Private jet companies say the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic has generated first-time customers. They may return due to health safety concerns…
It’s not just avoiding fellow passengers in confined spaces of airport terminals and airplanes
A CBC report found nearly half of the surfaces swabbed on airline flights contained levels of bacteria or yeast and mold that could put a person at risk for infection
With no cure or vaccine for the COVID-19 Coronavirus, the private jet industry is expecting (or hoping for) an influx of new customers when the stay-at-home orders expire and hotels and resorts reopen.
Right now many private jet users are grounded with no place to go. However, they apparently want to get back in the air. Research by Private Jet Card Comparisons shows only 3% of subscribers have canceled summer vacations with no plans to reschedule. It’s also expected those who can afford it, will want to maximize their social distancing while traveling for the foreseeable future.
According to Thrillist, “Airplanes are notorious for being giant flying petri dishes. The rush to turn flights around in mere moments, day in and day out, makes them akin to a bath towel you always air-dry but never wash.”
Private aviation is forecast to be down close to 70% this month. Still, that number cloaks a significant portion of flying since the COVID-19 outbreak has been by new customers relocating to second homes or evacuating family members.
Many times mainstream media coverage of business aviation
focuses on scoundrels and outlaws
Find a story about Jeffrey Epstein that doesn’t mention he has a private jet or flies by private jet and I will give you a buck. Earlier this year, The Washington Post profiled Elon Musk, tracking his private flights. In one example, it used the fact that his jet would drop him off at one airport and pick him up at another, closer to where he ended his day, as a sign of excess instead of efficiency.
From my perspective, very good journalists often use private jets as evidence that somehow supports unflattering and sometimes illegal behavior. In some cases private jets do, but not in a different way than others use their car to get from place to place.
For the most part, most reporting on private jets ignores the real reasons those that can afford them, use them.
There are lots of reasons to fly privately and get value from your private jet card
Here are some reasons to fly privately
Why fly by private jet? Here are 10 reasons flying privately may help both your business and personal bottom line.
1. Save employee and executive time
When you choose private aviation, you save time by avoiding commercial airline terminals. That means no checking bags before your flight or waiting for them to be returned in one piece while you wait hopefully. You can typically arrive at an FBO for your private flight about 10 minutes before your scheduled departure. If you arrive early, and the pilots are ready, you can often leave early.
At the other end, you will likely be off airport grounds less than 10 minutes after you pull up to the terminal. Then, consider private flights operate from over 5,000 airports in the U.S. compared to under 500 airlines. In other words, you likely will find a closer airport.
Expect savings of between one hour per flight and four to five hours over the airlines.
Private jets aren’t just for big companies. Seventy-five percent (75%) of companies that use business aircraft have only one airplane, according to the National Business Aviation Association.
2. Increase traveler productivity and security
On your private flights, you can hold inflight meetings with your team and customers. Many private jets have in-cabin AV systems enabling to show promotional or educational films. Since you control who’s on the airplane, you can discuss confidential business plans. You don’t have to worry about running into competitors at the airport and protect your family and team against those who target airlines and airports for terrorist acts.
3. Reach multiple destinations quickly and efficiently
Owning, chartering, or buying into a jet card program makes you CEO of Your Airlines. As such, you can schedule nonstop flights to where you need to go when you need to go. That could mean stopping to see a facility in the morning, visiting a customer in the afternoon, and having dinner with a new partner in the evening, all in three different time zones.
4. Access communities with little or no airline service
With access to over 5,000 airports U.S. compared to just 500 with the airlines, you’ll save time by getting closer to where you need to be when you fly privately. In fact, 80% of private aviation flights are to and from small towns and communities.
5. Scheduling predictability
Airlines change schedules seasonally and by day of the week. Accessing private aviation enables you to fly when you need, where you need to go.
6. Move vital equipment and supplies
Many businesses use private aviation to transport tools, parts, equipment, and supplies for offices, factories, and customers that are time-sensitive or need to be delivered with certainty.
7. Minimize non-business hours away from home, increasing employee and executive satisfaction and retention
Happy workers are teams that generate more profits. Some 95 of Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Places to Work” companies use business aircraft. They perform higher on a host of other measures, too.
8. Enhance return to shareholders
An analysis of S&P 500 companies shows that those using business aviation outperform those that don’t by 70%. A Nexa Advisors study of the Small Cap 600 showed similar results. It also showed private aviation users outperformed non-users in revenue growth by 23%.
9. Support philanthropic and humanitarian efforts.
Business aircraft make 15,000 flights a year for humanitarian reasons.
This includes responding to disasters that have made national headlines. Remember the flooding in 2019 that cut off towns in Nebraska; Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma in 2017, when hundreds of pilots flew tons of emergency supplies to affected communities; and the 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti. Most recently, it was the Bahamas. In each case, private aircraft from PC-12s to Global Expresses provided a critical lifeline or an air bridge for relief efforts.
Humanitarian flying is an everyday fact of life in America. Business airplanes transport donated organs, provide medevac services, and reunite veterans with their families. Hundreds of companies make empty seats available on their business aircraft to fly patients to treatment centers and medical specialists. Groups like Corporate Angel Network help coordinate efforts.
10. Create more personal time to explore new places and pursue passions, hobbies, and increase time with family and friends
Instead of waiting for that delayed flight at O’Hare, or missing the last connection in Atlanta, flying privately means being on the sidelines for that soccer game or date night any night you choose. Private flying gives you the one thing you can never get back – lost time!
