ET Insider – August 5, 2008

Elite Traveler Insider –

August 5, 2008

Elite Traveler Insider

By Douglas D. Gollan, President and Editor-in-Chief, Elite Traveler Magazine  

Welcome to the latest issue of Elite Traveler Insider, the bi-weekly newsletter designed to update our top partners on trends in the private jet lifestyle. This information is provided to offer a better understanding of how to target these globetrotting elite travelers, their impact on your business and other trends that affect you. Remember, private jet travelers are paying up to $10,000 per hour to fly by private jet, so these super rich consumers could be and should be your best customer. We talk about them and how you can get more of them and more from them.

CONTENTS:

1. Summer Wishes

2. JetBird Firms Up Options On 50 Phenom 100s

3. Private jet backlog buoys the industry

4. Private Jets Get Bigger

5. Aussie Rich Keep Spending

6. High End Real Estate Shows It’s All About Location, Location, Location

Over 90 percent of today’s Super Rich are Self Made and over 80 percent of the Super Rich have made their fortune in the past 10 years. Now is the best time to make sure they know your brand. 86% believe Elite Traveler is a good showcase for luxury products.

1. Summer Wishes

As the last weeks of summer dwindle down, Elite Traveler Insider will be on vacation for the next two weeks. In the meantime, I hope you have had a nice summer so far and your summer includes more fun ahead.

As you start to think about holiday marketing and even to 2009, we appreciate your consideration. With our combination of Elite Traveler’s BPA-audited distribution in over 100 countries worldwide aboard private jets, Luxus Networks’ ability to target key cities with over 150 of the top private jet terminals in North America, and elitetraveler.com as the buyer’s homepage for the private jet lifestyle, no other media company offers access to the world’s Super Rich with so many platforms. Check out www.elitetraveler.com/business or feel free to email me at douggollan@aol.com if we can help!

Don’t forget to search for your brand at www.elitetraveler.com/business. Forward the links to your clients and customers, and post it on your own site’s press room. If you have a press release or a new product you’d like us to feature, send it to me at douggollan@aol.com and we’ll post it for you!

2. JetBird Firms Up Options On 50 Phenom 100s

The economy is not yet affecting the Super Rich or those who sell the toys and services to them. Pan-European private jet operator JetBird recently announced it has begun placing firm orders against its 50 Embraer Phenom 100 option aircraft.

JetBird has confirmed its first three option aircraft, which brings its current fleet plans to 53. This marks the first step towards expanding the JetBird fleet to 100 Phenom aircraft by the end of 2013.

The Phenom 100 is a four-passenger seat jet built by Brazilian planemaker Embraer, according to press reports from Europe. JetBird placed an initial order with Embraer for 100 Phenom 100s in May 2006, split halfway between firm orders and options. “We are delighted to begin firming our option aircraft in accordance with the targets set in our original business plan,” said JetBird CEO Stefan Vilner.

Headquartered in Ireland, JetBird will operate a fleet of Phenom 100s based at a number of centers around Europe. “There is strong market demand for a value-oriented private jet airline that delivers the imperatives of safety and comfort, from a broad range of consumers, including corporate and leisure travelers,” Vilner concluded. “Our decision to begin firming our options reflects both the strength and certainty of this demand. We have now begun the process of expanding our fleet to 100 Phenom aircraft in operation by the end of 2013.”

While the world’s economy today is unsteady, one thing is for sure: The wealthy consumers flying aboard private jets are your best bet, and only Elite Traveler delivers these elite travelers to our advertisers through our BPA audited circulation aboard private jets in over 100 countries, including Russia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, India, Singapore, Korea and China. All with one ad buy!

3. Private jet backlog buoys the industry

The Wealth Bulletin reports that the backlog of private jets, with orders until 2015, is set to keep the industry buoyant. So far, wealthy individuals are powering the market’s growth as weekend fliers cut back on their recreation trips.

Mary Schwartz, global head of aircraft finance at Citi Private Bank, said: “There is still a very large backlog of jet orders, some out to 2015. That is not going away.”

Alex Hunter, director of UK-based The Private Jet Club, said the emerging markets are driving the demand for jets. He said: “There is still a high volume of orders being taken, to the point that manufacturers are struggling to keep up. The demand for top of the range new jets is huge, particularly in growth areas which are unaffected by the crunch such as Russia, the Middle East and Singapore.”

When you advertise in Elite Traveler, you reach the Super Rich from around the world via our BPA-audited distribution in over 100 countries. No other magazine gives you this reach!

Elite Traveler’s BPA audited circulation aboard private jets and mega-yachts in over 100 countries means your ad is guaranteed to reach the highest spending luxury audience in the world no matter where they are from and where they happen to be today – each issue is read by 318,000 readers with a Household Income of $1 million +, the highest of any magazine or newspaper in the world! Sources: 2007 Prince ET/MMR for others

4. Private Jets Get Bigger

From the Gulf Press, New York-based aviation interior designer Edese Doret, who is behind the luxury finishes of two Middle Eastern clients’ private A380s, is designing concept proposals for Emirates Airlines’ next batch of A380s and A350s.

Though Doret is believed to have designed the interior of Saudi Prince Al Waleed bin Talal’s private aircraft, he skirted the issue when Khaleej Times spoke to him.

Doret was first asked at the start of the year to retrofit the Boeing 777 fleet and then to work on designs for the A350s and A380s.

“We originally designed these concepts for the 777 and it was just so radical – the open cabin, seamless transition,” he said. “I took a new approach to the cabin in general. A passenger can walk from the front to the back and it will be seamless. I looked at the private suite again but with an open cabin and took a new approach to the business class product.”

While Doret said contracts hadn’t been signed yet, he would present the completed proposals towards the end of the year.

“They seem incredibly interested. They’ve asked us to concentrate on the design proposals for the A350s and A380.”

However, the continued trends towards bigger and bigger private jets is keeping Doret busy.

“We have showers on some of our private jets and some of the clients have never used them,” he said. “We can’t have pool tables because there is a three-degree incline.

“Jacuzzis don’t really work. They’re too heavy and you have to carry a huge amount of water and then there’s turbulence.” But the realm of possibilities is still huge; Doret has even designed a “flying casino” for an American client.

The aircraft now operates in Asia with hi-tech security cameras in case of any dispute, VIP lounges and a massage room.

Doret said no interior was ever the same.

While the world’s economy today is unsteady, one thing is for sure: The wealthy consumers flying aboard private jets are your best bet, and only Elite Traveler delivers these elite travelers to our advertisers through our BPA audited circulation aboard private jets in over 100 countries, including Russia, the UAE, the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, India, Singapore, Korea and China. All with one ad buy!

5. Aussie Rich Keep Spending

From Australia’s Business Spectator:

“Given all this hardship, you’d think the world’s wealthy entrepreneurs would have put their wallets away, right? Wrong.

For a start, it should be noted that the super-rich spend regardless of the economic climate. While most of the luxury goods companies have diversified in the last decade by creating lower-priced brands or product lines, it is these mass-market ranges that are being hurt most by the downturn. The super rich have plenty of money, but the comfortably wealthy have shut their purses.

Don’t forget to search for your brand at www.elitetraveler.com/business. Forward the links to your clients and customers, and post it on your own site’s press room. If you have a press release or a new product you’d like us to feature, send it to me at douggollan@aol.com and we’ll post it for you!

6. High End Real Estate Shows It’s All About Location, Location, Location

Want a deal in the depressed housing market? If you are Super Rich and you want a name brand location, the market is still roaring hot, according to reports around the world which have seen rich Russians buying prime properties in Aspen and Florida.

We all like to be on the seaside, especially if it’s a foreign seaside with proper sand, blue seas and hot sun. And, while Britain wallows in credit-crunch gloom, property on or close to a popular beach abroad will almost always command a premium.

Some current examples:

Costa Smeralda, Sardinia Developed by the Aga Khan in the 1960s, the northeast corner of Sardinia has become one of the world’s most prestigious holiday spots. Roman Abramovich bought a villa there last summer – paying £24m – and Tom Cruise, Elizabeth Hurley and Rod Stewart have all spent summers on the coast. The discreet properties available are hugely expensive: the starting price for a villa is about £2.4m.

Seychelles, Indian Ocean Loved by honeymooners everywhere, the archipelago of islands that makes up the Seychelles has some of the world’s most beautiful and uncrowded beaches. Until recently, it was almost impossible to buy there, but the Seychelles government has now opened up property ownership to foreigners via carefully vetted developers. Competition is fierce – and because there are still so few options, prices are high, according to reports.

At the Four Seasons Private Residences in Petite Anse Bay, Mahé, for example, 28 villas are being built, with prices starting at £3.5m. At Zil Pasyon, on a private island close to La Digue, 28 designer hilltop residences, scheduled for completion in 2010, cost £1.8m-£8m.

Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia Property on the beach could set you back anything between £4m and £6m, though for that price, you can expect off-street parking, spacious balconies and amazing sea views.

Clifton, South Africa Four sheltered beaches with white sands, white cliffs and property with sweeping views of the Atlantic make Clifton, in Cape Town, home to some of the most expensive real estate in South Africa. A small flat recently sold for £2.3m and a 449-square-metre plot of land went for £750,000. “We sold a garage for £134,000,” says Patrick O’Shea, CEO of O’Shea Properties.

Shoal Bay West, Anguilla Its 33 beaches are considered among the best in the Caribbean. The pristine crescent of Shoal Bay West is hot: Denzel Washington threw his 50th-birthday bash here in 2004, Robert De Niro and Halle Berry rent houses, and Jay-Z and Beyoncé have frolicked on a boat in the bay.

To buy on the beach itself, you’ll have to spend some serious money. Altamer is a collection of nine fully staffed villas designed by Myron Goldfinger. It has facilities for your private jet and a mega-yacht marina – but the cheapest property is £10.22m, and they go all the way up to £36m.

Temenos Anguilla and Viceroy Anguilla offer properties for the luxe private jet set in the millions and are in hot demand.

Luxus Networks can bring your brand front and center with the world’s wealthiest consumers in over 100 private jet terminals throughout North America. Programs start from $1,000 per month. Contact Kimaada LeGendre at klegendre@elitetraveler.com for more information!