-PrivateFly.com survey highlights opportunities for the private charter market as it comes out of recession-
A recent survey (1) of private jet charter operators by PrivateFly.com, the online marketing network,
highlights the major opportunities for the private jet industry as it begins to recover from the
economic downturn. Almost half (45 percent) of operators who responded agreed that the global
recession has been their single biggest challenge to date.
But ironically, for an industry that delivers business efficiency for its customers, the private charter
market as a whole is remarkably inefficient. Nearly all (98 percent) recognised that the internet
was beginning to make the industry more efficient, but the wider results do indicate that there
is still a significant opportunity to improve efficiency.
"The charter industry is still highly fragmented and operates predominantly offline,
from a customer point of view. There's an exciting opportunity to
bring both customer transparency and online efficiency to this market,
reflecting how the wider travel industry has been transformed in the last
ten years" said Adam Twidell, CEO of PrivateFly.
Nearly two-thirds of operators (61 percent) prepare 20 or more quotes for every charter
sale with almost a quarter, (22 percent) saying that they prepare 40+ quotes per booking.
69 percent of operators believe price competitiveness is the single biggest factor in winning charter
business - above speed of returning a quote (17 percent) and their safety record (7 percent).
Recommendation is unsurprisingly top of the list, with 83 percent relying on word of mouth. But 50 percent
of operators now use search engine optimisation as part of their marketing efforts, while social media
sites are used by 22 percent. Over half of operators (52 percent) agreed that showing 360 degree
imagery of aircraft on their websites would improve sales.
On average, operators said that 68 percent of private jet passengers were male, with a slightly lower male
majority making the bookings (63 percent).
Commenting on the results, Twidell continued: "While the majority of operators see price competitiveness as
the biggest decision driver for private jet customers, they themselves feel strongly that customer service
and safety are paramount. But there are clearly areas of industry-wide inefficiency - and therefore the
opportunity for cost savings for both operators and customers"
Twidell recognises that there will always be a need for exceptional VIP customer service and industry
expertise, but he believes that these elements can be combined with online efficiencies
that benefit both sides, matching up customer demand with operator supply.
"There are exciting industry challenges and many innovations are already under way to tackle them.
This survey gave us invaluable feedback about PrivateFly's usability and improvements we need to
make. We are continuing to invest in our software to make it quicker and easier for
operators to submit quotes to customers. We are also developing more efficient search
tools and 360 degree imagery, so operators can market their aircraft more broadly and effectively".
PrivateFly is an online booking network that makes it quicker, easier and more cost effective to arrange private jet charter.
With over 2700 accredited operators registered worldwide, PrivateFly is the only online aggregator for private jet charter in Europe.
PrivateFly combines online efficiency and transparency with offline expertise to offer a full-service VIP charter service to direct customers and partners. The bespoke software has been created in-house specifically to meet the needs of charter customers and operators.
In February 2010 PrivateFly launched the world's first iPhone application to provide instant private jet pricing on a mobile phone.
PrivateFly was recently announced as one of the Smarta 100 companies 2010, by a judging panel including
Dragon's Den's Deborah Meaden and other leading entrepreneurs, such as Bebo founder Michael Birch.
The company also won the innovation category of the Best Business Awards in February 2010.
Founded in 2007, the company is based in St Albans, Hertfordshire and has plans to expand
within Europe and selected international markets throughout 2010.
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