Renting a luxury jet for a small number of people may appear to be very extravagant, but it is becoming more common for several reasons. The main reason is that the costs are lower than before, and this is because of increased competition. Another reason is that the costs of a one-stop flight on a private aeroplane may be lower than the overall trip cost of a scheduled flight.
Why Use Private Jet Hire?
There are many advantages to using private air charter compared to scheduled flights. It may be much more convenient, for example, to arrange for a jet to land at a local airport rather than travel to an airport farther away to get a scheduled flight. The level of luxury and service are also generally much better, and there are usually no extra charges for larger baggage.
How Expensive is it to Hire Private Jets?
It is almost always more expensive to use private aeroplane hire than to use scheduled flights. Using a chartered aircraft, however, often makes other savings associated with the trip. For example, a one-stop private flight may be cheaper than two-stop (or three-stop) scheduled flights, and the choice of flight times and airport may mean that overnight hotel stays, or car rental, may be avoided. Since many scheduled airlines flights have charges for extra baggage such as sports equipment, chartering may be cheaper.
Types of Aircraft for Private Jet Hire
Most private charter firms offer a range of aircraft type. They are usually categorised as turbo-prop, light jet, medium jet, heavy jet, and passenger jet. The first three usually carry up to nine passengers, while the heavy jet can take 16 or more. The passenger jets, such as the Boeing 737 or Airbus 320 can carry 120 or more. Many companies also have helicopters available.
How To Get Cheaper Jet Charters
There are many ways to reduce the costs of private jet hire. These include:
- Look for "empty legs" - where others have booked an outward flight with no inward flight. (To get their jet back to base, the charter company will give a discount, sometimes up to 75%).
- Fill the aeroplane with passengers. The quotation given is typically per trip, so the more passengers there are, the cheaper the flight will be.
- Use the same private jet hire company each time, to build up loyalty bonuses and hence price reductions.
- Use a local jet hire company, since they do not need to fly a long way to and from the customer
- Shopping around: the difference in prices between private jet hire companies can be very large.
Private Jet Hire Quotations
After shopping around, it is important to compare the prices of each jet hire company on the same basis. Quotations should take account of all taxes, fuel surcharges, insurance, handling charges etc. Jet hire companies may be willing to negotiate too, to the advantage of the customer.
Private Jet Hire Summary
Private jet chartering is becoming more common, as prices fall and more people are prepared to pay for the extra convenience. It is usually more expensive to fly privately, but some of the price difference may be offset by savings made in other parts of the trip.
Martin Bell - Martin holds a B.Sc. degree in chemical engineering, and an M.Sc. degree in electronics and computing. He has spent more than 25 years ...
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