Boat International — January 2018

With a maximum operating speed of Mach 0.925
(611mph), Gulfstream claims that the G650 is the
fastest private jet on the market. Its maximum
range of more than 8,000 miles means that it can
fly non-stop between cities including London and
Buenos Aires, and New York and Dubai.
The passenger cabin of the G650 is larger than
the older G550, measuring 14 metres long, two
metres high and 2.5 metres wide. This allows eight
people to fly very comfortably but the jet can take
another 10 if needs be. Inside the cabin, passengers
can control the temperature, monitor and lights
from their smartphone. Even the onboard
refrigerator has its own IP address, automatically
informing airport staff ahead when it is running low
on supplies. The average cost per mile is £4,500
and charter rates are £13,000-£16,000 an hour.
But it is not just new hardware that is increasing
choice; the software of private aviation is more
sophisticated. The fractional ownership model that
NetJets pioneered is now being extended as firms
such as Victor, Stratajet and PrivateFly take a leaf
out of Uber’s book and use apps to try to match
passengers with jets for bespoke charters or using
“empty legs” – when a plane has finished a flight
and needs to return to its home base, often without

New technology

is helping to

bring down the

cost of private

jet travel and

attract new

customers into

the market

The Gulfstream G550

can seat up to

19 passengers or

sleep up to eight

its owner or the person who has chartered it.

“We’re continuing to see a shift away from jet

ownership to jet charter,” says Clive Jackson,

Victor’s founder and CEO. Victor’s primary offering

has become “on demand” charter. More than four

out of five of the routes its customers flew in 2016

were “one-offs”, covering all but two countries

in the world: North Korea and Syria. “Discerning

travellers are realising that on-demand charter,

in particular, provides greater flexibility in terms of

time and choice,” says Jackson.

And cost. Because flyers no longer have to go

through a broker and the technology enables you

to see real-time costs of all the aircraft that are

available to charter for that flight – not just a select

few – and then book instantly, prices are falling.

Victor doesn’t charge for membership – you pay

as you fly. New York (Teterboro) to Antigua with

Victor costs from £18,500, or £138,500 for London

>>

to Cape Town in a Bombardier Global 5000. Cuban

and Caribbean sun is a big pull for US fliers. You can

expect to pay £7,000 for a charter from Miami to

the Bahamas or Havana and back.

Empty leg travel can be particularly affordable.

A group of eight people can fly from London to

Cannes and back for around £7,600, not much

more per head than a business class return and

much more pleasant. The Victor app lists more than

1,000 returning empty aircraft.

“There has been a misconception about the

price of private jet travel,” says Carol Cork, sales

and marketing director at UK-based PrivateFly.

“Thanks to new technology, it’s more accessible

now.” Stratajet, the average value of whose app

bookings is £5,300, confirms that a remarkable one

third of its customers are first-time private jet

fliers, often millennials. The 25 to 34-year-old

age group “conducts almost a third of all searches, ›

AVIATION67