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Victor, as a complement to its already impressive First

Apartments and The Residence products on the A380.

As per the agreement, premium customers who fly

with the Gulf carrier on its superjumbo services to

London or New York can connect onto Victor’s private

jet service to travel onward to destinations within

the UK or US.

Meanwhile, Emirates has taken things even further

by launching its very own private jet service. Known as

“Emirates Executive”, customers can depart from either

Dubai or Moscow and fly to more than 20 destinations

worldwide, including Hong Kong, Bangkok and Tokyo.

“We have seen an increasing demand in the private

travel segment, especially in the Middle East and

Europe as well as in markets such as India, Russia and

China,”says Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ divisional senior

vice president – planning, aero-political and industry

affairs.“We are looking to tap into this niche market.”

With so many options now available to the upper

echelons of the travel community, first class seating on

commercial flights may indeed struggle to survive.Q

players focused particularly in China. The Greater

China area alone is expected to take delivery of 2,000

private jets in the years leading up to 2032.

Asia was Vistajet’s second highest growing market in

2015, with flight traffic into the region increasing by 62

per cent.“We welcomed more passengers onto our jets

than ever before,”says Vistajet chairman and founder

Thomas Flohr.“Vistajet is still increasing its geographic

reach in the US and China. It was particularly pleasing

to see Asia become one of our fastest growing markets.”

COMMERCIAL GONE PRIVATE

The advantages offered by private jets have not gone

unnoticed by commercial airlines, as a number of

high-profile carriers have jumped on the bandwagon

and launched similar products.

Etihad Airways announced last December that it

had partnered with a private jet charter company,

businesstraveller.asia JUNE 2016