02 June 2016

Private jet customers show a need for speed

Private jet travel is all about flying on your own terms.

For some that means accessing a remote airport, which has no airline service. For others it means being able to come and go as you please in a single day, and still make it into the office in the morning. And some customers are driven by the privacy and luxury offered by a private cabin.

But what brings them all together? The ability to book and travel at short notice. And new analysis shows just how short this notice usually is.

Private jet booking lead times

Many people are surprised by the shortness of lead times in private jet travel. But in our new quarterly report Private Jet Charter Trends (Q1 2016), we reveal that 43% of our flights took off within three days of booking.

12% took off the same day as they booked, with a further 17% travelling the next day.

This is very different to airline booking behaviour. Expedia’s annual Air Travel Trends Survey 2015 showed that the average airline ticket in 2015 was booked 32 days ahead of travel for domestic and short haul, and 59 days ahead for longer international routes.

Statistically our average was less than half this, at 15 days. But even this was due to one or two unusual flights booking a few weeks in advance (the furthest ahead being 79 days).

This difference in customer behaviour is partly due to the intrinsic ‘on demand’ nature of private aviation. Availability is there and customers are confident that they can have an aircraft ready, when they need it.

So there is no requirement to make travel plans too far in advance. (The exception being events that attract VIPs and corporates in significant numbers, such as the SuperBowl, Cannes Film Festival, or this summer’s Euros 2016, when we do advise to plan ahead a little more).

And what’s more, there is usually no price advantage to booking ahead of time for private jet charter – unlike for airlines. So this doesn’t drive customers to book too far in advance. Private jet charter pricing is calculated on several factors including aircraft location, flight duration, hourly rates of the aircraft, landing and handling fees. But these rates don’t increase purely based on the lead times. See more: Is there a best time to book a private jet?

Last minute private jet flights

At the very fast end of the spectrum are ‘go now’ flights – when customers want to book and fly on a private jet at the last minute. This might be due to an emergency need, such as medevac flights. But for others it can be an more about meeting an unexpected business deadline or to fill in for an airline cancellation or delay.

Our fastest flight between January and April took off 61 minutes and 44 minutes after the booking was made – so only just over an hour. This was for a UK customer whose domestic airline flight was cancelled at the last minute, which was taking them to an urgent business meeting in another city in less than 3 hours.

After making contact with us from the airport, we identified an aircraft in position that could take off almost immediately, enabling the customer to make the meeting on time.

More private jet customer insights

These insights form part of a new first-of-its-kind report from PrivateFly, which delves into the booking and flying trends of today’s private aviation customers.

In addition to booking lead times the report, Private Jet Charter Trends (Q1 2016), looks at destination and aircraft trends – and real, data-driven customer demographics.

This first edition uses data from the first quarter of 2016. We will be building a comparative picture in future editions, to indicate seasonal and market trends.

PrivateFly’s technology puts us in a unique position to collect and examine data on charter customers’ booking behaviour. For too long private aviation has been a closed world, with assumptions and preconceptions making the headlines, rather than real data-driven customer insights. So it’s exciting to be leading this step forward in industry transparency.

See more insights from PrivateFly’s Private Jet Charter Trends (Q1 2016) or email sasha@privatefly.com to receive a full copy of the report.

Whether you want to fly in one hour, one day or later this year, our Flight Team are available 24 hours for advice and pricing. Contact us or call +44 1747 642 777.

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