Empty leg charter flights have grown increasingly popular in the past few years. With the ability to fly in and out of more than 5,000 public use airports in the United States, air charter provides convenient access to your destination. All while also being considered a safe mode of transportation. Why are more people choosing empty leg charter flights? For those who can afford it, it’s simple; convenience and comfort.
Nationwide, there are more than 2,100 air charter operators. These charter operators are required to hold an Air Carrier or Commercial Operating Certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Operations Specifications that contain company names, authorizations and limitations. Small and mid-sized companies make up the large majority of business aircraft operators. According to pilots, 70% of private charter jet companies surveyed have less than 1,000 employees and three in five companies have less than 500 employees.
On average, more than 8 million people fly everyday. Many of these travelers are business professionals who prefer to continue working during their flight. Commercial flights do not always make for the best accommodations when trying to do so.
Passengers dedicate the majority of their time aboard business aircraft to work-related tasks while on a private aircraft charter. An average of 36% of their time is spent in meetings with colleagues and almost one-third of their in-flight time is dedicated to doing individual work tasks. In a recent study of traveling business professionals, respondents rated themselves as 20% more productive while on company aircraft than in the office. Their colleagues, flying commercial on the other hand, reported a 40% drop in productivity. Comfortable seating and less distraction charter aircraft services offer are largely the reason for this.
Thirty percent of Americans who answered a recent poll by TripAdvisor said comfortable seating is the biggest improvement airlines could make. 41% said that adding more legroom would be a big improvement as well. Approximately half of business empty leg charter flights are made into an airport with infrequent or no scheduled airline service and another third are into a secondary airport. The convenience for this high end service does not come cheap but is priceless in terms of efficiency and productivity.
When it comes to traveling, convenience is defined differently by everyone. Adding aircraft charter services to the conversation brings a whole new meaning to the word to the right crowd. Flexible scheduling, skipping the slow and crowded airports, VIP customer service, and the privacy are the true meaning of convenience and most of all comfort to most charter jet companies. There’s simply no better way to travel.
