The Growth and Democratization of Flying Private
Skift Take
Any luxury industry experiencing an uptick in new, affluent young customers has a right to be bullish about growth, but it is a combination of logistics, customer service and branding that will eventually set the winners apart from the other players.
The shifting prioritization from ownership to access is shaking up traditional luxury markets, including second homes, yachts and now private jets.
Private jets have a reputation of an elite mode of transportation intended for those in positions of power, needing top security or with no time to waste waiting for scheduled business class flights. The last decade, however, has seen the democratization of private aviation with the introduction and growth of new networks, platforms and services making private jets, or at least a seat onboard one, accessible to the masses.
These services offer by-the-seat flights for short distances as well as chartered or crowdsourced flights available anywhere.
The first mover and most established network in the North American market is Berkshire Hathaway-owned NetJets which launched in the 1990s and continues to sell part ownership or fractional jet ownership and pay-by-the-hour travel to executives and celebrities.
In Europe, the largest independent private jet broker is LunaJets which operates on an on-demand charter model.
XOJet and Jettly are leaders among the on-demand private aviation bo
