December 18, 2024
The CrowdStrike IT outage that caused airlines to cancel thousands of flights has not impacted private jet flights so far, executives say.
Private aviation executives say the massive IT outage that grounded major airlines worldwide this morning did not impact private jet flyers, at least so far. (Last updated at 1:40 pm with additional comments)
FlightAware reports that airlines delayed 29,336 flights and canceled 3,226 flights so far today.
According to multiple media reports, a content update by Crowdstrike impacted Microsoft’s Windows Operating System.
Banks, broadcasters, mass transit systems, and airlines all went offline.
Airlines grounded thousands of flights in the U.S. and Europe.
Hundreds of thousands of passengers saw their weekend plans thrown into chaos.
CNBC’s Phil Le Beau reports that airlines will take several days to rebook passengers to their destinations.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz told the business channel it may take manual fixes by companies impacted.
However, private flyers seem to have avoided the issues.
“Our operations have not been impacted by the issue,” says a spokesperson for Wheels Up, which counts Delta Air Lines as its largest shareholder.
He adds, “We are working closely with Delta and supporting them on requests from their impacted customers.”
Wheels Up is the fourth-largest charter/fractional operator in the U.S.
Jim Segrave, CEO of FlyExclusive, the fifth-largest charter/fractional private jet operator, says the company called in staff early just in case.
He tells Private Jet Card Comparisons, “So far, we seem to be okay.”
Volato CEO Matt Liotta says the HondaJet operator’s flights haven’t been impacted.
Anthony Tivnan, President of Magellan Jets, says, “So far, our morning flights have not been impacted. We are, of course, getting calls from people whose commercial flights have been canceled.”
Fly Alliance President Christopher Tasca says the top 20 charter/fractional operator hasn’t been impacted.
He adds, “People who are stranded are calling us.”
READ: Where does your jet card private jet come from?
However, one private jet charter broker cautions anyone with private jet flights today or this weekend not to rest easy.
Andrew VanderPloeg, Founder of Intrepid Jets, says flight cancelations could impact crews flying to meet their private jets.
He says he already had a close call this morning when a flight attendant working a charter flight found her Delta flight to Atlanta delayed.
VanderPloeg says there could be pockets of disruptions tonight and through the weekend.
Another industry executive agreed with VanderPloeg.
He says customers are booking private flights after the airlines canceled their original flights, adding to a busy weekend.
Ground transportation and hotels where crews stay are impacted, causing scheduling challenges.
He says to expect some level of disruption through the weekend.
Craig Ross, CEO of Aviation Portfolio, adds, “We are seeing isolated impacts from the tech outage but not systemic issues. (Floating fleet) programs, where the private pilots are flying commercially to meet the aircraft and planes waiting on a part this morning arriving via commercial flights, are most impacted.”
UPS and FedEx have said the CrowdStrike meltdown is causing “significant” delays.
Aviation Portfolio provides fractional aircraft owners with pre-flight support and addresses potential issues before they become problems.
He notes, “Any departure time changes, passenger manifest updates within the past 12 hours are potentially affected.”
“European flights are being most impacted. Overall, it is much less of an impact than we’re seeing with commercial aviation, and the private aviation industry is not seeing too much disruption,” Ross adds.
A spokesperson for Flexjet says it hasn’t had any disruptions so far.
She says, “Even though our pilots use airlines to reach their Flexjet aircraft when a tour of duty begins, that disruption did not impact our operations. Unlike our competitors, we have implemented a policy that makes the first day of a pilot’s tour of duty as a designated travel day for them to airline from their home domicile to their first city of departure.”
READ: Why private aviation’s supply chain and labor crisis isn’t going away
Before the outage, 47% of Private Jet Card Comparisons members said the state of airline and airport travel was causing them to fly privately more often.
According to the survey, about 18% of respondents only fly privately, while 35% said airline issues don’t impact the usage of private jets.
For those who use business aviation and the airlines, door-to-door time savings, the ability to use more convenient airports, traveling with pets, and no nonstop airline flights were listed as respondents’ top reasons to choose private skies.
Still, it’s not all about the airline and airport experience.
Time savings compared to long drives is the fifth most popular reason for using private aviation.
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