Click, Pack ’n’ Fly

Several online charter portals have been launched recently, giving you the option to arrange trips via the Web instead of picking up the phone. Is the era of Internet charter booking—and its promise of transparent pricing, simplified access and more efficient and plentiful charter flights—finally within sight?

Not everyone thinks so. Naysayers insist that unlike, say, inexpensive items on Amazon or even airline tickets, charter missions are too complex to arrange on the web and that customers won’t spend tens of thousands of dollars on a flight without first speaking to a human.

But the ranks of the negativists are shrinking as travelers grow more comfortable with online booking. Adam Twidell, founder and CEO of PrivateFly, says that last year his company “sold a BBJ flight on its app for half a million dollars.” Even some skeptics now concede that online booking will ultimately play a role in the air charter market.

If you’ve kept an eye on this business, a twinge of déjà vu is understandable. Virgin Charter tried to use the Web to become an Uber of the air in 2008, dumping a reported $25 million to $30 million in a failed effort to provide online quotes and bookings for an envisioned national network. Reasons cited for its rapid demise (the company ceased operations in October 2009) include its cusp-of-the-deluge launch date and a software engine for its online platform that wasn’t quite ready for prime time. But the charter market has rebounded and regained stability since then while technology has advanced, and more operators are now equipped to track and share their lift inventory data on the Web.

As a charter customer, you have a stake in this evolution, which could benefit you in several ways. Unlike many industries, which use automated phone lines to downsize human customer service, online charter booking promoters recognize the need to continue offering human expertise, available by phone 24/7, as part of the service. So if you’re a technophobe, presumably you’ll still be able to make arrangements as you currently do, while also enjoying the lower overall costs that should accompany a more efficient and transparent charter market. If you’re comfortable with the technology, on the other hand, online booking will give you faster access to information about available lift, more immediate pricing, and more control over arrangements.

The sites are powered by proprietary platforms that track the movements of the business aviation fleet and gather inventory and scheduling data from participating operators. After initial registration, you simply indicate where and when you want to fly and the number of passengers, and the sites use algorithms to select suitable aircraft and calculate the journey’s price.

But while the future may be in sight, it isn’t here yet. Some companies touting an online booking model—including JetSmarter in the U.S. as well as UK-based Victor, PrivateFly, and Returnjet—are still in development or in semi-testing/rollout mode, and many charter operators have yet to partner with any of the Web operations. More substantively, only a few sites or apps currently incorporate a click-to-pay function, which would seem to be a requirement for a truly seamless online booking experience.

Instead, most offer an estimated cost and a link to the operator to request price confirmation. Launched in 2008, for example, PrivateFly provides charter prospects with a list of available aircraft; estimated prices for a selected route, date/time, and passenger load; and a link to the operator for price confirmation. The company, which plans to expand into the U.S. soon, says it generates 120 to 150 bookings per month; for each, it adds a 1 to 7.5 percent commission, based on the level of offline assistance required.

Returnjet, a new entrant, offers the same “estimated price and link to operator” model. If prospective customers request price confirmation, the operators will respond directly within 24 hours. Founder and CEO Mark Blanchfield says some 300 charter operators—a little more than 200 of them in the U.S.—are providing fleet data to Returnjet, with the company fielding about 2,000 requests for quotes per month, resulting in some 130 to 140 charter bookings. Operators pay Returnjet a fee for each charter arranged, the amount taken from the operator’s bill rather than added to the charter customer’s invoice. Blanchfield says the company will expand its marketing efforts once the site is more refined. 

JetSmarter offers a $6,999-per-year membership program, providing direct access to operators with suitable lift worldwide, without charging any commission. “You’re going to save 5 to 20 percent on every flight,” says Colin Renshaw, senior aviation specialist at the company. JetSmarter specializes in the empty-leg market and features a live stream of available lift. The company also offers on-demand online charter booking, but non-members pay a commission and aren’t provided the name of the operator until after they’ve paid for the flight. In contrast to the aforementioned portals, Victor supplies information within 30 minutes of a request for three suitable aircraft, including actual prices; photos, tail numbers, and floor plans of the airplanes; names of the operators; insurance information; air operating certificates; and all other documents that careful charter customers would want to examine. The company, which plans to expand into the U.S., also offers a click-to-pay button that allows you to complete a transaction in one site visit.

Founder and CEO Clive Jackson reports that when Victor launched three years ago, only 11 percent of charter customers were willing to go online rather than to the phone for their initial search; now that figure is 60 percent, he says. The company adds a commission, capped at 5 percent for all online bookings, and 10 percent for empty legs and for bookings requiring offline concierge support, to the operator’s price.

At least one charter operator has launched its own online booking site. California-based JetSuite, which owns and operates a fleet of Embraer Phenom 100s and Cessna Citation CJ3s, introduced booking via its Website in 2012. Its platform was developed by BoldIQ, the former DayJet Technologies, a name that may sound familiar. That was the IT division of DayJet, the high-profile per-seat air-taxi operator that went bankrupt trying to bring its own revolution to the charter market.

Online booking seems unlikely to go the way of ­DayJet. “It does represent the future,” says JetSuite CEO Alex ­Wilcox. “For routine trips, [the business is] moving more and more online.”