Since few of us ever fly on private jets, except perhaps to get a ride from a friend, the 8th Annual Readers’ Choice Survey from Business Jet Traveler provides an interesting look into why people fly privately, what they want in their private jets, where they are going, who they fly with, their favorite aircraft and more. The survey garnered 1,487 responses, according to the publisher, an increase of 24%. The magazine says its readership is made up of 35,000 C-level executives, high-net-worth individuals and families who utilize private jets.
First some good news. If flying privately and planning to fly privately are signs of a strong economy, readers are quite optimistic. While 45% of respondents said they flew about the same amount as the previous year, 22% said they flew more and 8% said they flew much more, compared to 14% who flew a bit less and 12% who flew much less. Looking ahead, 44% of the magazine’s readers said they will fly about the same during the next 12 months, 34% said they will fly a bit more and 11% will fly much more, compared to just 11% who predict they will fly less.
Though private jets often get the “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” treatment by the media, the number one reason people fly privately (chart below) is to save time, slightly ahead of the ability to use airports that airlines don’t serve. A distant third was a more comfortable flight, slightly ahead of the ability to work and hold meetings in-flight, privacy and security.
In terms of what private fliers want from their airplanes, range, the distance a plane can fly, was tops, followed by economical operations, cabin size, speed, preference for a manufacturer and then cabin amenities and technology. Also of lesser importance was aircraft age, maybe a sign that the used aircraft market will be able to sustain a recovery.
Most flights (53%) carry three to five passengers while 27% fly with two passengers and 8% of readers said “just me” when asked how many passengers their typical trips involve. While it’s popular to justify the cost of flying privately compared to commercial airfares by dividing up the price of a private charter between a full load of passengers, only 10% of respondents said there are six to eight passengers on their flights and only 2% usually fly with nine or more people in the cabin.
If your image of private flying is jetting off to the French Riviera, only 6% of readers said their flights are 3,000 or more miles compared to 77% who said they were typically flying under 1,500 miles with 26% mostly making flights under 500 miles, which makes sense. Private jets fly at about the same speed as commercial airliners and are subject to the same air traffic delays in congested areas, so the biggest time savings is being able to show up 10 minutes before you take off and get out of the airport within five or 10 minutes of landing. For flights under two hours, flying privately can cut total travel time by more than half.
The survey also re-enforced North America is the epicenter of business aviation accounting for 71% of flights compared to Western Europe at 9%, Asia Pacific at 4% and 3% for flights within South America. Only 7% of readers said they typically use private jets for intercontinental flights. If you still have that image of a flight attendant topping off your champagne glass while bringing you more caviar, 52% of readers said they don’t even order catering for their flights and 24% eschew flight attendants.
Which aircraft are the favorites of Business Jet Traveler’s readers? In terms of airliner sized private jets, Boeing’s BBJ took 76% of the vote while Gulfstreams G650/650ER was cited by 62% in the ultra-long-range jets category. Its sister the G450 was the most popular large cabin private jet, while 34% cited the Bombardier Challenger 300/350 in super midsize cabin jets, and the Cessna Citation Latitude (34%) was dominant in midsize jets. In the closest race, Embraer’s Phenom 300 edged out the Cessna Citation CJ4 among light jets while the Cessna Citation 525 M2 (39%) beat the Phenom 100 (34%) in the very light jet category. Meanwhile, the Beechcraft King Air (74%) dominated twin turboprops and the Pilatus PC-12 (63%) ranked tops with single-engine turboprops.
In terms of best fractional programs, NetJets ranked first in aircraft model choices and availability of aircraft on short notice, Flexjet won for customer service, peak day policies, residual-value and overall satisfaction. Among charter, jet card and membership programs, Jet Aviation won for aircraft model choices, and Million Air tied with JetSuite for best peak-day policies, while JetSuite also finished first in customer service and value for price paid to win the most categories. Sentient Jet was tops when it came to the availability of aircraft on short notice and was voted first for overall satisfaction on the strength of garnering exclusively excellent and very good ratings.
Looking towards the future, the publication asked readers, would they be willing to fly on a pilotless aircraft? While 4% said definitely, and 8% gave a maybe, 34% said probably not and 37% were emphatic checking off the definitely not box.
