Why our private jet prices were lower in Q2
We’re in the midst of our busiest time of year here at PrivateFly.
We continue to fly business clients all year round, but the late spring and summer season always brings an additional influx of leisure flights, as this is the busiest time in the European private jet market. And leisure flights tend to be shorter routes, in smaller aircraft.
So while demand goes up and we’re operating more flights, we actually see the average cost per private jet charter drop, compared to the earlier part of the year.
Our latest Private Jet Charter Trends Q2 report analysed the booking and flying trends of our private jet customers over the period April – June this year. And we compared some of the data points to our previous quarter (Jan – March). Here are some of the key insights:
Lower average spend per charter
We saw a drop in average spend across multiple aircraft types in Q2 compared to Q1. An 8% decrease in medium jet charter, 11% in small jet charters and long range jet charter spend was, on average, 16% lower than the previous quarter.
This trend was also reflected in our monthly average spend evolution across all aircraft types between April and June, with a lower average spend per flight developing since March 2016 – just as demand starts to increase.
This is quite different to the commercial airline industry, with airline ticket prices tending to get more expensive during high season. In fact, the summer season can be the best time to get a great deal on private jet charter, as higher volumes mean more empty legs become available.
More customers flew in smaller jets
This downwards movement in price reflects customers aircraft choices over the period. Our stats show an increase in smaller jet bookings between April and June, and fewer bookings on long range jets. Since small jets cost less to charter and are typically flown on shorter routes, this naturally brings the average cost per charter flight down.
And with customers flying to over 70 more airports within Europe during Q2, this completes the seasonal picture: More private jet flights, flying around Europe more widely, on shorter flights in smaller jets.
Many of these flights were related to major events over the period such as the Monaco Grand Prix, Cannes Film Festival and the UEFA Euro Championships.
Read more private aviation insights
All these insights and more are available in our first-of-its-kind quarterly report Private Jet Charter Trends, which delves into the booking and flying trends of today’s private aviation customers.
In addition to pricing trends, the report looks at booking lead times, destination and aircraft trends – with real, data-driven customer demographics.
This second edition uses our data from April to June 2016. We will continue to build on these trends each quarter in future editions, to indicate seasonal and market trends within the business aviation market.
Read more highlights from PrivateFly’s Private Jet Charter Trends (Q2 2016) or email sasha@privatefly.com to receive a full copy of the report.
For a personalised private jet charter price for any global itinerary, search for flight prices online or contact our 24-hour Flight Team on +44 1747 642 777.
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