What the private jet company did not tell you – the 6 must knows when you book a private jet charter flight:
Must know 1: What type of private jet company is eligible to provide private jet charter service?
In a nutshell, you may divide private jet flight into 2 types of operations: Part 91 private operations and Part 135 revenue charter operations.
Part 91 is solely for the usage of the aircraft owners whereas private jet company holding Part 135 license is eligible to provide private jet charter service to the public.
If an airline only hold a Part 91 license but they are renting out their private jet such is illegal operations.
We only provide Part 135 charter flight service and the below discussions would be referring to Part 135 charters.
Must know 2: What private jet charter service is available out of the below cities/locations?
Hong Kong Private Jet Company
There’s at the moment two private jet charter airline based out of Hong Kong . ( Please note this figure may have seasonal fluctuations. For example, due to heavy quarantine requirements in Asia currently, some private jet companies relocate fleet to Europe or USA where there’s less travel disruption due to quarantine needed for the crew or passengers.)
The private jet aircraft model available out of HK is Bombardier Global 5000 (12-14 seaters).
What private jet aircraft is available for rental out of Taiwan?
There’s 3 private jet companies available out of Taiwan. These include the Gulfstream 550 and Gulfstream 650 owned by Mr Terry Gou of Foxconn. Other private jet models available for charter out of Taiwan are Bombardier Global 5000 (12 seaters)
Private Jet China
There are about 22 private jet operators who currently hold part 135 license based in China. Some popular models are: Gulfstream 650 (14 seaters private jet); Phenom 300 (6 seaters private jet) ; Challenger 850 （15 seaters private jet）
Click here to see Why is Gulfstream G650 most popular private jet in China.
USA Private Jet Charter Company
Private Jet Charter Service has a long establishment in the USA while in Asia our private jet charter market only kicked off post-2008. There are thousands ish private jet operators in the USA. Taking the Los Angeles Private Jet Charter as an example we may look at below aircraft model: Citation Excel (6 seaters private jet) and Gulfstream 500 (14 seaters private jet)
Private Jet Charter Europe
European private jet operators traditionally are associated with the VVIP spirit. Like USA European private jet charter markets provides thousands and thousands of operators. Some features aircraft models are: Global 7500 (14 seaters ultra-long-range private jet)
Private jet renting service out of Dubai Middle East
There are hundreds of private jet operators in the Middle East, including branches set up by European operators to service the sheriff in the middle east. We would like to highlight below private jet model: Airbus Corporate Jet (19 seaters VIP private jet airliner) and Boeing Business Jet (42 seaters VIP private jet airliner)
Must know 3: Higher qualifications involved in Part 135 license and associated issues
It is higher requirement for private jet company to achieve Part 135 license than solely Part 91 licence. There’s a higher safety requirement in terms of the hardware of the private jet as well as pilots training. For example to upgrade a previously Part 91 certified private jet to Part 135 level, this may involve up to 200k to 300k USD of extra investments commitments.
Private jet charter operations without a part 135 license is an illegal private jet charter. Some China private jet charter airlines tend to send out their Part 91 aircraft and operate illegally. For the risk for charterers or passengers of illegal charter operations please refer to this link.
The consequence of using an illegal part 91 charter is the risk of less safe flight and lack of insurance coverage to charterers and passengers. (Why would an insurance company insure and cover illegal operations?)
Must know 4: Who would rent out the private jet ?
When an owner purchased a private jet and found that he had not fully utilized the plane, he may consider renting out the private jet.
Regarding the formulae of private jet flight cost estimation of private jet please click here.
Must know 5: How do I choose which private jet to charter?
Each aircraft is designed and produced for its unique position in the world.
To choose your ideal private jet aircraft for your upcoming trip, the discussion should not be limited to aircraft models/ aircraft brands only.
Other than the brand and models, it is critically important to consider who is operating this aircraft. A discussion on which aircraft brand/model is better than which brand/model is shallow and insufficient to determine which private jet is most suitable for your upcoming charter.
To provide an example if you are looking for a private jet charter flight from Hong Kong to UK and you have 10 passengers onboard, you may analyse this requirement in 4 parts:
Part 1: Private Jet Base
When you are flying from Hong Kong to the UK on a private jet charter, not only you can choose an aircraft based in Asia/Hong Kong but you may also choose an aircraft from Europe.
Why? Because if this is a one-way trip, the ferry flight plus mission flight of both European aircrafts and Asian aircrafts are the same. The takeoff and landing amounts are the same. That means their costing should be competitive to each other.
Via using our private jet charter service, you are not limiting yourself to private jets based out of Asia, but you may also use private jets available out of Europe. This way you have an expanded list of options to choose from. Contact Us now here.
Part 2: Does the private jet company has enough crew (pilots ) to operate a long haul flight such as from Hong Kong to UK private jet charter?
Each year in airshows you may find the manufacturer salesmen boosting their aircraft performance. If you ask them can their private jet aircraft fly from the North Pole to the South Pole, they would always say yes.
What they have not told you is that you need an extra set of crew to do that long haul flight.
Imagine during a long haul flight your passengers are sleeping but the crew has been working non-stop. The crew start to develop fatigue and crew fatigue is a major cause of safety incidents. Therefore a long haul flight needs to be supplied with an extra set of crew to do crew change. This is done so that crew can rotate to rest so each pilot flying are refreshed and focused.
One may assume naturally the airline would always have an extra set of crew to crew change. The answer to this assumption is negative. It all depends.
About one third out of a USD130k annual management fee paid by private jet owners goes to crew salary and travel subsidies. Imagine owners who purchase a long haul private jet but rarely fly long haul destinations, he naturally would not pay the extra money to keep an extra crew set.
Part 3: Airline experience in getting Permit for the route you are looking to fly
No, we hardly agree so. Take a long haul private jet flight from Hong Kong to England as an example, you would need at least 5 permits. This involves taking off from HK permit, landing in UK permit, overflying China, Kazakhstan, Russia permit.
Obtaining all the permits needed in Asia is not exactly straightforward like its counterpart in USA and Europe. For example, a Taiwanese registered aeroplane would not be granted an overfly China commercial operation permit. Therefore such Taiwanese aircraft would take the northern route, overflying Mongolia instead of China.
The tricky thing is, some of these information may not be made obvious by related Civil Aviation Authorities. It’s an accumulated experience learnt by the person who apply for the permit.
Therefore, after you choose an aircraft model, and choose an airline with sufficient crew, it is vital that you look for a private jet company that has the relevant experience of flying that specific routing you are looking to fly.
This is why when you look for a private jet company in Asia, it is important to look for one with local expertise with Asia and good experience. We have been in the industry since 2008 and we have seen a lot of different cases and we are ready to help you. Contact us here.
To understand what’s the permit lead time in military and civil airport in China, please click here. A
Part 4: Above are discussions surrounding a long haul flight, what about if I only wish to fly a short-haul one hour flight?
In case you wonder, if I just reside with a private jet fleet with big aircraft and a big crew team I should be fine. The answer is negative. The reason is below:
- A long haul private jet owner would be reluctant to allow their long haul private jet to fly a short-haul due to this expedited engine depreciation for an unequal return. They may also charge a higher fee due to the long ferry flight involved.
- The long haul private jet may not be able to land on a shorter runway
If you are still reading this, would you not agree with us, that private jet charter operations are an art, especially in Asia? Would you not agree with us, that each private jet serves its unique market position in the world? This is where our passion is, we assist you to choose the right private jet suitable for your upcoming trip, contact us here.
Must Know 6: Pet Private Jet Travel in Asia
Pets are family. We try to cover some important notes below for your reference:
Note 1: How friendly are private jet owners to pet in Asia?
When 80% of private jets in Europe/USA welcome pets onboard, maybe only 50% of private jets owners/airlines are pet friendly in Asia. However, with these private jets that are pets friendly, usually the pets are welcome to stay in the cabin next to you. Officially speaking, the pets have to be caged during the whole flight. However, odds are that the crew serving your flight are pet owners themselves and may welcome you to uncage the pet once the aircraft rise to desired attitudes.
Note 2: What are the extra cost I need to be careful when I fly with pets on private jet in Asia?
Be aware of post-flight cleaning bills that usually cost a minimum an additional Euro 2500 for a carpet deep cleaning. De-icing fee may incur post flights if you are looking for Europe/ USA flights during winter which is also billed post flight. De-icing is minimal USD 5000 per times depending on gallon of de-icing liquid used.
Note 3: What are there regulations in Asian airports related to private jet travel with pets?
Many years ago there once was an accident when a pet walking via the private jet VIP room appeared to become aggressive at another guest. Since then some private jet terminals has set up a special gateway for pets to go via in order to separate them from other non-owner passengers. For example, you may see Hong Kong Airport Pet Private Jet Travel information here.
Finally thank you for your care to the little ones!