Long-haul, luxury private jet operator VistaJet is touring one of its Bombardier Global 5000s October 16-23 in the U.S.
VistaJet, which last month secured $150 million in new financing, making it a self-proclaimed Unicorn, a privately held company with a billion-dollar valuation, delivered more good news this morning. For North America, it said new program customers increased three times year-over-year, new program hours increased 146%, flight departures increased by 30%, and program hours increased 210% quarter over quarter. It also noted 45% of program customers who have joined in past 12 months have booked additional hours. As a result, it is increasing its U.S. based fleet by 50%.
The company said the strong numbers “reinforce the global trend of individuals and corporations moving away from aircraft ownership as they look to shed costs and asset risks, but not the comfort, convenience and benefits of private aviation.”
In a press release, Thomas Flohr, VistaJet’s Founder and Chairman, stated, “We’re extremely pleased to announce today’s update as it is evidence of the exponential progress VistaJet is making in the U.S., the core market of private aviation. The numbers we see show two very important things about private aviation in the United States. First, there continues to be a trend away from owning aircraft, either entirely or a fraction, given the associated costs and assets risk. Second, demand for high-quality private aviation services continues to grow, proven by our ability to treble the number of US program (jet card) customers. U.S. customers, both corporate and individual, are discovering that VistaJet is the new generation of business aviation solution. We are leading the industry by building services around the new shared-economy customers, while we keep offering the highest service level, and delivering it in the most efficient manner.”
General Electric, a core user of private aviation and also a participant in the segment with engines and other avionics, made news when its new CEO last month said it would dramatically scale back its owned fleet and corporate flight department and outsource more of its private travel needs. Kenn Ricci, chairman of Direction Aviation, the controlling shareholder of fractional share and jet card seller Flexjet, previously told Private Jet Card Comparisons that the increase proportionally of outsourced supplemental lift reflects that large company C-Level executives no longer are necessarily based in a single corporate headquarters. As executive leadership is more and more spread out, it takes away from the efficiency of a headquarters’ based fleet of private jets, however, executives still need the efficiency private aviation provides.
According to Aviation International News, “Charter activity is up worldwide, according to data and anecdotal reports, and appears to be gathering momentum. In the U.S., charter is leading a domestic business aviation resurgence, registering a 10%t increase in the number of flights (543,449 compared with 493,431) and 12.7% boost in flight hours (765,196 compared with 679,018) in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year.”
To showcase VistaJet’s fleet of luxury aircraft, bespoke services and curated details, the company will meet prospective customers in six U.S. cities on board one of its Bombardier Global 5000 aircraft. The tour will allow selected prospective clients to try the VistaJet experience. Between October 16-23, a VistaJet Global 5000 will visit Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Boston and New York.
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