Private jet charter flights are a big ticket purchase with high expectations. Behind the scenes it’s both a high-wire act and obstacle course.
For ad hoc charter consumers paying tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per flight, the expectation is simple: the airplane is there, on time, in good condition, with no surprises.
Beyond safety, the main concerns for flyers are not being overcharged and the often-strict cancellation terms of booking charter flights on a one-off basis.
Yet despite the large sums of money, making everything work is a complicated jigsaw puzzle.
Capstone Jet Charter’s Victoria Reina Duffy, a veteran broker, says, “You pick somebody to work with who will make it simple for you, but it’s not simple.”
Behind the scenes, industry professionals say it’s a combination of walking the high wire and navigating an obstacle course, all in a day’s work.
Reina Duffy was speaking at the NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference here in Cleveland, Ohio.
On a panel titled Charter Essentials: What You Need to Know, moderated by Ironbird Partners’ Dan Harris, she was joined by Clay Lacy’s Beau Carter and Highlight Aviation’s Aaron Lofald.
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Some industry problems are self-created, panelists said.
Harris, a broker, lamented that some tech charter platforms allow consumers to spam operators with quote requests.
Carter, who didn’t name names, said some big offenders rarely, if ever, produce bookings.
The panelists said that, with only so much bandwidth, operators focus on brokers they know and who generate business.
Even then, the panelists said the typical conversion rate is around 3%.
Carter noted for Clay Lacy, which operates a managed fleet of private jets, many of which require owner approval, that each trip quote request requires two sales.
On one side, there is the task of convincing the owner to accept the trip.
Then Clay Lacy must sell the quote against competing operators.
The panelists believe that while some consumers will end up using apps to book ad hoc charters.
However, they said the vast majority will want recommendations from experienced brokers who have deep knowledge of operators, their fleets, the condition of specific aircraft, and, most of all, reliability.
They noted that travel advisors in the luxury market are seeing robust demand from HNW consumers.
They also said the digital platforms can be misleading.
Some platforms portend to show customer ratings of aircraft.
However, a closer inspection reveals the same reviews posted repeatedly to make it appear like a genuine rating system.
Reina Duffy said, “A (digital private jet charter) marketplace doesn’t tell a story. It just tells a picture, and no one should charter a private jet just because of a picture.”
She added, “Pictures are deceiving.”
Panelists say good brokers are frequently at the airport, spot-checking airplanes from operators they use regularly and asking clients for feedback.
Reina Duffy and Lofald said good brokers can explain why two aircraft types can have widely different prices beyond just vintage or refurbishment date.
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A separate panel discussed the floating fleet model, a key source of inventory for charter brokers.
In simple terms, a floating fleet is a group of aircraft not tied to a specific owner’s schedule or home base, allowing the operator to deploy airplanes wherever demand arises.
Unlike traditional managed aircraft, where airplanes often require owner approval before accepting charter trips, floating fleet operators can say yes immediately.
However, that affirmative answer comes with significant risk for the operators.
The first is geography.
Because aircraft are constantly moving to meet demand, they can end up scattered across the country—or the world—at any given time.
An operator may have airplanes in California, New York, Texas, and Florida, all waiting for the next trip, with no guarantee that the next request aligns with where those aircraft sit.
That creates a constant need to position aircraft empty to get to the next revenue trip.
In many cases, the economics of a trip depend not just on the flight itself, but on whether the operator can sell flights before and after it.
This is where the concept of stringing trips together becomes critical.
Operators build flight sequences—sometimes spanning multiple days—to make the economics work.
A trip from Teterboro to Aspen might only make sense if the aircraft can then fly from Aspen to Los Angeles and back to the East Coast.
But that entire sequence can unravel quickly.
One delay, one cancellation, or one maintenance issue can break the chain and eliminate expected revenue across multiple legs.
Jim Stautberg of Executive Jet Management moderated the panel.
Panelists included AB Jets’ Jeremy Churakos, Kirti Odedra of Planet 9, and Wheels Up’s Shane Pung.
The further in advance the booking, the higher the risk, they say.
A single flight that looks profitable when booked two weeks out can become problematic if they fail to sell the positioning legs.
Panelists said there are big pricing risks with the realization that what looked like a good price – and a price that won the trip at the time of quoting – may end up being a money pit later.
Scale plays a major role in managing these risks.
With a larger fleet, operators have more options to optimize their schedules by swapping aircraft.
They can also absorb disruptions more easily.
The smaller the fleet, the lower the margin for error, panelists said.
Even mid-sized fleets face similar constraints.
The result is a constant balancing act between maximizing revenue and protecting reliability.
If operators consistently cancel trips to avoid losing money, brokers will be reluctant to book them.
Too many of those unprofitable trips mean unsustainable losses.
READ: NATA advises flyers, brokers after FAA turns off public charter list
Then some decisions can be costly either way.
Churakos said a flight that ends in Aspen without another leg already booked means a tough decision.
Do you pay $600 or $700 per night for crew hotel rooms, plus $1,000 in overnight fees?
Do you reposition to Denver and save money?
What if you fly to Denver, then end up flying back to Aspen for the next trip?
The extra landings and takeoffs, and flight time bring the operator closer to expensive mandatory maintenance cycles.
And then there is the weather.
Your airplane and crew can get the customers in before a storm.
In doing so, your airplane and crew are stranded for several days.
That would mean multiple trips down the line need to be canceled.
Every option involves trade-offs, panelists said.
Maintenance is another hidden challenge.
Odedra says Planet 9, which operates ultra-long-range private jets and flies worldwide, frequently needs maintenance in far-flung locations.
In some cases, a delay in getting an airplane back in the air can lead to the cancellation of several subsequent trips.
For long-haul international flights, those trips are not always easily replaced.
Churakos said that because floating fleets are away from base for extended periods, this can lead to more and higher-cost third-party maintenance.
Crew scheduling adds yet another layer to private jet charter operations.
In many cases, it is more complex than managing the aircraft themselves, Odetra said.
Schedules must respect pilot duty limits, rest requirements, and logistical constraints.
A crew that has been flying multiple days in a row may not be able to take on an additional trip, no matter how financially attractive it appears.
Taking a late-night departure means the crew and the airplane will be grounded for most of the next day as they get mandatory rest.
At the same time, crews often need to be repositioned via commercial airlines, introducing another point of vulnerability.
A delayed or canceled airline flight can disrupt an entire charter schedule.
Last-minute airline tickets can be expensive, too.
If cancellation terms are rigid, customers are upset.
If the fleet doesn’t have the scale to support flexible cancellation terms, the operator is likely to see large losses as schedules fall apart when customers change their plans.
The panelists said that even with flight-scheduling optimization software, human decision-making remains central.
Surprisingly, most flights run on time despite numerous obstacles.
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One private jet charter broker said the discussions reaffirmed that good brokers are on solid ground.
He said there is a floating fleet operator with six airplanes that mainly float in the east.
He said a client had a quote on that operator for a flight from Scottsdale to Las Vegas for a week out, thousands of dollars less than the lowest price from what he had proposed.
“I told her, ‘100% they are going to cancel.’ Two days before (her trip), she told me they canceled,” he related.
He says the operator does a very good job in the eastern part of the country.
In the east, he uses that same operator regularly.
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