Business aviation is having a rebound.
“According to the WSJ, after a long period of stagnation since 2008, “private-aircraft makers’ orders backlogs are swelling and used-jet inventories are at record lows.”
In the face of the political pressure of “flight shame” for the wealthy, those biz jets users are resorting more and more to flying rented “Uber-like” services such as Wheels up, VistaJet and Blade.
It also helps that some operators have lowered prices.
“When it comes to short trips, New-York based Blade is casting an even wider net, offering seats on private jets headed to Florida and Colorado for under $3,000-much closer to the cost of a first-class ticket than that of a charter flight.”
Charter services utilize the planes more efficiently, which somewhat lessens the environmental impact.”
John Sindreu, WSJ
“The anonymity of private-plane rentals could allow the rich to have their cake and eat it too”
Sales of new jets are booming, too.
“Orders in the 3rd quarter rose more than 50% over the past year acc. to Gulfstream (Gen. Dynamics), Cessna (Textron), Bombardier and Embraer [WSJ. Nov. 27, 2021]
As many as 25% of new business jets purchasers have never owned a jet.
“The average asking price for a used jet increased to $10.7 MM in October, about $1 MM higher than the pre-pandemic level two years ago, according to JP Morgan.”
WSJ