October 3, 2023
BJT readers picked Gulfstream as top OEM, while Embraer and Textron both topped a pair of aircraft categories.
PlaneSense nearly swept the 14th Annual Readers’ Choice survey from Business Jet Traveler, taking top rankings in five of six Lift Provider categories.
The Pilatus PC-12 and PC-24 operator ranked tops for Availability of Aircraft on Short Notice, Customer Services, Peak-day Policies, Value for Price Paid, and Overall Satisfaction.
Solairus Aviation won the category for Aircraft Model Choices.
PlaneSense scored a perfect 4.0 for Overall Satisfaction out of the 12 flight providers listed.
The companies listed are the ones for which the publication received sufficient responses for meaningful results.
Scores were determined by assigning points to ratings.
Excellent gained four points, Good gained three points, Fair equaled two, and Poor provided one point for the provider.
Solairus was second in Overall Satisfaction with a 3.86 score, followed by NetJets at 3.69, Flexjet at 3.62, VistaJet at 3.55, and Clay Lacy at 3.54.
For Customer Service, PlaneSense led with a 3.89 score, with Solairus and Flexjet closing behind and tied for second place at 3.86. NetJets scored at 3.80, with VistaJet at 3.73.
Regarding Value for Price Paid, PlaneSense posted a 3.78, with Solairus at 3.57, Flexjet at 3.38, and NetJets scoring 3.37.
NetJets, Flexjet, VistaJet, Solairus, and PlaneSense are ranked among the eight largest charter and fractional operators.
The survey also showed how readers were introduced to private aviation.
34% said their first flight was on a company aircraft, while 32% got their first taste of the private skies by riding on a friend’s private jet.
44% said they had used corporate aircraft in the past two years or plan to do so in the next two years to access private flights.
36% said the same for their own aircraft, while 35% cited charter, 14% fractional ownership, and 13% a jet card or membership.
71% said they have been flying privately for over 10 years. 12% for three to 10 years, and only 5% for less than three years. An additional 12% say they are currently considering private flights.
Over 1,000 respondents said they prefer booking charter flights directly with operators by an overwhelming 83%-to-17% margin.
For OEMs, Business Jet Traveler readers ranked Gulfstream tops (3.70), followed by Dassault (3.46), Bombardier (3.43), Embraer (3.43), and Pilatus (3.27).
The PC-12 (59%) was the top choice for single-engine turboprops, while Textron’s King Air (82%) dominated twin-engine turboprops.
Embraer’s Phenom 100 and Textron’s Citation M2 Gen 2 tied (36%) as readers’ favorite VLJ.
The Phenom 300 (37%) beat the PC-24 (22%) in light jets.
Textron’s Latitude (34%) edged the Praetor 500 (30%) among midsize private jets.
Bombardier’s Challenger 3500 (38%) beat the G280 (25%) and Longitude (21%) in the super-midsize category.
The G500 (45%) won the large-cabin poll over the Global 5500 (24%).
Gulfstream’s G700 (36%) beat the Global 7500 (26%) in the ultra-long-range segment.
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