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The world of private jet charter and luxury travel can seem intimidating from the outside. Affluent individuals, corporate executives, VIPs and luxury travel planners – everyone who uses private jets seems to already know exactly what they want, so it can be hard to find entry-level advice for the first-time private flyer.
This article hopes to address that dearth of information, offering travel planning tips for those in need of air charter services. We’ll demystify the world of private jets by looking at what makes private chartering special, what your options are as a client, and what the private jet booking process actually looks like. Should you entrust your travel plans to a private charter operator or a broker like Skyllence? By the end of this article, you’ll be ready to decide.
The World of Private Jet Charters
Before we get into the meat of this air charter guide, it’s worth taking a moment to highlight the exclusive allure of private flying and point out why so many are drawn to the world of aircraft rental. Three words mark private aviation as distinct from its commercial cousin: convenience, luxury, and efficiency.
Convenience
This benefit of private aviation speaks for itself. You’re in control of the air charter jet, so every aspect of the experience is exactly as convenient as you want it to be. From custom destinations to specific departure times, the benefits of plane rental are as wide-ranging as the list of unique requirements that any one client might bring to the table.
Luxury
It’s not all about the functional aspects when it comes to private jet services – there’s no shame in admitting that you’ve got a taste for the finer things. The elite level of luxury on offer aboard any good aircraft charter service can enhance a family holiday, impress a would-be client, or even simply allow you to indulge yourself on a trip that you were otherwise dreading. Little wonder so many opt for jet rental solutions!
Efficiency
For some, the most frustrating thing about air travel is the amount of dead space that surrounds your trip. Untold hours sat in departure lounges, waiting for boarding, and then sat on the tarmac can be a serious buzzkill before a holiday, and can cost valuable time (and, in turn, money) where business aviation is concerned. Cutting out these wasted moments is as easy as contacting Skyllence, as when you opt for a private charter experience their logistics experts take over to keep downtime… well… down.
Putting it all together
Needless to say, these benefits aren’t necessarily easy to procure on the part of those who provide air charter services. Arranging a private jet involves weaving a complex web of relationships, navigating between the responsibilities of broker networks and a whole host of other issues – both at your departure and arrival locations. Booking a private charter solution with a company you can entrust this difficult process with is key, but should you work with a charter operator or a charter broker?
Charter Operators
Charter operators are directly involved with the operation of the aircraft. If you book with them, you’re going directly to the source – the people who will actually be providing your charter flight. We’ll come to the advantages and disadvantages of this direct-to-source method of booking shortly, but one key benefit is regulatory oversight.
In the US, for example, charter operators are rigorously moderated by a suite of FAA regulations (14 CFR and Part 135 certificate) that ensure they provide services to clients in a reliable and secure manner, and offer a modicum of insulation for private jet clients.
Charter Brokers
Charter brokers are effectively middle-men, working in the margins between the client and the charter operator to keep things ticking along throughout. While brokers are less strictly regulated than operators, new DOT rules have increased transparency and consumer protection to mean that there’s now an additional layer of insulation between the client and the operator.
The advantages don’t stop there however, as when you work with an aircraft charter broker you gain access to an extensive network and a huge amount of flexibility when it comes to sourcing aircraft.
Think of it this way: if you work with an operator, you get access to one operator (obviously); if you work with a broker, you get access to every operator with whom they have a relationship. In some cases, that could mean tens or even hundreds of providers, all of whom might have different fleet sizes, different capacities, and different abilities to cater to your specific requirements.
Doesn’t all of this come at a cost, though? Can’t I just contact the operator, cut out the middle man, and organise the flight without the broker’s input, thereby saving on their fees? Not necessarily.
The Bottom Line
Private jet cost can seem a daunting prospect at the outset, and any opportunity to shave off a few percent from the final figure is attractive.
If you’ve ever called a company for a direct quote on anything from home repairs to taxi services, you’ll know it can be expensive. Book through the company account, though, and the price drops substantially. This is because business clients often have discounts that retail customers don’t have access to, driving the cost down because of the bulk of the business that they send the way of the actual provider.
The private aviation industry is no different, meaning that when you book through a charter broker you’ll often find the price is actually lower than it would be if you were to do the legwork yourself. Their ongoing relationships with charter providers ensure that their clients receive the most favourable pricing structures in return for sending business the way of the operator, creating a symbiotic win-win relationship that ensures the operator receives business, the broker receives their fee, and the client pays less for the same level of luxury.
Options and Fallbacks
We discussed how booking through a broker provides a much wider range of options earlier, but this also comes with a secondary benefit: a backup plan. Having the choice of working with a range of different operators means that, should one solution fall through, there are always alternatives to rely on. If you book directly with an operator and your private plane experiences mechanical difficulties, you could be grounded if their inventory is small; book with a broker and they’ll simply find you a new aircraft.
Crucially, as you’ve paid the broker and not the operator, you won’t be left having to pay twice in the above scenario. Brokers hold your payment as the middle-men in this transaction, and only release it to the operator when the actual flight takes place, meaning that reshuffles and new arrangements are factored into the cost of travel and you’re free of the stress of having to struggle to be reimbursed for a cancelled flight.
A Symbiosis
Clearly, the distinction between operators and brokers isn’t always clear-cut. Both rely on each other, so it’s in their interests to have collaborative working relationships that stress one core tenet: meeting the client’s needs. While there might be specific requirements of your charter private jet experience that steer you in the direction of one over another, for most jet rental solutions the adaptability and flexibility of the charter broker make it the obvious choice.
Pick a good provider – Skyllence, for example – and they’ll sweat the small stuff so you don’t have to, insulating you from headaches and providing a layer of security if things turn sour on the operational end.
In Your Hands
When organising a private jet experience, the choice of opting to employ the services of a charter broker or operator is, ultimately, yours to make. Some gravitate towards the tightened regulatory environment, steering them in the direction of charter operators and the sense of security that that might entail. Others prefer the convenience, flexibility and potentially reduced cost that a broker can provide, leading them to Skyllence and a stress-free booking experience.
Whether you fall into the second camp or are yet to be convinced, it’s worth hearing out Skyllence’s xxx, xxx, on the advantages of their premium broker service: “At Skyllence, the emphasis is on shielding the client from the administrative minutiae that chartering a private flight entails. Our logistics experts work behind the scenes to ensure the smooth operation of your charter private jet flight, freeing you from the hassle and worry of coordinating with the charter operator and striving to find you cost-effective solutions along the way.”
