February 21, 2024
It will be a happy holiday season in Columbus, Ohio this festive period. Santa came a week early to Warren Buffett’s private aviation provider, NetJets.
In the wide-ranging survey, NetJets was voted best in all six categories rating fractional providers. It also won five of six categories in Charter, Jet Cards and Membership Clubs category.
The survey was conducted by Business Jet Traveler, its 9th annual reader poll.
In the fractional category, only three companies were included based on receiving sufficient responses to allow for meaningful results, according to Business Jet Traveler.
PlaneSense, which is best known for its Pilatus PC-12 program, finished second in all six categories with Flexjet in third place.
The closest category was Overall Satisfaction, where NetJets scored a 4.77 (out of 5) with PlaneSense clocking a 4.55 score.
Other categories, included Aircraft Model Choices, Short Notice Availability, Customer Service, Peak Day Policies, and Residual Value Terms.
Last year, NetJets and Flexjet were the only fractional providers receiving enough votes to be included, and Directional’s operator won four of the six categories.
For Charter, Jet Cards and Membership Clubs, gains by NetJets were even more significant.
In 2018, NetJets had no first-place finishes. This year, NetJets won five of six categories, including Aircraft Model Choices, Short Notice Availability, Peak Day Policies, Value For Price Paid and Overall Satisfaction, displacing 2018 winner Sentient Jet.
Million Air prevented a clean sweep by the Berkshire Hathaway provider edging out NetJets in Customer Service by three one-hundredths of a point, 4.87 to 4.84.
In terms of favorite private jets, Embraer’s Phenom 300 won the Light Jet Category doubling Cessna’s Citation CJ4 by a 40%-20% margin with the PC-24 at 19%.
The Citation Latitude dominated Midsize jets garnering 54% of the vote, a three-fold margin over Gulfstream’s G150.
In the Super Midsize section, Bombardier’s Challenger 350 beat the G280 by a 50%-21% margin.
However, Gulfstream gained the upper hand as the best long-haul jet with the G500, ahead of the Challenger 650 by a 48%-26% margin.
Among Ultra-Long-Range Jets, the G650/G650ER beat the Global 7500 in a close battle 47%-38%.
In terms of manufacturers, Pilatus had a clean sweep winning all six categories.
In terms of why readers fly privately, saving time was number one, followed by the ability to use airports that airlines don’t service; more comfortable flights; privacy, and the ability to work and hold meetings in-flight.
Asked about inflight activities, 74% of respondents answered sending and receiving emails, double listening to music, which placed second.
In a result that will sure cheer all, 46% said they will fly a bit or much more in 2020 compared to just 8% who said they will less. Forty-five percent (45%) said they will fly about the same.
Last year 37% of readers flew more compared to 21% who fly less.
