26 March 2013

White Easter Flights

With a “White Easter” forecast for much of the UK, domestic tourism is announcing gloomy predictions this Easter, while travel agents are reporting record bookings for last minute sunshine breaks. ABTA estimates numbers leaving the UK could be 2 million this Easter, versus the expected 1.5 million.

The unusually cold weather is also causing some unusual patterns on our flight search. We are seeing a notable increase in flight enquiries to escape the UK and Northern Europe, heading south for the Easter Holidays.

Generally, our average lead time for a private charter flight is 3-4 days, so it’s business as usual to book flights this week or even leading into the Easter Weekend. Some enquiries are from clients looking to upgrade their scheduled airline tickets to have more certainty and flexibility, especially when travelling with their family for the school holidays.

Travelling with family or a group of friends can make economic sense by private jet. You are chartering the whole aircraft, so for groups travelling, the cost per-head reduces significantly if you fill the aircraft to capacity.

Here are the Top 5 private jet destinations that are trending particularly high for Easter 2013:

EUROPEAN SKI RESORTS

If you can’t beat the snow, join it and enjoy a fabulous end to the ski season.

Usually we would be seeing private jet flights to the ski airports such as Chambery, Samedan, Geneva, Zurich, starting to tail off now, but our flight search data to ‘ski’ airports shows a +15% rise this week.

London – Chambery, from £8,500 (£2,125 per head)
3-day return
Aircraft type: Citation Mustang
Flight time: 1 hr 45 mins
No. of seats: 4

NICE & THE COTE D’AZUR

Always one of the most popular Summer destinations in Europe, but interestingly, this year we are seeing travellers heading there earlier than usual, with a notable increase in flight searches to Nice and Cannes for the Easter weekend and holidays (+18% this week).

London – Nice, from £11,500 (£1,916 per head)
3-day return
Aircraft type: Citation CJ2
Flight time: 1 hr 55 mins
No. of seats: 6

MALTA

Not usually in the Top 10 for private jet travellers, Valletta Airport in Malta is ranking much higher than usual this week (+32%). More travellers are heading further South for a better chance of some sunshine and to see the annual festival celebrations that take place during Holy Week.

London – Malta, from £19,750 (£2,469 per head)
3-day return
Aircraft type: Citation XL
Flight time: 3 hrs 15 mins
No. of seats: 8

MARRAKECH

Morocco is always a popular private jet destination, accessible for a short break in just over 3 hours – but with average temperatures at a snow-busting 25c. Marrakech Menara Airport is only served by low-cost airlines at this time in the season, with no scheduled carriers offering direct flights until later in the season.

Gaps in airline schedules have a strong impact on private jet travel behaviour, and private jet charter flights to Menara this week are showing +18% rise.

London – Marrakech, from £21,000 (£2,625 per head)
3-day return
Aircraft type: Citation XL
Flight time: 3 hrs 25 mins
No. of seats: 8

RIO

For those looking to escape even further afield with no risk of a chill-factor, we’ve seen a spike in enquiries (+22% this week) to Rio to witness it’s famous Holy Week celebrations, with flower-strewn Samba street processions and a carnival atmosphere. Ahead of the World cup in 2014, and the Olympics in 2016, Brazil is rising as a tourism hotspot.

Its airports are sharpening up their dedicated private jet facilities such as Sao Paulo Congonhas International Airport and Rio De Janeiro International Airport, with a growing network of excellent business jets available in the region.

London – Rio, from £125,000 (£10,416 per head)
3-day return
Aircraft type: Global Express XRS
Flight time: 12 hrs
No. of seats: 12

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