LIFE
STYLE PRIVATE AVIATION
It’s no longer just celebrities, executives and multi-millionaires who use private jets:
the whole industry is becoming more flexible and affordable, as Nick Kirby discovers
I’m not a fan of airports. I don’t like the
queueing, sitting around, getting herded
on to the plane not knowing whether you
are going to be sat next to someone who
wants to yak the whole flight, or who has
questionable personal hygiene. Then the
endless wait for your case, only for it to be
the last one to trundle round the carousel.
Even in business or first class, while it’s
a little more civilised, you still have to toe
the line, and you also have to fly when the
schedule says so, not when you want to go.
It’s hardly surprising, then, that private
High flying adored
aviation is enjoying something of a ‘purple
patch’. As Glen Heavens, Managing
Director of Synergy Aviation, a private
aircraft and charter management
company, points out: “When you can
drive straight up to the plane; board 15
minutes before take-off; fly when you
want, to the airport you want; have the
plane to yourself, or be in the company of
colleagues, friends or family; take any
luggage you want; and get off at the
other end to a waiting car and no
laborious customs checks… it’s no wonder
people are getting turned on to the
benefits of going private.”
The benefits, as Heavens points them
out, are pretty clear, but a major one (a
by-product of most of the above) is time
saved. As Judith Moreton, Managing
Director of Little Blue, a private aviation
members’ club says: “One of my old
colleagues used to say that private jets are
a time machine: they give you time back.”
And she’s not wrong. Not only do you
spend less time at the airport, but flying
privately can get you straight to the airport
you need without any time-consuming
transfers. In some cases it can get you
closer to your destination than the main
hubs as you can land at airports not
46 businesslife.co December 2010/January 2011
available to standard jets because of the
shorter runways. As Peter Leiman,
Managing Director of air taxi service
Blink, says: “We can fly to more than 600
airports across Western Europe alone – all
you need is 3,000 feet of runway.”
Time is key in today’s business world.
Imagine that four business people need to
get from the Channel Islands to Zurich for
a meeting and back in the same day.
Scheduled flights from Jersey make it
impossible to do this in one day, so not
only are you going to have to stay
overnight, the likelihood is that you are
going to have to go via London. So that’s
four people, travelling scheduled (with all
that queueing and transfers), staying in a
hotel and then all those flights back? No
thanks – I’ll hop on a private jet, be there
in less than two hours, have my meeting
and fly home. Done.
And what’s more, depending on the
private flight you take, the cost can be
not much more than scheduled flights,
plus overnight stay, plus meals and so on.
But we’ll get to that a little later.
Buy your own
So, if you want to fly privately, what are
the options? As Michael Rapley, Managing
Director of PROAIR, a Jersey-based
company specialising in aircraft sales,
management and charters, explains: “For
those who have the money, there is
outright or fractional ownership. For
individual business and personal use,
buying a block of hours or booking flights
on an ad hoc basis are popular.”
For those individuals and companies
considering buying their own jet, the
choice is staggering, and it makes sense to
ask yourself a few basic questions before
you start. How often are you going to be
flying, how many passengers are you
likely to be carrying and what range do
you want the jet to have? From turbos
and light jets up to heavier jets, the prices
will vary from around £2 million up to £30
million or more depending on whether
you are buying new or used. And then
there are all the extras.
“Once you own the plane,” explains
Glen Heavens, “there is insurance,
compliance and staffing – you need crew
after all. The accounting side can be
complex, with handling fees, airport fees,
air traffic control, fuel and so on. It’s not
surprising that many owners choose to
use firms that specialise in aircraft
management to oversee their jets.”
What many people might not realise is
many individuals or businesses that own
planes allow them to be chartered by
other firms and individuals on an ad hoc
basis, so they can recoup some of the cost.
Sharing the air
Of course, for many – if not most –
businesses and individuals who wish to
use private jets to get around, the cost of
outright ownership is not always
justifiable: either they are simply not
going to use it enough or because of
shareholder pressure on ‘unnecessary’
business expenses. A far more affordable
option for many is fractional ownership.
As the name implies, here you buy a
‘fraction’ of a plane, guaranteeing you a
number of hours in the air depending on
the size of the fraction you buy. NetJets
pioneered the concept of fractional
ownership, and is currently the global
leader in this area with the largest and
most diverse fleet of any similar operator.
As Emily Williams, Director of Sales at The Cessna Citation Mustang.
NetJets Europe, explains: “Fractional ➔ Top: the Global 5000
December 2010/January 2011 businesslife.co 47
LIFE
STYLE PRIVATE AVIATION
“You board 15 minutes before take-off, have the plane to yourself, you can
take any luggage you want and you get off at the other end to a waiting car”
ownership is great for business leaders and
individuals who need to fly privately but
don’t travel enough to justify the expense
of a whole plane and flight crew of their
own, and to those who need access to
multiple aircraft at the same time.”
NetJets Europe owners can have a
share in an aircraft starting at 1/32nd of a
jet (25 hours a year), with prices starting
from $125,000 for a 25-hour share in a
light jet. And, as Emily implies, you are
not restricted to the plane that you invest
in, you can upgrade to a larger jet or
downgrade to a smaller jet if required.
Fractional ownership does demand a
commitment, however, and can vary
depending on the type of plane – but you
are generally looking at a two year
minimum at the very least.
That said, a large number of NetJets’
passengers actually buy more than a basic
fraction in an aircraft and it still comes in
cheaper than outright ownership. “When
you buy a jet, you’re buying 800 hours of
potential flight time a year and all the
associated maintenance and management
costs, which can run into millions of
euros,” Emily explains. “The average
NetJets Europe customer spends less than
€700,000 a year – which is a very small
proportion of the cost of purchasing a
whole jet. This makes the service
accessible to a wider audience.”
48 businesslife.co December 2010/January 2011
Blink’s Cessna Citation Mustangs.
Right: the exterior (top), and interior
(below) of a Beechcraft King Air 200
It’s on the cards
If fractional ownership isn’t an affordable
option, then booking blocks of time on
an airline could be an idea. Indeed, some
companies, such as NetJets, offer both
programmes in order to give clients more
choice. The premise is a simple one: you
buy a certain number of hours (say 50 at
a time) on a plane of your choice.
As Michael Rapley explains: “When
you buy hours, you have an upfront
commitment. Say you buy 50 hours in
advance, we have to take the money
upfront, and over the course of the next
18 or 24 months you use it up. Normally
when people buy hours they tend to base
it on a regular type of flight – they know
that there are always going to be four
passengers flying a regular route. If they
are going to need one plane one week
and a different plane the next week,
then buying block hours might not be
the right option for them.”
Indeed, this option isn’t without its
problems. You can be restricted to flying
on a set plane out of a designated airport,
for instance, and have to pay more if you
want to go on a different route. Should
the aircraft encounter bad weather, it
may be forced to divert or simply take
longer to get to its destination – which
may well come off the hours on your
card. Also, taking into account the
somewhat volatile nature of the airline
business in recent years, you could pay
your cash up front only for the company
to go down the pan. And if you have
shelled out £125,000, you aren’t going to
be a happy bunny. That said, buying
blocks of time works for many people
because of the certainty that it gives
them, and it can work out cheaper than
buying on a more ad hoc basis.
Taxis and bargains
It might be hard to believe it, but there is
a ‘budget’ end of private aviation – you
still get all of the benefits of flying
privately, but without any upfront
commitment. Welcome to the world of
the ad hoc air-taxi service.
The principle couldn’t be simpler.
These days we are used to booking a
flight online and then heading off in a
matter of days, so why should private
aviation be any different? As Peter
Leiman at Blink says: “We are sort of the
EasyJet of private jets. You can go online
or phone us up and book a flight from
one place to another at a price that is
transparent. Though that’s where the
similarity ends as you get the plane to
yourself and top quality personal service.”
The ability to simply book a private
flight a matter of days – or even hours –
before you need to fly without having an ➔
LIFE
STYLE PRIVATE AVIATION
“Many people wouldn’t even consider private jets before, but more are
realising that it is not prohibitively expensive, and that it can save them time”
upfront financial commitment is proving
very popular for many business people
and individuals. As Synergy’s Glen
Heavens points out: “Around 90 per cent
of our charters are ad hoc.”
So what can you expect to pay?
Imagine you have a meeting in Zurich at
2pm on 7 December – a quick search on
one provider’s website gives me a private
flight to Zurich on 7 December 2010 for a
total of £5,399 for four people. The same
four people can fly direct with Blue Island
for £1,232 – but that means arriving on
the 6th and flying back on the 8th (so you
can add in hotel stay for four people for
two nights plus expenses, and there is
only one flight each day). A search on
Expedia gives me more flights to choose
from but the cheapest is £1,258 per
person and that requires an overnight
stay. Admittedly it’s a bit of a ‘down and
dirty’ example, but it makes the point.
And the fun doesn’t end there – you
can get ‘bucket’ prices on some private
flights, by looking for ‘empty leg’ or
‘repositioning’ flights. Imagine Elton John
is swanning around his hotel in Cannes
and has to get back to London at some
point in the future – now his plane is
currently at Farnborough, so it has to be
Why I fly privately
Charles Clarke is an independent non-
executive director who enjoys the delights of
private aviation more for personal than business
flights. Here’s what he has to say about getting
away from the typical airport experience.
“I fly privately primarily for holidays.
My favourite example is that we, as a family,
enjoy skiing and we like going to Verbier. The
traditional way of getting there was usually
to fly to Gatwick and then on to Geneva and
then endure a three-and-a-half-hour transfer
by coach to Verbier. So you have to commit
the whole of a day. You could abbreviate it a bit
if you managed to get on one of the scheduled
flights that goes from Jersey directly to Geneva,
or one of the special charters in the skiing
50 businesslife.co December 2010/January 2011
flown down to Cannes in time for his
journey. Of course, this means the plane is
going to be empty for that trip, so some
operators will offer bargain prices on it.
A quick look at the Blink website and
there is a flight from Geneva to Nice on
17 November at 15.30 (too late for you to
book it now) for £150. Yes, you read that
right – you could have a private jet for
£150, providing you can fly at the set time.
Frequent flyers
So flying privately is no longer the sole
preserve of multi-gazillionaires, you just
have to work out which approach is best
for you, and if it really is best for you. As
Emily Williams says: “For flyers for whom
time, privacy, comfort and convenience
aren’t critical, private aviation services
may not be justifiable. It’s important to
evaluate your needs and choose the most
appropriate option.”
Another decision is whether to do your
business through an operator or a broker.
“Some clients prefer to have a direct
relationship with an operator,” says
James Leach, Group Marketing Manager
at Air Charter Service, a private aviation
broker. “Whereas some choose to use a
broker because of the choice they have
season, but that’s not always possible or
convenient owing to demand, flight times
and frequencies.
So we decided we would go privately. We fly
from Jersey to a small airport called Sion. The
flight takes 90 minutes and then it’s about a
45-minute taxi ride to the resort – so something
that previously could take a whole day and
available. Of course, there are those that
work through both.”
However you choose to fly privately, it
makes sense to do your research first – not
least because of the possibility that
aviation companies could go bust, as has
happened in the past. If you are going to
part with a large amount of money, you
have a right to demand assurances (as
much as is possible) that a firm is
financially stable. Alternatively, check
how well an operator is backed – NetJets,
for instance, has the might of Warren
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway behind it.
All that said, it seems that the market is
on the verge of taking off. “Many people
wouldn’t even have considered private
jets before – they’re seen as extravagant
and people automatically think it’s going
to be very expensive,” says Judith Moreton.
“But more are beginning to realise that it
is not prohibitively expensive, and that it
can also save them a lot of time.”
So next time you’re thinking of
heading off to Majorca for the week and
want to avoid the usual airport chaos,
think private. n
Nick Kirby is Editor-in-Chief
of businesslife.co
involved lugging heavy luggage around, all
of a sudden becomes something that you do
by mid-morning.
Typically there would be four of us, and the
ability to arrive at the airport 15 minutes before
we leave and have all our stuff with us and be
at the chalet within three hours is great.
I admit it’s not cheap, but you can build a
case for it when there are two or more of you
trying to get to a place that isn’t easily accessed
by direct flights from scheduled carriers. Let me
stress, though, it’s just one component of
travel. I’d never dream of flying privately from
Jersey to Gatwick, and I’ve just got back from
Singapore and wouldn’t dream of using
anything other than a scheduled carrier.”
December 2010/January 2011 businesslife.co 51