From our fleet operations desk
Lift capacity: Due to Memorial Day weekend leisure bookings of private jets charters have risen dramatically. If your passenger is in the Northeast and you need an aircraft for this weekend please book it by May 24th the latest.
Rates: There will be a fare adjustment on several carriers who have not updated their fuel surcharges and other ancillary charges on the BusinessJet Class system. The fare increase will go into effect May 30th, 2005.
Understanding pricing issues
Private air charter has a growing following among subscribers to the various block-charter pre-paid member card plans. Alternatively, with BusinessJet Class there are no pre-payment commitments required. The least expensive block-charter prepaid card on the market today is worth $76,000 for 20 hours' time on a five-passenger, 1,400-mile-range Citation CJ1. The most expensive is $120,000 for 20 hours on an eight-passenger, 2,100-mile-range Citation Excel. One of the industry-leading jet-card providers, offers 25-hour cards that start at $110,000 for the seven-passenger, 2,000-mile-range Citation Ultra and go to $340,000 for the 14-passenger Gulfstream V, which has a range of about 6,000 miles.
Block charter is the second highest growing segment in the private jet charter marketplace, after fractional ownership, which proves that price is not the primary driver behind the passengers' decision to charter. Safety, privacy, and service levels, and time savings, remain at the top of the list.
Since many of you have been asking about rates, we are presenting below a price comparison between the block charter rates offered by two of the leading brokers in the market, and the rates offered by carriers directly on BusinessJet Class.
| Block Charter | BusinessJet Class Carriers | ||||||
| Aircraft | Pre payment | Hours | Average Hourly Rate* | Pre payment | Round Trip** | 30% OW*** | SAVINGS PER HOUR |
| Citation CJ1 | $76,000 | 20 | $3,800 | None | $2,012 | $2,616 | $1,184 |
| Citation Excel | $120,000 | 20 | $6,000 | None | $3,426 | $4,454 | $1,546 |
| Citation Ultra | $110,000 | 25 | $4,400 | None | $2,366 | $3,075 | $1,325 |
| Gulfstream IV | $340,000 | 25 | $13,600 | None | $7,297 | $9,486 | $4,114 |
| * Billed based on actual flight time plus 10% to 15% block time. In the market as of May 15th 2005. | |||||||
| ** This is an average. Some carriers might offer lower rates on BusinessJet Class. Billed on computer estimated flight time accounting for historical seasonal winds. Rates as of May 30, 2005 | |||||||
| *** BusinessJet Class bills round trips even when the passenger flies one way. Assuming passenger flies one ways 30% of time ths would be the equivalent one way rate. | |||||||
B R A V O !
Business travel continues to recover slowly but there are some noticeable changes in booking habits, according to the 2005 National Business Travel Monitor report. This annual survey of 1,200 active business travelers by Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell states that significantly more business travelers are using the services of a travel agent (32 percent, up from 25 percent), reversing the trend of the past few years. This appears to be due to growing suspicions about the integrity of travel pricing across the multiple distribution channels, and to business travelers limiting the time they’re willing to spend tracking down the best prices on their own.
BusinessJet Class was featured last week in Travel Agent Magazine and Travel Technology Update.
Michele Macdonald at Travel Technology Update wrote a May 17th "In Focus" interview, "In the future, commercial airlines will continue to offer long-haul services, but some of their passengers will connect with a new generation of microjets operated by private charter companies... BusinessJet Class is prepared for that day [having] launched a GDS for private aircraft charters."
Jennifer Michels at Travel Agent Magazine wrote about BusinessJet Class in the May 16th issue, "Now is... a good time for agents to get in on the ground floor of an evolution in this industry: new lightweight business jets will be coming into the market... and new air taxi companies will be starting up over the next two years... 'We want to put travel agents at the forefront by starting to work with them now to prepare them for this new wave of air travel,' says George Khairallah, President of BusinessJet Class."
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BusinessJet Class Travel Agency Newsletter - 23 May 2005