Story ID: 
Lynjet Launches Members-only Charter Booking Site
By: Guillaume Lecompte-Boinet
Caption: Members pay annual dues to book flights online at new site launched by France-based Global Jet Partner.
Word Count: 298
European charter broker Global Jet Partner has launched an online flight booking portal called Lynjet.com. According to the Paris-based company, the membership-based site uses specially developed algorithms to generate flight quotes in less than one minute, drawing on a database of charter operators.

Lynjet charges members to book flights, offering three levels of membership. The basic category, carrying an annual fee of €2,988 ($3,107), gives access to late availability and empty-leg flights, promising unspecified discounts of up to 50 percent. The silver membership, priced at €5,988 ($6,227), allows clients flexibility to book flights up to 24 hours before departure. Gold membership, priced at €7,188 ($7,475), offers access to both last minute bookings and flexibility up to 24 hours before departure. All flights are covered by $100 million in additional insurance provided by Global Jet Partner.

According to Global Jet Partner CEO Linda Sellidj, Lynjet launched in early December with 90 operators listing capacity at the site, representing a combined fleet of around 520 aircraft. This includes a variety aircraft types ranging from very light jets like the Cessna Citation Mustang to bizliners like the Boeing Business Jet.

Global Jet Partner intends to increase the number of operators listed on Lynjet to 120 by spring 2017 and to 250 by the end of 2018. However, it is unclear how this will be achieved since Lynjet requires participating operators to hold IATA’s IOSA safety audit certificate. Aircraft have to be no more than five years old.

Sellidj said that Global Jet Capital is now focused on expanding Lynjet to the North American market, where it already works with some U.S. operators. The company, which was founded in 2013, employs seven people and expects to achieve revenues of around €3 million ($3.1 million) in 2016—a 20 percent increase on 2015. It offers a variety of block charter card programs.