If luxury has largely to do with exclusivity, with enjoying what is forbidden to others, the ultimate privilege would be a time machine. “We sell something that is not for sale to ordinary mortals: time. A commodity that is difficult to exchange. We are a time machine. I can get you, the manager of an investment fund, from your coastal villa to your home six hours faster than it would take to take a commercial flight. And if that option is going to cost you $15,000 more than it would cost to take your entire family on a scheduled flight, you choose it without blinking.”
The speaker is John Matthews, founder and CEO of AirX, a private aviation company with a fleet of 16 aircraft that competes in Europe, with headquarters in Malta and operational centers in London. Dissident and nonconformist in his sector, without mincing words, Matthews has no qualms about describing the true nature—or, at least, the truth as he understands it—of a business that moves more than 38 billion euros worldwide. global, and which projects to reach 60,000 million in 2030, according to the consulting firm Fortune Business Insights.
There will be time to return in this report to Matthews, and his stark vision of a business whose clients represent 0.0008% of the world’s population, and are mostly men, over 50 years old and concentrated in the banking, finance and real estate.
At the moment, the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter is about to take off from Battersea heliport, on the south bank of the Thames. It is a cloudy morning in London, and visibility problems jeopardize the trip: a 20-minute flight to Farnborough airport, southwest of the city. The alternative would be at least two hours on the road, with hellish traffic. The customer is the priority and, as soon as clear minimums open, the aircraft heads to its destination. The waiting time was spent comfortably in a luxurious room, next to the track, with coffee, tea, pastries and liquors freely available.
Leather seats, soundproof cabin, large windows, space for eight people. It is part of a global fleet that includes 18 more helicopters and 270 jets, including the mid-size Praetor 600 and the sought-after long-haul Gulfstream G650. They all belong to Flexjet, a company that has been operating since 1995, based in Cleveland (USA), which launched itself to conquer the European market shortly before the pandemic, in 2019.
In Farnborough, where it has its Tactical Control Centre, Flexjet has also set up the Red Label Academy. It is a culinary laboratory, of good manners and rules of etiquette for the members of its cabin crew. Leading the project is Francesco Vanerio, Vice President for Customer Experience. Throughout his professional career he held positions of responsibility in top-level hotels and restaurants around the world. The culmination of that career came when he achieved the position of Bar Manager (manager of the different bars) of Villa D’Este, the palace on the shores of Lake Como, in northern Italy, which symbolizes all the luxury and refinement to which the rich and powerful can aspire. “That’s where I met Flexjet president Kenn Ricci. The rest is history,” explains Vanerio.
A story that is easily guessed. Ricci aspired to elevate the customer experience in an extremely competitive industry, where 5.4 million flights were made in 2022 alone. And he managed to sign the Italian.
In groups of eight or ten, the company’s cabin crew spend a night at the Dorchester Hotel in London. For years, the most exclusive in the city. Favorite destination for aristocrats, billionaires, established writers and artists. Restaurant with three Michelin stars and very little tolerance for shorts or sneakers. For several hours, Flexjet workers can order whatever they want and move around the hotel at their leisure. The purpose: to put yourself in the shoes of your future clients, and understand the type of luxury to which they are accustomed.
The next morning, everyone will share their experiences — “it’s such an elegant decoration”; “everything seems designed to your liking”; “They read your mood, and they know when to insist and when not to bother you” — they will learn to make dishes of certain exquisiteness in small spaces and will receive clues on how to surprise and please their passengers.
“Each of our jets has a different and unique decoration. And the level of attention reaches the point of trying to find out the type of wine, for example, that will satisfy a customer the most,” explains Megan Wolf, Chief Experience Officer (chief user experience officer, it could be translated) of the company. “Although we have managed to transfer a group of young senior executives who demanded hamburgers and fries from a well-known fast food chain. ‘The best experience of your life,’ they told us later,” Wolf says ironically.
Flexjet operates under the economic model of shared ownership (fractional ownership, they call it in the United States), where the owner—the company never calls them customers—purchases a fraction of the aircraft (typically 1/16) and earns a minimum of 50 flight hours per year, with no possibility of terminating the contract for the first three years. The advance payment, without refund, is just over two million euros.
There are other commercial options, ranging from simply hiring flight hours in advance to charter flights for a specific occasion. All of them, in the end, much better than the idea of individually owning an aircraft, with the maintenance, crew and refueling costs that entails. The price of a new Cessna CJU, probably the cheapest and lightest jet on the market today, does not go below 4.4 million euros.
On board a G650, molded in the leather of its spacious seats and surrounded by noble wood, life takes on a different perspective. The cabin attendant pours a glass of Ruinart champagne, and begins to serve the first salmon and cucumber sandwiches of a traditional English afternoon tea.
—Isn’t using this type of aircraft an attack against efforts to combat climate change? —asks the reporter.
Global commercial aviation is responsible for at least 3.5% of climate change caused by human activity. Not only with the emission of carbon dioxide or nitrogen, but with other polluting agents such as trails of smoke or remains of soot. Private aviation barely accounts for 4% of the sector’s total emissions. But if the level of pollution, and its responsibility, is attributed to each person, it is evident that, in proportion, the flight of a handful of people is much more harmful to global warming than that of 300 or more travelers on a commercial journey.
“We acquire up to 300% of what we emit in carbon offsets and other gases [certificados de reducción de emisiones, verificados por estándares internacionales, que sirven para reducir en términos globales el volumen total de gases de efecto invernadero]and we even give our customers the option to travel with sustainable aviation fuel,” defends Viv Diprose, Flexjet’s Communications Director.
Such exclusive companies, with a service available to a few, strive to promote a more accessible image. It is true that, during the pandemic, the use of private jets increased by up to 40%, and it is an option that remains immensely attractive for the wealthiest, but it is doubtful, as has been advertised, that this type of flights is now more available to other types of clients.
And any effort to provide detailed and original service and attention will be appreciated by users, but that will not be the main factor in them spending their money.
“Crap. We are not a sector focused on service, although it is obvious that we are not going to feed people with carts like on a commercial airplane.” We return to Matthews, the rebellious businessman. “Nor does it depend on the details. If the blind on one of the windows on my jet breaks tomorrow, I’m not going to ground a device that produces $25,000 a day just to fix it. It will continue flying until the day of the maintenance check arrives. We all have a damaged seat that doesn’t recline properly or a carpet stained with food residue (…) The key is to have a spacious and comfortable cabin. But on many of my devices I don’t have Wi-Fi. I continue to offer entertainment with CDs or DVDs. Does not matter. I can transport a sports star or a famous singer, tired after a game or concert, to any point in Europe in five hours less than any commercial airline. “That is what is worth money,” he defends.
The number of private jets worldwide has increased from 9,895 in 2000 to 23,133 in June 2022. An increase of 133%. About 600 new devices each year, according to data from the High Flyers 2023 report from the Institute for Policy Studies in the United Kingdom. The general consensus among analysts suggests that the sector is robust, and its future is promising. Matthew, however, has decided to play Jiminy Cricket. He assures that there are dozens of companies that have gone into crazy debt to acquire aircraft valued at 40 or 50 million euros. They have all prospered around a fairy tale, says the owner of AirX, which in many cases hides a pyramid scam. The money advanced by new clients pays for the service promised to previous ones, in a business of fierce competition and limited profit margins.
“When you board a commercial plane, you are protected by the airline, your travel agency or the consumer protection office itself. But the private jet industry is unregulated. I can go to my broker’s website and buy a flight from Azerbaijan, Luton or Mongolia. “No one cares that a billionaire loses his money on a failed charter,” says Matthews. “But behind them there are savers who have bought bonds or shares, debtors who have supplied fuel or catering, and hundreds of workers who make a living from this,” she recalls. But the sector will continue because, as the businessman points out with some irony, this boom has generated a lot of addicts. Of billionaires who want no other way to travel once they have known this one. A new world of technological geniuses has emerged who have accumulated immense fortunes. They are the main clients of the industry.
The helicopter returns to Battersea heliport. The night lights of London enhance the metropolis dimension of a city used to being the hub of business and transactions for the rich and powerful from half the planet. About to land, the pilot begins to circle over the skyscrapers like a bird of prey. The runway is occupied by another ship that has had problems. We will have to detour to other facilities, to the west of the city, and wait there for the green light. Half an hour late. Insignificant for any commercial airline traveler. An exception to avoid, however, in the exclusive world of private jets.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
#unstoppable #rise #private #aviation