Air Charter Service plans to restart its fixed/capped rate jet cards in Europe this year. The Middle East and Asia could be in the future.
After taking a steady-as-she-goes approach for its U.S. jet cards during a tumultuous four-year period, Air Charter Service is seeking near-and-long-term growth globally.
New York-based Global Director of Jet Cards John Castellano says in the U.S., the U.K.-based broker is now offering an 18-month rate lock on its fixed/capped rate options.
Since the average burn for a 25-hour card is nine months, he says the idea was to give clients added assurance on rates.
Air Charter Service has three different jet card products under the Empyrean banner.
Its Platinum jet card has a non-peak callout of 24 hours and fixed hourly rates, with a cancelation window of 48 hours.
The Gold level is a 72-hour callout and offers a capped hourly rate.
That means flexible flyers can save money.
However, with Gold, cancelations are based on operator terms.
Air Charter Service reduced the annual peak days for both products by nearly 40% this year.
Castellano says, “We looked at our statistics and the calendar, the volume, and we put all that data together and said, ‘ Why box our customers in unnecessarily?'”
The third jet card type, a Market jet card, allows customers to deposit funds but uses dynamic pricing.
In Europe, ACS is currently only offering the latter, although it also has been doing some custom fixed-rate cards.
The goal, Castellano says, is to relaunch the Gold level offering with standardized capped hourly rates over the next several months.
With over 30 offices worldwide, Castellano also wants to leverage the broker’s local footprint to possibly launch more jet card products in the Middle East and Asia.
“There are a lot of companies that can say they are a global company, but they are really the U.S. and Europe. With our offices around the world, we have our own people who understand those markets from the vendor and operator side, so it gives us market intelligence,” Castellano says.
However, there’s no rush.
“We were founded in 1990, and we have always focused on steady, sustainable, profitable growth,” Castellano says.
Editor’s note: An earlier version incorrectly stated the type of jet cards Air Charter Service is planning for the Middle East and Asia.
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