Private jets: Business or pleasure?
Monarch Air Group in Florida
Monarch Air Group based in Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Florida has spoken about the business aviation market.
Are private jets for business or pleasure? Rightfully so, the biggest driver for private jets is business travel.
It’s called business-travel for a reason, right? And although that might be the case on a yearly basis, things tend to change during the holiday season. Nowadays, when summer is nearby in the Northern Hemisphere, the amount of leisure private jet travellers increase heavily. Not only will the frequent business travellers use a private jet when it’s time for pleasure, but also will the sporadic family luxury holiday or second home owners flying to their holiday properties.
If you add the special occasion users into the mix; say weddings, honeymoons, seekers of international culture and sport event fans, then the so called business jet market is not so business-looking after all.
At least from June to September…Jet charter operators such as Monarch Air Group of Fort Lauderdale have registered during the past years a steady increase in occasional users during this time of the year, pushing the overall yearly ratio of business to leisure travel to 60:40.
Nevertheless, there’s some expected overlapping within both types of travellers. Businessmen are rarely off the grid even during holidays, so an occasional business-related flight might occur during this period of time.
Another interesting factor that has enhanced the amount of non-frequent private travellers is the use of technology. Today, the majority of charter operators have invested in top-notch online booking systems and diverse instant quote apps. By doing so, they are materialising the private jet experience by handing out their prices and detailed information and photos of a wide array of aircraft.
And, then come the empty leg flights. Around all year long, these flights show a slight increase during summer, especially in the occasional private flyer segment. For a reduced price, almost 70% less in some routes, travellers are willing to buy a one way ticket and return home on a commercial flight just to live the private experience. This type of service is also accounted for in the global season increase.
Overall, it’s not a surprise that private aviation travellers fly more for business than for pleasure. But the marked increasing tendency of occasional users during holidays is a good sign for the private aviation market as a whole; it urges private jet operators to bond with new potential clients and to adapt on how they communicate with the different target audiences depending on the season of the year.
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