Changing Trend in Aviation

Changing Trend in Aviation

Check out… how the private charter airlines are picking up the popularity amongst the traveller. The sector of private jets is witnessing a progressive rise and the demand is here to stay, seeing the current situation. The Travellers are now using a private jet, as it for necessity mainly because charters are considered more safe, hygienic and convenient. Flying privately gives an assurance of minimal touchpoints and provides extra preventive measures. Speaking on this we have Ms. Kanika Tekriwal, CEO & Founder, JetSetGo Aviation.

Q1. What are the new trends you are observing in terms of requests received after the ban lift?

For the very first time, we are seeing requests coming from people like never before, people who weren’t necessarily wealthy or would not necessarily travel through business or first class.  Mainly new customers are reaching out to us.  We are getting close to 20 enquires a day with 70% of that of new customers.

We are seeing a lot of requests coming from parents whose children were stuck in colleges or schools in different countries or domestically and from families who were stuck elsewhere apart from their homeland during the lockdown. A lot of requests from Singapore, London and Australia are observed as many Indians send their kids to schools to study in these countries. 85% of these flights carried between 1-3 passengers.

There is a big surge in requests from people who had sick parents or adults stuck in various parts of the country/world. Also, from small businessmen who had travelled to places on business and were stuck wanting to return.

Q2. How many requests received since the ban lift? How many new customers are sending in requests to fly privately since the ban lift?

We are getting approximately 20 requests in a day. Out of that, 70% are from the new customers.

Q3. How many requests were received during the lockdown and just before the lockdown?

We have seen a nine-fold increase in demand just before the lockdown was announced and were able to fulfil only 50-60% of the requests mainly because the regulations kept changing overnight in one country or the other. Post the lockdowns, which were being implemented in various parts of the world we’ve received 10-12 requests a day to bring home people stuck in various parts of the world.

Q4. Who are these customers?

Since the lockdown as stated above, for the very first time, we saw requests coming from people like never before, people who weren’t necessarily wealthy or would not necessarily travel through business or first class. We saw a completely different set of guests requesting us for charters.

Q5. What is the future of private charter aviation keeping in mind the COVID is not going anywhere sooner?

As of the current situation, people will now be using it for necessity mainly because charters are considered more safe, hygienic and convenient. Flying privately gives an assurance of minimal touch points and provides extra preventive measures. Having said that, there will be more new customers that will be considering us. Also, we anticipate that both leisure and business travel will decrease as compared to earlier considering the rise in usage of video calls and conferencing in the last two months because of which the number of trips people do will reduce so previous customers may not travel as much as they used to. However, business travel to rebound ahead of leisure travel.

Q6. How do you think private charter are safer?

Chartering a private jet allows you to fly at your own convenience, at a time that suits you best. You don’t have to arrive early neither do you have to undertake lengthy check-in process and security lines at the airport. One can easily skip the immigrations and customs queues and directly leave the plane and get on their ride as soon as they depart from the aircraft. Charters don’t require heavy manpower as compared with commercials, charters give you an option to skip layovers and reach directly to your destination if the circumstances permit etc. Charters give you direct assistance and also take care of the guests at each step. All these benefits that the charters provide makes a huge difference to the travellers of today that are concerned about their safety and well-being. Chartering an aircraft helps minimise most of these touch points and a traveller can easily reduce the risks.

Q7. Why do you think people will prefer private charter more during COVID?

Due to the pandemic, people today are more mindful and cautious while choosing their travel options. Whether it’s health risk concerns or just getting where you need to be, people and companies that have the means to fly privately, but had previously eschewed it, will now be looking at the options due to its safety, hygiene and convenience factor. Which is possible in private jets as it gives you assurance of our operational excellence, exemplary safety record and exacting cleanliness standards. Further whilst flying private the various touch points throughout the journey also reduce making private flying favorable. A study in the states confirmed that commercial fliers have over 200 touch points at the airport whilst private jets have as little as 30, so people may prefer private flying.