April 18, 2024
PrivateFly, which in September was acquired by Directional Aviation (owner of Flexjet, Sentient, Skyjet and Nextant Aviation among others), has published its latest quarterly review of trends in the on-demand charter market, at least based on its customers. Among the highlights – which covered July through September, travel to the Adirondacks made its most popular destinations for the first time while the Cessna Citation Mustang emerged as the favorite aircraft. Adam Twidell, the CEO said clients chose to book ahead of time to secure their summer travel plans with 25% of flights booked at least 30 days before departure. August 4th was the single busiest day for flights, with Fridays busy all quarter.
Top destinations for the summer were Las Vegas, New York, Los Angeles, Nassau, Miami, Houston, San Jose, Costa Rica, Washington D.C., San Diego and the Adirondacks. The average number of legs per trip was 1.49 with small jets the most popular choice (53%) followed by midsize (20%) and long-range jets (18%) while turboprops had an 8% share. The most popular aircraft during the quarter was the Cessna Citation Mustang followed by the Citation XLS/XLS+, Citation CJ2/CJ2+, Phenom 100, Citation Bravo, Phenom 300, Legacy 650, Citation Ultra, Citation CJ1 and Hawker 800.
“While Cessna aircraft have remained popular, the XLS entered our top ten for the first time and while the Hawker 800 has been a staple in the American charter market, we’ve seen its popularity increase among our European clients this summer as well,” said Twidell.
In terms of how far in advance you book your flights, 9% was the same day or next day with 23% within two to three days and 15% four to seven days before departure. Over half (54%) was more than a week in advance with a quarter booking more than 30 days before departure. The fastest time from inquiry to takeoff during the quarter was just 42 minutes for a client who needed to fly from Hamburg to Prague. The shortest flight booked was 25 minutes from Mykonos to Athens while at just under eight hours Lisbon to Luanda was the longest segment. The average was two hours and 45 minutes. Friday at 11 am was the day and time with most flights flown.
There were 4.4 passengers per flight with 14% of passengers under 16 years old, 72% male and an average age of 40 years old. Only 5% of folks had their pets along for summer trips. Of searches, 51% found PrivateFly via mobile devices and 41% on desktops with the rest on tablets.
Who much does it cost to charter a private jet? Turboprops were the cheapest with the average charter price clocking in at $9,625 while small jets averaged $14,675 per flight, midsize jets at $23,075 and $54,980 for long-range jets. The estimated prices for popular routes included $7,758 for an eight-seat Learjet 45 from Los Angeles to Las Vegas while an eight-seat Challenger 300 from New York to Miami was priced at $25,800.
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