Nov 19 2011
What To Consider When Choosing A Private Jet Travel Option
When you are looking at the alternatives available to fulfill your private aviation travel requirements, you may be given advice regarding the various methods of travel readily available by somebody that has never personally evaluated your travel requirements. That is a common occurrence in the aviation industry, because there are plenty of sales people who try to oversimplify what is actually a much more complicated question – “Which private jet travel choice is really best for my situation?”
Trying to answer this question with as little confusion as possible has resulted in the creation of a guideline that actually will work for only a few individuals in specific situations. In reality, there are so few men and women whose requirements are satisfied with this formula that it has become a myth.
The rule claims an individual will need to choose between aircraft charter, jet cards, fractional or whole aircraft ownership determined by a simple formula of hours flown a year. The general guideline goes something like this:
1. In the event you fly privately for less than 25 hours a year, you need to charter.
2. In the event you fly privately anywhere between 25 to 50 hours per year, you must purchase a jet card or block charter.
3. If you fly privately between 50 and 200 hours a year, you should use fractional (want to guess which marketers created this rule of thumb?)
4. In the event you fly privately a lot more than 200 hours a year you should purchase your own personal aircraft.
The problem with this basic formula is the fact that it doesn’t factor in your special needs and assumes your wishes are the same as everyone else’s. To make a fully informed decision, you need to take into consideration many more variables than only the amount of hours flown a year. For example, when your company has a need for 20 hours of flight time each year, however the flights all begin in completely different cities, your requirements will conflict with the advice to utilize charter when your local charter operator does not have aircraft based in these cities.
If you fly 100 hours each year, but most of the trips originate from one particular airport or region and come back within a day or two, once more this advice will not make the very best fit for you, as a fractional share or jet card will be too costly as their model is based on higher, “one-way” pricing. Of course there are many other factors also, including the convenience factor, tax advantages, accessibility, and so on that cannot possibly be considered within the constraints of a one-size-fits-all guideline.
If approached for assistance in choosing the most effective private travel choice for a client, I initially figure out the client’s needs. How frequently does the client fly? Are most flights one way or round trip? Do all flights begin and end at the exact same location? Will the client ever have need for several aircraft at the exact same time, maybe flying several teams in different parts of the country to various places at the same time? Exactly what is the client’s tax situation as it is applicable to depreciation of the asset if a share or entire aircraft were bought?
Are there passive earnings issues? What’s the client’s most important concern with regards to traveling? Does the client like to have a relationship with their flight crew or keep them at arm’s length? After that, a complete mission evaluation is carried out, which involves a financial assessment of the various options available. On very rare occasion the guideline will fit my recommendation, however the majority of the time the guideline leads a person to a lot more costly alternatives than required.
Do not be misled by the myth that your particular needs can be met with a guideline. Using a thorough, in-depth analysis of your travel requirements, a professional can structure one or a number of private travel alternatives in combination to create a solution that genuinely fits your needs.
Desert Jet is a full-service aviation management company that provides clients with expertise in acquiring and operating private jet aircraft, and offers on-demand charters in its fleet of jet aircraft. Desert Jet was one of the first jet charter providers in the world to become IS-BAO certified, exceeding a global industry safety standard.
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