Last summer, with the shackles of Covid removed, business jet demand in Europe hit record levels. Flight activity rose 13 percent above 2021 numbers during the season last year and was 23 percent above 2019’s summer peak, the previous high, according to Hamburg, Germany-based flight-data specialist WingX. In the charter market, that demand created shortages of aircraft, as well as of landing slots and parking spaces at popular destinations.
The good news for this summer: Part 135 operators, brokers, and support professionals report that the charter community is better prepared for the seasonal onslaught, which they anticipate could outpace the demand last summer.
Supply-wise, data “indicates that the pool of aircraft available for charter has increased,” B2B booking platform Avinode Group told AIN, and the number of Part 135 aircraft marketed through its site has risen 5 percent since last summer.
“More aircraft are coming to the market,” echoed George Galanopoulos, Luxaviation UK CEO and managing director, some of them from new owners “who bought aircraft because of the difficulties they encountered accessing lift through charter and how much they had to pay for it,” he said. A spokesperson at UK-based global brokerage Air Partner agreed that operators are “increasing fleet size where they can,” in anticipation of the demand.
Some of the recent fleet additions are light jets and turboprops—aircraft well-suited to European routes—which are bolstering capacity for lower-cost access.
Switzerland-based Global Jet added five aircraft to its charter fleet in recent months, ranging from an Embraer Phenom 300 and Pilatus PC-24 at the light end to a pair of Global 6000s (one with a three-zone cabin with extensive entertainment systems, the other a 14-passenger executive configuration), as well as a Boeing 737-700 VIP airliner.
Germany’s Atlas Air Service operates Pilatus PC-12, Daher TBM, and Beechcraft King Air turboprops, along with Cessna Citation, Gulfstream G150 and 280, and Hawker 400 business jets from five locations in Germany and Switzerland. With recently acquired MRO subsidiaries in Augsburg, Germany, and Altenrhein, Switzerland, Atlas now offers a full suite of support services, as well.
Sparfell, a Geneva-based charter-management firm, counts the Embraer Phenom 100 and Cessna Citation CJ2+ among its 30-some jets, as well as the Bombardier Challenger 300/350 and Global, Embraer Legacy and Praetor 600, Gulfstream G650ER, and Dassault Falcon 7X. Its network of partner providers offers access to many more.
But demand is keeping pace with the increased supply. Newly introduced jet card and block charter programs, offering more access options, are attracting new customers and increasing spend among existing clients, providers report.
And despite a cooling of charter activity early this year seen in some tracking data, “the summer months are ahead of where they were in 2022,” said an Avinode spokesperson, adding, “Based on the early demand in Europe, I wouldn't be surprised if the summer months outperform current industry expectations.”
Moreover, some declines in flight activity this year were due in part to the number of aircraft down for maintenance following the heavy usage of the previous summer, noted Galanopoulos, who called the situation “unprecedented in the 28 years I’ve been in business.”
Air Partner, following its acquisition last year by U.S. charter and access program provider Wheels Up, expects to see demand from U.S. customers coming through its new parent company this summer, in addition to its Continental customer base. Wheels Up members can use funds on deposit to fly to Europe privately or on partner carrier Delta Air Lines, with Air Partner handling all their intra-Europe flights, the company noted.
To prepare for the traffic spike, Air Partner has been “investing in our operator relationships,” which will be “vital” to deal with “anticipated demand and slot and airport capacity restrictions,” the company said, citing as top trending destinations Ibiza, Majorca, and Malaga, Spain; Faro, Denmark; Olbia, Italy; Mykonos, Greece; and Nice, France.
A growing array of access programs gives charter customers more options for getting to their hot spot of choice. VistaJet International recently introduced its VJ25 program to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Aimed at travelers with flexible schedules flying 25 to 49 hours per year and offered as a three-year subscription, VJ25 provides guaranteed on-demand access to the Vista fleet of more than 360 aircraft worldwide, including the flagship ultra-long-range Global 7500. Fixed hourly rates apply 325 days per year, and dynamic rates on 40 high-demand days.
Last year, Vista, with the acquisitions of Germany’s Air Hamburg and Jet Edge in the U.S., added a net 117 aircraft to its fleet, and it has access to more than 2,100 additional alliance partner jets. The group’s business in Europe was up 29 percent year-over-year in 2022 as well, across both the VistaJet and XO online brokerage brands, the Dubai, UAE-based owner/operator said.
Switzerland’s Jet Aviation, a global business aviation services provider, operates a charter fleet of more than 100 business aircraft and has “access to thousands more,” all available through its on-demand block charter and jet card offerings. Jet Aviation’s new Freedom Access plan combines the best of its block charter and jet card features, which include global guaranteed availability and round-trip discounts.
In preparation for the summer season, Jet Aviation, founded in 1967, has worked “closely with our [managed aircraft] customers and partners to expand our fleet and make even more choices available,” the company told AIN, and last fall it added a BBJ to its charter fleet.
UK-based Air Charter Service has grown from its humble origins in the chairman’s basement in 1990 into a global brokerage with more than 500 employees that arranges some 23,000 charter flights annually. Its Empyrean Jet Card provides worldwide access and offers three pricing plans: Market (based on dynamic pricing), Gold (based on capped dynamic pricing), and Platinum (block charter at a set per-hour rate). Deposited funds are held in a third-party bank account, ensuring financial security.
Last summer, high demand and fuel costs drove big increases in hourly rates. Despite lower fuel prices this summer, Air Partner anticipates comparable charter costs.
“For a light jet to operate from Farnborough to Ibiza on the first weekend of the school holidays in July, you would be looking at a rate of between £15k and £20k [$18,666–$24,895],” the company said, adding, “That’s not necessarily what you would end up paying if you left it to the last minute.”
Many operators and industry professionals had been saying for several years that charter rates needed to rise to keep pace with escalating costs, and they welcome the recent increases as long overdue. “Last year was the first I've seen when the rates were what they should really be to make it worthwhile for the owner and for us as an operator,” said Galanopoulos. The challenge now, he said, is “trying to reason with owners drunk on income after being parched so long.”
Luxaviation’s advice to its aircraft owner clients: “You need to reduce rates a bit now, or your aircraft will not be flying as much,” he said. “Reassess the market before the busy period and maybe [then] put rates back up to where they were.”
As for trending vacation hot spots, “People had a summer of partying after Covid,” Galanopoulos said of last season, “So they’re probably looking for more discreet, quiet destinations.”
While brokers and operators handle the bookings and operations, ground support companies will provide the boots on the ground essential to seamless private flight activity. Support services can be especially helpful for getting needed permits at high-traffic destinations, as well as when traveling to locations off the primary jet-set circuit, where private flight activity is less common.
In Spain, General Aviation Service, founded in 1979, handles both types of destinations, operating FBOs in Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Valencia, Granada, Gerona, and Ibiza, with some 100 service professionals on staff.
Many charter customers discovered Eastern Europe in 2021 when it remained open to vaccinated travelers while much of the rest of the continent was closed by Covid. As it reopened last summer, Western Europe received the brunt of demand, but travelers may head east again this year, said Gareth Danker, a director at Prague-based support provider Euro Jet Intercontinental.
“A lot of people got their fix dealing with the crowds and the expense of flying to the south of France and the Italian Riviera last summer,” said Danker, and suggested that this year, “More people may say, ‘Let’s go back to Eastern Europe, let’s go back to Croatia and Montenegro.’”
Euro Jet provides ground handling, flight permits, landing permits, and parking services at some 170 airports in 30 countries, and over the past two years has opened and renovated crew lounges in Serbia's Belgrade and Pristina in Kosovo and is now renovating its flagship lounge in Prague, Czech Republic. It has also added office space at Jasionka Airport in Rzeszow, Poland, the airbridge for traffic to and from Ukraine.
Regionally based providers stand ready to assist with Eastern Europe charter needs. ABS Jets operates nine midsize and heavy jets from its headquarters at Václav Havel Airport in Prague, and Bratislava Airport in Slovakia. Turkey’s long-established PAN Aviation, operating air ambulance and other specialty charter services since 2003, recently introduced Pan Jet charter service, focused on providing business, personal, and family travel from its base at Ankara Esenboga Airport.
Latvia’s Flight Consulting Group (FCG) offers comprehensive flight support, ground handling, and charter arrangements, and has support contracts with some 100 business jets.
In more than 20 years of business, it has served more than 135,000 flights at 2,600 airports in 140 countries, the company said. Its subsidiary FCG OPS also provides international trip support and dispatch and ground handling services at more than 40 airports in the region. For traffic heading to Latvia, FBO RIGA, another FCG holding, operates a state-of-art business aviation center at Riga International Airport.
But aircraft and permit shortages aren’t the only downsides of high charter demand: “Fraud and cybercrime increase during peak seasons,” Avinode said, as criminals seek to exploit the increased pressure faced by charter sales and finance teams, and temporary staffs. Greater security measures and automation may be in order “if the charter company’s payment routines rely too much on manual processes,” the Swedish company said, noting that Avinode’s Paynode platform provides such transaction security.
Some technology companies also offer software and other services designed to answer digital processing needs for business aviation.
Switzerland’s MySky offers cost and control software developed for charter operations, and its MySky Quote can help with the summer surge via auto-quoting, allowing operators to reply more quickly, with more accurate quotes.
“Obviously, you cannot have two times more people on the payroll the whole year to cope with the demand of four months,” said MySky co-founder and global strategy director Chris Marich.
“Bringing automation and IT to this process allows our customers to delegate work to the machine that is taking a huge amount of time and not creating a lot of value.”
The software’s quoting engine is informed by dynamic pricing algorithms, and the product also serves as “a revenue management tool” that supports customized revenue strategies, Marich said, enabling customers to “maximize the profit they can turn on the aircraft.”
MySky has some 300 customers with a total of 700 aircraft using its software. The quoting engine is available only for Europe, but MySky has announced plans to bring it to the Middle East and Africa and, later, to the U.S.
The Middle East is another region that has seen growing summer charter traffic with Europe, with several regional companies providing support services. Flight support specialist UAS International Trip Support has served heads of state, VVIPs, Fortune Global 500 companies, and business jet operators worldwide. Established in 2000, it has a presence in more than 30 countries and embraces “game-changing technology solutions designed specifically for business aviation” to enhance operations and service delivery, it said. Last December, Riyadh-based charter operator Alpha Star named UAS its preferred partner.
Mediterranean Aviation Services, headquartered in Dubai, offers trip planning, air charter, flight permitting, and ground handling worldwide—including extreme locations. Founded in 2005, it has a network of operational partners and exclusive contracts with major fuel and aviation service providers to ensure customers high quality and value.
AN Aviation Services specializes in ground handling and flight support in Egypt and UAE, with offices at every airport in both countries, and an extensive network of supervisory agents throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, built since its launch in 1991.
Looking ahead, market watchers can take heart in broker reports that operators are now “keen to chase the business that is out there,” as Air Partner said. That's a change from last summer, when some operators, swamped by demand and quote requests, simply declined to take on additional business.
To maximize efficiency for all, Avinode advises brokers to “carefully think through their sourcing and quoting workflow, and make sure the requests they send are relevant and up to date so that operators can spend their time on the right things.”
Concerns about the environment and sustainability could also impact the charter market, according to observers. This, even as “a lot of companies are putting a scheme in place for offsetting emissions that are voluntarily over and above the legal requirements of the EU,” noted Galanopoulos, adding, “That’s a message we need to get across to the world.”
One more key message that various providers expressed is that everyone needing charter lift this summer should note: “book now,” “book early,” and “book in advance.”
“This will ensure you achieve the best possible rates but also allows you to secure the preferred aircraft of choice,” said Air Partner.
Added Marich at MySky, “Book with a reliable partner, because if you’re let down, it’s going to be difficult to find a [last-minute] solution. Experienced charter brokers and operators know how to make sure you have your confirmed slot and parking.”
But even getting a jump on booking can’t guarantee you'll avoid the charter crunch in today’s Part 135 world.
“Oftentimes parking and slots and other arrangements aren’t available if you book early,” noted Danker at Euro Jet. “But the likelihood of getting something close to what the [customers] want, or seeing what their options are, will be as high as possible.”
The need to reserve in advance seemingly flies in the face of one of the cherished bedrocks of private charter, but such is the new normal in lift access: “People are used to leaving at the last minute because that's their idea of having a private jet—pick up the phone and there's one today or tomorrow,” said Galanopoulos. “Those days are gone. You have to plan ahead and book when you know you have a requirement.”