COVID prompted a huge rise in the number of businesses whose staff fly privately, a trend that shows no sign of slowing post the pandemic. When flying privately, business people increasingly value the ability to walk onto the plane and leave immediately and fly home to be with their family in the evening.
According to the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics’ report Australian Aircraft Activity 2021, there was a 16.3 per cent rise in non-scheduled flights in 2021 with 409,000 hours flown. This compares to the 351,800 hours of non-scheduled flights in 2020.
David Mackey, chief flight manager and CEO of private flight business FlightCharter.com.au says convenience is one of the main reasons people choose to fly privately.
“If you’re chartering an aircraft, you determine the time your aircraft leaves or arrives. If you are flying on a commercial airline, you have to fit in with their schedule. Flying privately means you create your own schedule.”
It is also much easier to organise multi-leg trips when chartering a plane. Flying privately starts to make even more sense when a number of executives are flying together, or when a destination only has a couple of flights a week or no flights at all.
“With a chartered plane, you can go wherever you want when it suits you and you only need to make one booking. It can become quite cost effective to charter when you take into account the cost of the air fares and the time wasted waiting around for an aeroplane or connecting flight,” says Mackey.
Of course for some people, flying privately is about having a luxury experience. “It’s just a nicer way to fly. You don’t need to be at the airport an hour and a half beforehand. Just turn up 15 minutes before you depart, walk on board the aeroplane, shut the door and away you go,” he says.
A lot of people will do business onboard the plane. “It’s like a meeting room in the sky and it’s a period of time when there are no distractions,” says Mackey.
He says his clients come from all walks of life, but there is particular demand from those in mining, construction and financial services sectors. “Everyone’s circumstances are different and at different times, charter is very appealing,” he adds.
Air Link Airlines has bases across the major capital cities and also in regional areas such as Dubbo. Chief pilot Mark Wardrop says a lot of his work comes from state and federal government clients who need to ferry essential staff to and from remote locations. Like Mackey, he says COVID was a game changer.
“Demand for our services was high and we won numerous new clients. But longer-term, COVID has changed the way people travel.”
The terrible floods that have hit western NSW over the past year also heightened demand for his charter flights. “We fly to Burke, Walgett and Lightening Ridge. During the worst of the floods when the roads were closed, the only way into these communities was to fly in,” Wardrop says.
While demand for charter flights has steadily grown, this could taper off should the economy hit a rough patch or even a recession. Inflation is also impacting charter flight firms, which are absorbing higher costs for fuel, labour and even plane parts.
When it comes to cost, the price to fly privately varies depending on the size of the plane and the destination. But a sensible benchmark is about $10,000 for four people return Sydney to Melbourne on a small business jet.
“It’s all about how you value time and convenience. Passengers want to be able to leave early if their business is done or leave later if they haven’t finished their business. They like being able to get up at 7.00 am instead of 5.00 am and get home in time to have dinner with the kids,” says Mackey.
In terms of the cost to buy a plane, a small propellor plane will set you back $500,000, a pressurised business propellor plane costs around $2.5 million, a small business jet is $3.5 million, a mid-size jet is $10 million and a large business jet is $35 million.
For those with more modest means, Adrianne Fleming, head of operations and flight examiner, Tristar Aviation, says a new Cessna 172 four seat aircraft will set you back US$550,000, while a 1980s Cessna 172 could sell for around $120,000 to $180,000.
“The return on investment is much greater for the older aircraft than the newer ones. Although it’s quite difficult to get a loan for a new aircraft as most banks want it paid off in around five years, which is difficult,” says Fleming.
It seems although social media is full of images of people and celebrities flying privately, for most of us, scheduled flights will have to do.
https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/covid-a-tipping-point-for-private-flying-20230217-p5clcf