New research from private jet company, Jet Republic, estimates that the European jet card market is currently worth around £180 million a year. Over the past five years, it has been growing by around 40 per cent, per annum. With the current global financial problems, growth this year will either slow or remain static, but any decline in the market is likely to be prevented by a new breed of card holders – ex owners of private jets.
Jet Republic estimates that there are currently well over 300 used private jets in Europe on the market for sale, which is double the number 12 months ago. However, many of the individuals and organisations selling their jets still want to travel this way and are switching over to the more affordable option of jet cards. Jet Republic estimates that the annual cost of running your own midsize private jet for 200 hours would be in the region of €2.77 million a year. A Jet Card from Jet Republic for example, would buy you 25 hours of flying time for €175,000 so the equivalent of 200 hours usage would cost just €1.4 million.
Jet cards allow people to purchase blocks of flight time – usually 25 hours – on a range of jets in any category from light, midsize, large or global. Prices start from €652 per person per hour.
Jonathan Breeze, CEO of Jet Republic said: “Normally you would expect only around two per cent of potential leads for jet cards to come from people who are downsizing and trying to sell their own jets or have managed to do so. However, currently around 10 per cent of our Jet Card leads are from this group.
“The benefits of flying by private jet are such that once you have done it, people find it very difficult to go back to flying chartered or scheduled. It is even harder to do this when mainstream airlines continue to close routes – our research of 15 European national carriers reveals that over the past year, for every route they opened, they closed two.”
In terms of the breakdown of the European jet card market, Jet Republic estimates that 30 per cent is in the UK – the largest share of any country. This is followed by France (an estimated 17 per cent market share), then Switzerland and Italy (an estimated 10 per cent each).
Related
Country Estimated share of the European jet card market
UK 30%
France 17%
Switzerland 10%
Italy 10%
Germany 8%
Iberia 7%
Benelux 4%
Nordics 4%
Central and Eastern Europe 4%
Ireland 2%
Austria 2%
Other European countries 2%
Content from our partners
