Charter 101: Why More People Are Choosing Private Jets Over Commercial Airlines

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On June 28, 2023, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby was among passengers in the more than 50,000 private jet flights in the U.S. that week. Kirby chose the Teterboro, New Jersey (KTEB) airport over Newark Airport (KEWR), the nearby United hub, for a flight to Denver, Colorado. If you’re wondering why Kirby couldn’t find an option among the air travel options offered by United – the third largest airline in the world by fleet size – it was likely because the airline canceled 750 flights on the same day.

United would go on to cancel about 3,000 total flights over the week, many out of Newark. Customers who were sleeping on airport floors and waiting in long lines (and the United employees trying to assist them) weren’t terribly sympathetic to Kirby’s plight. Kirby issued an apology for seeming “insensitive” and promised “to better demonstrate [his] respect for the dedication of our team members and the loyalty of our customers,” but declined to clarify whether he regularly flies private jets.

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Kirby isn’t alone. According to business aviation data firm WingX, the number of flights on business aircraft worldwide were 14 percent higher in 2022 than in 2019, with more than 5.5 million flights during the year. Kirby isn’t the only private jet traveler who likes Teterboro – it was the busiest business aviation airport in the U.S. in 2022.

While global business jet departures are down about 5 percent year over year as of the middle of 2023, they’re still 16 percent higher than they were in June 2019, and the Independence Day weekend (June 29-July 3) featured record business jet activity in the U.S., as per WingX. The bottom line: More people are flying private, and industry experts expect the trend to continue.

Pandemic and its aftereffects

The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions it brought affected many industries, but few more than travel. Demand dropped dramatically as many would-be customers isolated at home and dealt with job instability affecting their comfort with spending on travel. Airlines responded by canceling flights and laying off employees. U.S. airlines carried 60 percent fewer travelers in 2020 than in 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation – even though the U.S., unlike many countries elsewhere, didn’t officially restrict individuals from traveling or force them to isolate upon return.

With fewer options for routes on commercial airlines, and concerns about getting sick from fellow travelers, the advantages of private jet travel were suddenly very apparent. “The crisis brought commercial traffic to a standstill, but provided a silver lining to business aviation,” said Holger Ostheimer of DC Aviation Al-Futtaim in a recent Operator Spotlight. “Business aviation had its challenges but was able to bounce back quicker than most other sectors.”

Travelers who have gotten to experience the convenience of private jet travel for both leisure and business trips have in some cases found it hard to return to the slog of commercial air travel. “We have seen an increasing number of new customers looking for a more secure and safer way to travel,” Ostheimer said. “Passengers who generally travel in first and business class are now looking to charter aircraft to avoid busy airports and being stuck on an aircraft with other people.”

Remote work providing a boost

One COVID-related change that appears to have persisted is a greater openness to remote work. While companies may be asking employees to return to the office on a day-to-day basis, many workers – especially top performers – have more opportunities to conduct meetings and work on projects remotely from time to time.

Timeless Africa is a tailor-made travel specialist specializing in eco-friendly travel to remote wilderness destinations. Often, there are no commercial air travel options for clients’ preferred destinations, so the company works with private aircraft brokers to arrange flights. Founder and Managing Director Julian Asher has seen an uptick in private travel demand over the last five years.

“More people are traveling with their families because you can do a lot more things remotely,” Asher said. “One of the factors as to whether private jets make economic sense is passenger load. If you can fill the plane, the cost difference between commercial first class and private is negligible.”

Commercial air travel seen as less reliable

While those flying to non-remote areas have many commercial flying options on paper, reliability is a significant concern. United’s meltdown is the most recent one as of mid-2023, but it’s not unprecedented. Southwest Airlines canceled nearly 17,000 flights, stranding 2 million passengers, during the latter half of December 2022 – one of the busiest flying periods of the year. Over Memorial Day weekend in 2022, U.S. airlines canceled more than 2,800 flights, while security lines at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport got so long that KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) temporarily stopped taking new bookings.

There are multiple factors behind these travel nightmares. Many of them have occurred around heightened holiday travel. Major airlines often have hubs in high-density population areas such as New York/Newark, Chicago and Boston. A few cancelations due to a summer thunderstorm or a winter snowstorm can cascade quickly, as aircraft are no longer available at destination airports for further travel.

Southwest’s holiday travel woes were traced in large part to older computer technology and manual scheduling processes that buckled under the onslaught of cancelations and rescheduling. Travelers were often unable to get through to customer service to rebook canceled flights, leaving them scrambling for alternatives.

While Southwest was singled out at the time for under-investing in computing resources, it doesn’t appear to be alone in needing systems improvements. In a letter to employees, United CEO Kirby said that his company’s systems were not able to handle the level of delays occurring at its Newark hub in June 2023. “Our crew systems are among the best in the world, but they’re simply not designed for what we went through this past week,” Kirby wrote. “While we already have a lot of online capability, we still have far too much manual work – that’s not acceptable.”

Even the benefits from elite status can’t erase the uncertainty of modern commercial air travel. “There’s a lot more hassle in flying commercial now,” said Samir Seth, a technology commercialization, strategy and execution expert who has worked in corporate executive roles where private jets were used at times, as well as being a frequent flyer on commercial airlines. The entire travel process goes a lot more smoothly on the typical private jet journey, in his experience. “Private jets aren’t breaking your stuff and tossing it around.”

Lower staffing trickles down to customers

And technology isn’t the only challenge for commercial airlines. As demand for air travel nosedived in 2020, airlines suddenly needed far fewer employees. As per Airlines for America, a trade group representing major U.S. airlines, the industry’s workforce fell to 370,000 full-time equivalent jobs at the end of 2020, down 90,000 from 460,000 in March 2020 before the effects of the pandemic hit.

When commercial air travel began to rebound, airlines looked to re-hire workers, but couldn’t replace them as quickly as they had let them go. Aircraft can’t fly without pilots (yet), and becoming a pilot requires significant training and time. Pilots who left for other jobs or took early retirement aren’t easy to replace. Even for roles such as flight attendants and baggage handlers that require less training, restaffing hasn’t been easy. The U.S. labor shortage that shows up in restaurants and retail stores has also affected airlines – and the need for security clearances for airline and airport employees has further complicated matters worldwide.

Asher, who lives in London, started putting Apple’s AirTags in his checked luggage in 2022 to ensure that he’d be able to reclaim them, as staffing shortages at Heathrow Airport threw the baggage-claim system into chaos. Private jet travel, however, offers a level of luggage convenience that goes far beyond AirTags.

“Once I’m off commercial flying, I know my bags are not going to go missing. You go out on the tarmac, and you point at your bag,” Asher said. For his clients such as photographers carrying expensive equipment that won’t fit in a carry-on, the prospect of lost luggage is financially burdensome, making the certainty offered by private jet travel advantageous.

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Looking toward the future

It’s difficult to forecast exactly where the private jet market will go in the near future. After increasing in 2021 and 2022, business jet departures have fallen year to date in 2023. Concerns about a worldwide recession may depress demand for private jet travel going forward. Some environmental groups are spotlighting the impact of private jet travel on CO2 emissions.

Over the long run, however, the advantages offered by private jet travel are likely to continue boosting demand, especially as the industry reaches more customers who may not have seen themselves as private jet customers before. In late 2022, Honeywell International Inc. increased its 10-year forecast for business jet delivery by 1,100 units, predicting that aircraft manufacturers will produce 8,500 new business jets from 2023 to 2032. “The business aviation industry is greatly benefitting from a wave of first-time users and buyers due in part to changing habits brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic," said Heath Patrick, Honeywell Aerospace President, Americas Aftermarket.

If you think you may want to be one of those first-time private jet travelers, look at Charter 101: Guide for New Travelers for more information on how to start your journey. You may find that flying private isn’t just more fun – it’s more practical. “From a time-money standpoint, private can be superior,” Asher said. “It’s just a lot less hassle.”