Bizjets, Biz Jets, or business jets… Whatever you call them, they are moving out of the realm of the super-rich and into that of the everyday business traveler.
In decades past a Lear jet or Gulfstream was almost exclusively the province of the ultra-rich with cash to spare. They provided a level of privacy, comfort and convenience that no major airline could match. With separate airfields, schedules designed around the traveler’s needs, not the airlines’, private jets were the ultimate in air travel.
But those advantages came at a price tag that few could afford. Hugh Hefner had his famous Playboy Bunny jet. The Sultan of Brunei could command a fleet of Gulfstream models. But the business traveler was still stuck with plain old TWA.
Improved production costs and rising commercial airfares, not to mention the increased pace of an already active business life, created a heightened demand for these air taxis. Multitudes of executives and individual businessmen saw the advantage of paying a higher individual ‘fare’ in order to save time and hassle.
New arrangements for sharing the costs, called ‘fractional ownership’, evolved. Business jets became the timeshare condo of the 1990s. Several businesses would each lease a percentage of the total potential flying time of a Gulfstream or a Lear or a Cessna.
Crew salaries, fuel and maintenance, and a dozen other expensive items could then be distributed over several parties. Now only a few companies had to coordinate their schedules to take a trip from Miami to Boston, New York to Chicago, or LA to Dallas or San Francisco.
Some of the larger jets could even reach from New York to London or Paris to Moscow. From there it was just another hop to the Middle East. Some flew the other way, from LA to Honolulu to Tokyo. In either case, there were typically no more stops than the traveler would endure on a commercial jet and the luxury was a thousand-fold higher.
Those fortunate enough to travel by business jet could arrive as quick or quicker – and ten times more refreshed and ready for business – than a commercial airline flight. Schedules were more convenient, designed around the time customers want to leave and arrive, rather than maximizing the airline’s passenger load. And, sleeping on a business jet was considerably easier than on your average commercial jet where seats are cramped and babies are crying.
That evolution of the past twenty years has continued.
Travel by private jet or business jet is now feasible for a wide variety of businesses, well beyond the top executives of the Fortune 500. Though recent rises in fuel costs have raised the bar, the overall economic advantages are still within reach for all but very small companies.
Even those operating costs – for crew, fuel and more – have recently experienced another revolution with the development of VLJ (Very Light Jet) models. Eclipse Aviation has recently gained FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) certification for its Eclipse E500 and orders are pouring in.
In the next two decades we could well see the day when half the flights now booked on commercial airline jets would be taken on private or business jets instead. Traveling from San Francisco to LA could be as easy as taking the train from London to Paris.
Ready for that?
Related posts:
- The History of Business Jets
- Business Jet Air Taxis At Your Doorstep
- What’s Happening With Business Jets?
- Cessna Mustang Business Jet
- Business Jet Flying Offices
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Tags: air travel, airfields, airline, Biz Jets, bizjets, Business Jets, business traveler, Cessna, commercial airfares, fractional ownership, Gulfstream, Hugh Hefner, larger jets, Lear jet, Private jets