Private jets on the campaign trail
The Conservatives use of private jets for David Cameron has attracted press attention on the first two days of the 2010 General Election campaign. The Tory leader travelled back to London on a private aircraft after his first day of campaigning yesterday and is expected to travel to the North West and Wales the same way today. Labour, by contrast are reported to be using the train as their preferred mode of transport around the regions, with only the occasional foray into the air.
One reason for this is, of course, the relative campaign budgets of each of the two parties. The maximum permitted spend on an election campaign is £18.96 million (plus £350,000 for Northern Ireland) and it seems the Conservatives have this and more at their disposal, whereas Labour are reported to have a war chest of around £8 million. Labour strategists are attempting to make a virtue of this and are talking about doing things “the old-fashioned way” whereas the Tories are making clear that they will use a variety of transport options and that when a private jet is chosen, it will be for reasons of efficiency – given their aim is to visit two regions a day at the height of the campaign. Senior sources were keen to stress that Mr Cameron’s private jet trips were commercially negotiated and would be carbon offset on an annual basis.
Politics aside, it certainly illustrates the point that private jet travel makes light of a schedule that would simply defeat other modes of transport. To attend appointments in two geographically-disparate regions of the country in a single day would be logistically difficult by train or car. And scheduled flights would present a number of barriers including time wasted at the airport, inflexible flight times and potentially long ground transfers depending on the location. A private jet can take off minutes after you arrive, on a bespoke schedule designed to suit you and can access a far greater number of regional airports – which in many cases would be much closer to your destination. It’s not just politicians who recognise these efficiencies either. For today’s time-starved business executives, private aviation’s ‘hassle-free’ nature is highly attractive. However it may be surprising to many that, with careful planning, it can bring cost savings too.
At PrivateFly.com we recently flew a team of sales executives from a UK pharmaceutical company, who were on a very tight schedule, to meet with several European suppliers. They wanted to squeeze in three meetings in the same day – in Paris, Flensburg and Edinburgh – as it was important for them to minimise their time away from the office. They considered both scheduled airlines and private jet charter to compare both time and cost savings. Taking a six-seater private jet would save them nearly 30 hours in travelling time – and more surprisingly – would also save the company £1790 in overall costs, (based on scheduled business-class fares and related overnight/ driving costs versus the cost of a small, six-seater jet).
In addition to these time and cost savings, the team found that travelling by private jet charter brought many additional advantages; they were also able to use time in the air for confidential discussions and to plan for each of the meetings in the knowledge they were in a secure and private environment. The end result was that the team arrived on time for each of the meetings – relaxed, focused and prepared.
Related content
Three special ‘Leap Day’ trips by private jet
Airports get ready for Davos influx
