Are empty leg private jet flights bait and switch?

Empty legs are a prominent part of private jet marketing, promising cheap flights or at least a cheaper way to fly privately, with discounts up to 70%. But are empty legs merely a marketing ploy designed to fill the email lists of charter operators and brokers?

According to the founder of a website that provides empty leg inventory that brokers often use to populate those emails and the former CEO of a charter operator, the empty legs rarely sell.

However, the siren song of cheap private jet flights is a marketing hook.

Speaking on the VIP Seat podcast, FlyEasy Founder Shaan Bhanji said operators and brokers are missing an opportunity by not doubling down in promoting those repositioning flights.

Empty legs are, of course, created before and after revenue flights where a customer is paying.

So they are subject to popping up at the last minute – and just as quickly going away.

READ: Private Jet Empty Legs: What you need to know before you buy

However, it’s not uncommon for flight providers to hire a PR company and do a media tour.

They pitch their discounted flight apps – mainly variations of the white-label skins powered by FlyEasy and rival Avinode – as having somehow revolutionized the private jet charter market.

They promise cheap flights.

Get seven of your friends; it costs less than an airline ticket.

Private jet marketing

But how does it work in real life?

Bhanji told listeners that repositioning flights are first and foremost marketing strategy.

“You said the magic words – empty leg flights. (It is the) highest searched Google keyword, and once (an operator or broker) figure that out, you start putting it everywhere…and then you start to attract the typical traffic that you would in our space,” Bhanji said.

He added, “I hate to use the term, but it’s a hack to getting in the right firehose of traffic in the digital end.”

Of course, flight providers must find efficient ways to attract new customers in an industry with high costs and tight margins.

Podcast host Jessie Naor, former president of GrandView Aviation, pointed out that airlines earn most of their profits from selling points and cobranded credit cards.

The pair noted that private aviation companies have not found those ancillary revenue streams.

Do empty legs work?

But do people buy them those discounted repositioning flights?

Bhanji continued, “I’m going to dispel a big myth. If you are an operator or broker and think empty legs are going to be something you can sell like hot cakes…I hate to burst your bubble, but that’s not what they are useful for.”

The inventory of repositioning flights, he says, creates engagement with prospects.

Naor noted at GrandView that emails touting empty legs drove higher open rates than those promoting events and lifestyle partnerships.

So, yes, they work for flight providers.

Bhanji termed empty legs “the standby of private aviation.”

It’s a clue on how consumers should view them.

He told the B2B podcast audience, “Every now and then, the stars may align, and you will have a retail customer who says, ‘I’m going there anyway.’ You will have an empty leg, and you’ll be able to sell one, but the reality is it’s a great marketing hook to reel in those customers…and a perceived opportunity.”

Bhanji added, “The empty leg is the cookie because (consumers are) going to come back wanting the glass of milk.”

While the empty legs may not sell in any volume, operators, and brokers, have told him they have picked up regular customers who started by signing up for their empty leg lists.

VISIT: Empty leg resource center