ET Insider – July 18, 2006

Elite Traveler Insider – about the private jet lifestyle …

July 18, 2006

By Douglas D. Gollan, President and Editor-in-Chief, Elite Traveler, the private jet lifestyle 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.

• New York on $$$37,000 a day…

1. Honey, Can You Fly Out and Pick up Some Soda…
2. Private Jets Descend on the Big Island…and Businesses Prosper…
3. Lifestyle of the Superrich Revealed…
4. Not a Bad Way to Travel – for a Child…
5. New Elite Emerge in Developing Countries…

“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. New York on $$$37,000 a day…

Sunday’s New York Post described how an elite traveler might spend a day and night in New York. But since flying by a private jet costs up to $10,000 per hour, it really isn’t that much when you put it against that perspective. So here is the Post’s day and night tour: $14,000 for the Mandarin Oriental suite (it has made our Pure Decadence list of World’s Best Suites twice!); $1,090 at the Mandarin spa to get ready for the big city; $1,950 to rent a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder for 24 hours; $1,000 for Norma’s lobster and caviar omelet – is there any other way to start the day? From there: $150 at The Peninsula Spa for a fake tan, $4,700 gold leaf hand waxing with Cristal by Augusta Car Care for your rental; $80 for a shave at Paul Labreque Salon; $500 for the tasting menu at Masa; $120 for DB Bistro Moderne’s “double truffle” hamburger; the $1,500 Passion Platinum cocktail at Duvet, $7,000 for two bottles of Remy at Marquee as you go clubbing, and of course $6,000 the morning after to helicopter out to the Hamptons – 35 minutes by chopper!

“I’ve had to increase my copies because the magazine goes so fast. I try to keep one for myself when I can. The pictures inside are so breath-taking.”

Donna Reed – YYJ-FBO Services, Canada

2. Honey, Can You Fly Out and Pick Up Some Soda…

Remember the last time your significant other asked you to run out of the house or apartment to get something they needed? Unless you have a staff, you probably went around the corner and picked it up.

Well it’s not that easy when you are an elite traveler. ‘Mission Impossible’ star Tom Cruise flew his private jet thousands of miles to buy diet cherry soda crates to quench his fiancée Katie Holmes’ thirst while they were on a holiday at a secluded ranch in Colorado’s San Miguel Mountains.

According to the Mirror, Cruise wasted no time to attend to his lady love’s wishes and sent his two female assistants to Telluride airport to pick and deliver the groceries.

The long-haul shopping trip caused a spectacle at the local airport, when the plane waited on the runway for two hours, as two servants unloaded the delivery.

“I love to see our client’s reaction; they go crazy for the magazine. It inspires us here to make it rich some day”

Jennifer Masse – Sun Western Flyers, Bullhead City, AZ

 

3. Private Jets Descend on the Big Island of Hawaii…and Businesses Prosper…

In a sure sign of the Big Island’s arrival as an enclave of the superrich, private jets are landing in record numbers at the airport in Kona, creating a mini-industry that services the planes and attends to the passengers.

Belonging mostly to high-tech entrepreneurs from California, the private jets are swooping in almost daily and depositing passengers who head for exclusive resorts or sprawling estates they have carved from lava rock along the coast, according to a report from Hawaii.

“We’re seeing everybody who has any real money flying private jets into Kona’s airport,” said James H. Davis Jr., assistant airports manager for the Big Island. “We’ve had as many as 54 jets parked out there.”

At one point in December, the airport ran out of room to park the jets, the largest of which can easily cost more than $50 million. Passengers got off in Kona and the pilots had to park in Hilo or on Maui or Oahu. The arrival of so many jets in Kona has swelled the businesses of suppliers of aviation fuel, catering services and ground transportation. The state is taking in 70 percent more in landing fees than five years ago. “They are booming business on this island,” said Patrick Ho, the assistant food and beverage director for the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, which offers in-flight catering services to guests who arrive on private planes.

The number of private jets landing at Kona International Airport has been steadily rising since 2001, up from 686 five years ago to 1,173 last year.

Behind those numbers are people like Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who regularly park chartered Boeing 757 aircraft in Kona. Computer magnate Michael Dell, who has owned property on the Big Island for years, recently bought the Hualalai Resort with other investors.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Marc Benioff, chief executive of Salesforce.com Inc., a San Francisco Web-software company, also has been a regular since buying a five-acre oceanfront estate for $12.5 million in 2000. The newspaper reported that he’s building a new home costing more than $8 million.

And then there are the more obvious celebrities like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, who top the client list of Kona-based in-flight catering company Blue Sky Cuisine.

Co-owner Ren Weigang said business from private jets has helped his small company race past expectations with a 200 percent increase in business since he opened a year ago. Wayne Kuwaye, president of Kuwaye Trucking Inc. in Hilo, needed 12 drivers to haul more than 80,000 gallons of jet fuel from Hilo to Kona five years ago. Today, he needs 17 drivers for up to 14 trips daily. “Five years ago, we were making six-to-eight trips,” Kuwaye said. “It’s almost doubled since then. The jets have been good for business.”

“We have many elite clients…Everyone goes straight for Elite Traveler. It’s that popular.” — Lauren Denicolis, Long Island Jet Center, Long Island, NY

 

4. Lifestyle of the Superrich Revealed…

Divorce among the private jet set often reveals some of the spending figures that always make us non-private jet types amazed, but obviously keep the luxury business booming. Star New York Giants football player Michael Strahan and his wife Jean are divorcing. According to affidavits in court, the couple’s two toddlers had over $100,000 in expenses last year — $26,888 on clothing; $22,514 on photos; $12,321 in medical; $9,692 in gifts for others; $9,545 for parties; $8,607 for holiday gifts; $6,281 for equipment; and $3,668 for invitations.

Of course, Mr. Strahan was traveling and spending with his new girlfriend, according to the report. Leisure trips included Hawaii, St. Maarten, Arizona, Toronto and Germany. Auto purchases included an Aston Martin, a BMW and a $55,000 Jeep.

In terms of real estate, Mr. Strahan bought three residences in the past year, including a $2.5 million condo in California and two others in non-disclosed locations.

“Other publications fail in comparison when compared to Elite Traveler magazine.”

Samuel Huskin – Flower Aviation, Colorado Springs, CO

 

5. Not a Bad Way to Travel – for a Child…

Even a casual observer had to be happy for the wedding of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. I’ve been to Australia about a half dozen times and I think the people are just wonderful, and Kidman and Urban are two shining examples of why everyone likes the Ozzies.

But let’s not get confused and believe they are actually like us (at least if “us” means you are like me).

Kidman’s two children from her marriage to Tom Cruise of course attended the wedding. First of all, they didn’t arrive for the U.S. where they live. They arrived from Tokyo where they were with their dad on a promotional tour for the newest Mission Impossible. Oh, and by the way, they didn’t arrive on a commercial jet either. Both Isabella and Connor arrived of course on a private jet – which I like – we always want to start Elite Traveler readers early and build loyal readers for life!

“We have many elite clients. We distribute a few others, but everyone goes straight for Elite Traveler magazine. It’s that popular”

Lauren Denicolis – Long Island Jet Center, Long Island, NY

 

6. New Elite Emerge in Developing Countries…

With our BPA audited private jet circulation worldwide in over 90 countries, we like to say we reach elite travelers wherever in the world they are. And more elite travelers are coming on board every day, so to speak. Developing countries are experiencing a rapid emergence of a new elite of super-rich individuals as their economies expand and mature. A recent report shows that the number of “high net-worth individuals” (HNWI) increased by 21 percent in South Korea, 19 percent in India and 17 percent in Russia over the past year. These dramatic increases in individual wealth were largely a result of booming stock markets; the Dow Jones South Korea Index gained 55 percent in 2005, for example. The World Wealth Report, published annually by the investment bank Merrill Lynch and the consultancy firm Capgemini, examines the growth and spread of individuals around the world who have liquid assets of more than $1 million, excluding their primary residence and consumables.

At the end of 2005, according to the report, there were 8.7 million HNWIs worldwide 6.5 percent more than a year before. Their wealth had grown by 8 percent to $33 trillion. There was an even bigger jump in the number of “ultra high net-worth individuals” those with financial assets of more than $30 million. This exclusive club now has 85,400 members worldwide, an increase of more than 10 percent. Together, these individuals, who represent 1 percent of the richest 1 percent in the world, control 24 percent of global wealth.

The report suggests that the world’s wealthiest are also able to get more for their money. What the report calls the “cost of living extremely well”–in effect, the cost of luxury items from jets and yachts to five-star hotel rooms and spa treatments–has not kept pace with the increase in wealth.

“Our facility exclusively distributes only Elite Traveler because it’s the best high-end publication. We have lots of clients who request it.”

Jim Allbaugh – Career Lab, Parker, CO

Douglas D. Gollan President and Editor-in-ChiefElite Traveler Universal Media Building 801 Second Avenue New York, NY 10017 USA

T 646 658 7512 F 212 687 8994 E dgollan@elitetraveler.com or douggollan@aol.com

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