getaway, but was afraid that the fees would be astronomical.
Private plane rental is both less expensive and less easier than many people think.Popularity of private planes is expanding step by step because of a few reasons.You can sit where you need, have a team that is there for your needs and appreciate discussion with the others in your gathering without needing to whisper to keep others from hearing.
You have given us very useful information here.The misconceptions about private jets may have led to losses and inconveniences to various individuals who may have feared approaching it and opted for ordinary air travel. Thank you for sharing!
Are there any private jet companies that sell off empty leg flights at reduced rates just to fill them. Is there a deal to be had? Also is it a myth that you can turn up to a airport and ask a airline for a reduced first class ticket if you’re willing to travel wherever and have full flexibility?
There are many companies out there that specialise in selling empty legs, Chris.
When you charter a jet it reduces your traveltime. Time is money, so the price of flying a private jet is relative. Above all it is a great way to travel!
Having never chartered one myself, I’d always assumed they were for the rich and famous too. It must be a much more convenient way to travel and I like the sound of how straightforward the pricing is, how much easier the whole experience of it would be really. I see private jets are in high demand at the moment with the coronavirus so they’re certainly proving their value.