Here's how the FAA ground stop is impacting private jet flyers

While private aviation executives often say delays and mayhem at airlines and major airports drive demand for private jet travel, they say private jets weren’t immune during today’s air travel meltdown in the U.S.

That said, private jet flyers have fared much better so far.

However, private flyers are likely to see the biggest impact this weekend.

First, here’s what happened so far.

The FAA ordered a ground stop just before 4 p.m. Eastern time after a major telecommunications outage.

Departures – airlines and private jets – were nearly all halted for just over four-and-a-half hours.

Initially, private jet flyers remained largely unscathed.

While passengers on airline flights found themselves sitting on the tarmac for hours after landing, with delayed flights taking airport gates, private jet flyers stayed mostly on schedule.

Executives said private jet flyers benefited by being able to walk off their jets via the FBOs that serve as terminals for private aviation.

However, that’s where the good news ends.

FAA shutdown: What’s next?

Executives say flyers on the ground with delayed departures will be the first dominoes to fall.

Charter and fractional pilots are limited to 14 duty hours per day.

Big operators fly multiple segments per day.

Private flyers often depart early in the day, so many flight crews were nearing their duty limits when the ground stop took effect.

Because private jets fly from and to where customers want to go, rather than through hubs, they generally don’t have reserve pilots to step in.

What’s more, with hotels filling up with stranded travelers, those air crews could face delays finding a place to sleep.

Charter and fractional pilots must have 10 hours of uninterrupted rest between duty periods.

Airplanes are also likely to be out of position.

For example, a private jet charter flight leaving Salt Lake City for Houston early this evening and delayed until tomorrow now means that same airplane won’t be available to fly another group of customers from Austin to Tampa in the morning.

The crew was supposed to fly from Houston to Austin in the morning to pick up those passengers.

Executives say there will now be delays on the ground, too.

FBOs at busy airports have their ramps filled with jets, and as flyers want to get in the air, they won’t have enough staff to fuel, service, and get them on their way all at the same time.

Brokers and operators say if given the chance, they recommend postponing your flights until Sunday or even Monday.

Check your contract

However, check your contracts.

For most charter and jet cards, you are within the cancellation window.

Brokers say operators are mostly saying flights are delayed, not canceled.

That means if you cancel, you could be subject to the cancellation penalty, typically 100% at this point.

Also beware of brokers pitching you to book private flights to replace your delayed or canceled airline flights, executives say.

A senior executive with a large operator of private jets cautioned, “In instances like this, all aircraft are created equal during ground stops. However, when the system comes back online, we tend to see commercial aviation prioritized first.”

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