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.
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