NEW PRIVATEFLY REPORT REVEALS VERY DIFFERENT CHARTER CUSTOMER DEMANDS IN Q1, DUE TO COVID-19
April 23, 2020
The private charter provider saw 60% of flights booking to fly within a week, and a significant increase in large cabin charters, as activity focused around repatriations and evacuations
On-demand private charter provider PrivateFly, a Directional Aviation company, has released its latest Private Jet Charter Trends report, reflecting the first quarter of 2020, as the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic brought in new and unprecedented challenges for the global private charter industry.
PrivateFly’s CEO Adam Twidell comments: “With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting all our lives so profoundly in almost every respect, our Private Jet Charter Trends report for Q1 reflects a very different set of requirements and behaviours from our clients, compared to our usual findings.”
These are some of the findings from the Q1 2020 report:
- Increased demand for transcontinental, long haul evacuations and repatriations saw long range and super midsize aircraft performing 34% of PrivateFly’s flights (versus 18% in Q1).
- With clients in a hurry to navigate impending lockdowns or travel restrictions, lead times got shorter. 60% of flights were booked to fly within a week, and 23% the same or next day (versus 15% last year)
- Tuesday, March 17 was the company’s busiest day for take-offs in the quarter, as repatriation flight demand peaked.
- New York City remained PrivateFly’s top global destination, with London number one in Europe. But the company experienced a more diverse destination list overall, undertaking repatriation flights to many different parts of the world.
Adam Twidell continues: “By mid-February and throughout March, we moved into primarily arranging different types of flights: Many more evacuations and repatriations, many of which were long range – rather than business or leisure trips.
“This first quarter was very busy for us, with flight activity in March exceeding the previous year by some margin – and enquiries exceptionally high. But the weeks and months ahead are set to be a challenging time for us, along with the whole industry.”
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About PrivateFly:
PrivateFly is a leading booking platform for on-demand private jet charter and part of Directional Aviation. With thousands of accredited aircraft integrated worldwide, PrivateFly combines innovative technology with a team of aviation experts, available 24/7 - making it faster and easier to arrange a private jet, wherever and whenever you want to fly.
PrivateFly holds Argus Certified Broker and Wyvern Broker best practice accreditations and is a preferred partner of Virtuoso, the world's leading luxury travel network. Established in 2008, PrivateFly’s Global Headquarters are located in St Albans, UK while the US operation is Headquartered in Boston with a sales office focused on the Americas in Ft. Lauderdale.