One of the things that helps us stay on top of our own business is keeping an eye on what industry sources are telling us so that we can take advantage of trends that fit our own service model. Recently an article in the news and insights section of Flight Global’s website https://www.flightglobal.com pointed out some encouraging facts about the growth opportunities of business aviation services in the European sector. Here is our view on 3 key observations and what we think about them:
- We are looking at a consistent, 2 year pattern of substantial growth in business jet charter flights in Europe.
The article reports 15% growth and 10% growth examples in 2016 and 2017 respectively. When we look at our own business we’re actually surprised that the numbers aren’t even higher. Since we attained our AOC in Guernsey this past fall our Bombardier CL850 has been in high demand for short and long hall European flights. All of this bodes well for the industry as a whole and for Clients seeking to avoid the challenges of commercial flight. - The charter business customer may not be who you think it is.
One interesting observation made in the article is that the average age of the charter client is lower than you may expect. The wealthy 55+ year old business executive is being replaced by a 38 year old mover and shaker who has discovered the benefits of charter flight. What this says to us is that we also need to rethink and remodel service offerings to enhance the experience of this new, younger traveler. Will this mean we’ll be trading in Bitcoin for our services soon? The article seems to suggest so, but we wouldn’t recommend rushing into that radical a change quite yet. - Will a wave of new aircraft coming onto the market over the next couple of years impact demand?
The article suggests so, but we’re not so sure we agree. In our experience the customer doesn’t usually know much about aircraft. Their focus tends to be on the result more than the equipment. “Get me where I need to be efficiently and hassle free” tends to be the key driver. What this means to us is that customer experience will be the key differentiator in the coming years. Those who can deliver a better service model, consistently and repeatedly will be the real challengers.