ET Insider – January 9, 2007

Elite Traveler Insider –

January 9, 2007

Elite Traveler Insider

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

1. Gas Lines for the Super Rich?

2. NetJets expands at Westchester Airport.

3. Fiji sees surge in Private Jet arrivals.

4. Boeing Launches the BBJ-3.

5. White Collar is Now Blue: $300,000 and I can’t make ends meet.

6. Last Chance to Win 5 Hours of Free Private Jet Travel.

“Fascinating, they always want to buy something they see. The products offered and destinations are just what my customers are looking for!”

Mary Bullock Bagosy – Galaxy Aviation, Orlando, FL

1. Gas Lines for the Super Rich?

 

A surge in private jet travel beyond forecast demand caused a fuel shortage over the holiday in Vail, Aspen, and Rifle, Colorado. Over 125 private airplanes were parked at the Jet Center on Dec. 28, the Vail Daily reported, which doesn’t include planes that dropped off their passengers and then flew to other airports to park, or charter aircraft that were just doing drops. According to the reports, some of the wealthy jet owners who couldn’t fuel their jets simply chartered jets to come in and “rescue” them, leaving their jets to follow them home empty a day later.

“All of our people, including Shaquille O’Neal, Bo Derek, Maria Shriver and Reba McIntire love the book. We put them on all of the private jets. Great book!” Tammye Johnson—- FBO AvCenter, Louisville, KY

2. NetJets expands at Westchester Airport.

 

NetJets has signed a lease with the county to take over a second hangar next door to its existing 24,400-square-foot space in Hangar 6. If NetJets were an airline, it would be one of the largest, based on its fleet of more than 650 aircraft and its 370,000 annual flights. In Westchester, NetJets had 8,404 arrivals and 8,387 departures in 2004, for a total of 16,791 flights. Last year, NetJets had 10,674 arrivals and 10,720 departures, for a total of 21,394 flights, according to airport records.

On a daily basis, NetJets has about 60 movements at day just at Westchester, which is just a fraction of the airport’s private jet travel. There are five additional private jet terminals at the airport (FBOs) and a number of corporate hangars.

Of course, if you want to reach these wealthy travelers, Elite Traveler is distributed at Westchester Airport and aboard private jets in over 90 countries worldwide as part of our BPA audited circulation.

“Women have complimented the jewelry. The following companies keep Elite Traveler in their aircrafts — Net Jets, Charter Communications, Lockheed Martin, US Dept. of Treasury.” Anah Joffroy — Signature Flight Support, Englewood, CO

3. Fiji sees surge in Private Jet arrivals.

 

Pretty Woman Hollywood queen Julia Roberts is surrounded by admiring ATS staff on the runway apron at Nadi Airport.

The airport has become the landing field for private jets, the luxury aircraft that only the rich and famous can afford. Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Britney Spears, Ringo Starr, Keith Richards, Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe, and Bill Gates are just some of international celebrities who fly into Nadi on their way to one of the boutique resort vacations offered in Fiji. And they are demanding. They want the best, and they can pay for it.

Enter Air Terminal Services (ATS). While ATS is responsible for handling the on-the-ground requirements of the scheduled carriers (Air Pacific, Air New Zealand, etc.) it has the demanding task of satisfying the requirements of the growing private jet market, which can reach up to 50 per month.

According to officials, “Our staff has extensive experience in dealing with guests arriving on private jets. We take their passports to Immigration and clear their luggage through Customs. We escort them through all of the formalities so that they can enter Fiji with minimum inconvenience.

“Often we get requests to go far beyond the normal entry procedure. This can include organising limousine service, accommodation in Nadi, even stocking the aircraft with favourite wines and luxury items. Whatever they require that we can supply, is provided and it is all organised before their arrival,” he said.

Of course, even if your best customers are in Fiji, Elite Traveler is there with distribution to all arriving and departing private jets— just one of over 4,000 distribution points in over 90 countries.

“We place the magazine everywhere in our building and on every one of our planes” Maria Fente — Starlink Aviation, Dorval, QC

4. Boeing Launches the BBJ-3.

Another new private jet type is launching – a new, larger Boeing Business Jet.

In the weeks before Christmas, Boeing announced that it was ready to offer what it’s tentatively calling the BBJ-3, a modified 737-900ER that can be customized to suit the taste of the owner, whether that be a captain of industry or a head of state.

The new BBJ-3 won’t be launched until Boeing finds a buyer for it. But Boeing is pitching the plane as a bigger, better version of its existing line of business jets. “BBJ customers value long-range capability and cabin size, and this product offering enhances both,” Boeing Business Jet president Steven Hill said in the statement announcing plans for the new jet. The announcement came at the Dubai air show.

The BBJ-3 would have 1,120 square feet of cabin space (more than the average New York apartment!!!), making it more than a third bigger than the original Boeing Business Jet. It also would have a range of more than 5,400 miles, thanks to five auxiliary fuel tanks. Buyers have the option of adding additional fuel tanks that can stretch the range of some models as far as 6,900 miles – enough to fly from Los Angeles to London nonstop.

Boeing says the largest group of buyers has been private individuals, who’ve bought 40 percent of the BBJs. Another 36 percent have been bought for government heads of state. The rest were sold to corporations and jet charter operators. Boeing lists 737-700s, — 800s and — 900s at between $55 million and $77 million apiece, and owners can spend another $15 million furnishing the jets.

While Boeing says typical private jet configurations range between eight and 20 passengers with bedrooms and bathrooms with showers, commercial airlines put as many as 170 seats into the planes.

“Very beautiful magazine, our CEO’s wife loves it when the new shipments arrive, it’s her favorite magazine” Ronn Nelson — Northwestern Mutual Air, Operations Milwaukee, WI

5. White Collar is Now Blue: $300,000 and I can’t make ends meet.

 

Wealth inequity is rising, even at the top, according to a recent story in the Kansas City Tribune. And more people who are making what previously would have been considered a large income are having trouble making ends meet.

Of course, that’s not the case with the super rich. At just one company, Goldman Sachs, the investment house is giving its top employees $16 billion in bonuses.

Sixteen. Yes, that’s billion dollars – s-i-x-t-e-e-n!

Why, it’s enough to make the less rich — say, the half-million-a-year crowd — stew this Christmas in their Vail chalets. Or so we’re told.

“A New Class War: The Haves vs. The Have Mores,” declares The New York Times. “Revolt of the Fairly Rich,” says Fortune magazine. And just last week, Anne Taylor Fleming, an essayist on PBS’ “NewsHour,” voiced indignation at gift catalogs selling $26,000 handbags, and she said:

“I hear it all the time, people making $300,000 a year saying they are having a hard time keeping their boats afloat.”

While the rest of America rolls its eyeballs at such injustice, a spate of new studies and statistics throws a blinding spotlight on just how concentrated the world’s wealth has become. The richest of the rich are getting much richer and ascending quicker, compared to the mere wealthy.

And Average Joe? He appears stuck in the mud.

According to data recently prepared by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the bottom 90 percent of U.S. households saw an increase in real household income of 2 percent between 1990 and 2004. That’s adjusted for inflation.

Two percent. In 14 years.

Now creep up the income ladder to the top 1 percent of households. There, says the center’s Aviva Aron-Dine, real income shot up 57 percent in the same period.

Climb higher. For the top 0.1 percent — where incomes average about $4.5 million a year – the jump was 85 percent. For the top .01 percent, 112 percent.

“The increasing gulf between the rich and super-rich is a reflection of the greater chasm throughout society,” Ms. Aron-Dine said. “What’s going on is an increasingly skewed assessment of wage and income over the long term.”

Globally, the richest 2 percent of adults now own more than half of the personal wealth, according to a new study by U.N. researchers.

In the push for record-upon-record profits, “many high-end white-collar people are being beset by the same trends that affected blue-collar people 20 years ago. An economy that had always divided the middle from the bottom, and the middle from the top, is now differentiating the top from the upper top.”

“Our clients enjoy reading the magazine cover to cover. They enjoy the high quality and look forward to the Hotel, Spa and Resort issues which are an extra perk” Jeanette Wuisman — Landmark Aviation, Dallas, TX

6. Last Chance to Win 5 Hours of Free Private Jet Travel.

 

You can be flying like the 400,000+ readers of Elite Traveler, even if your Household Income is slightly below their $5.3 million.

Deadline to enter our contest to win 5 hours of free private jet travel for you and up to 5 friends is January 15.

It takes less than 10 minutes and you can do it on-line at www.elitetraveler.com/contest.

Feel free to pass the link to your friends and just make sure they take you if they win!

With best wishes for a fantastic 2007!