ET Insider – May 18, 2010

Elite Traveler Insider –

May 18, 2010

Elite Traveler Insider

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.

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Ultra Affluent Households Lead the Charge Back to Luxury

2. Private Jet Travel Continues to Climb in April

3. From EBACE in Geneva, European Private Jet Travel Is Back Big

4. Survey: Elite Traveler Remains The Top Player By “Wide Margin”

Not another magazine or newspaper in that stack of unread mail: With over six private jet trips every two months, that’s at least six chances for wealthy private jet travelers to see your advertisement in Elite Traveler. And even better, share it with friends on the jet!

1. Ultra Affluent Households Lead the Charge Back to Luxury

The following is from The Chicago Tribune last week:

“The luxury business is making a comeback, but it is relying on fewer and wealthier consumers.

Ultra-affluent households, or the top 2 percent of the U.S. population, are spending again after going into hiding during the worst recession since World War II.

These wealthy shoppers are snapping up Rolls Royces, whose first-quarter sales soared 60 percent, and taking outings to Sotheby’s, where auction sales commissions more than doubled in the first quarter. They also are stocking up on Champagne: LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, maker of Krug and Veuve Clicquot, saw its first-quarter sparkling wine sales rise 33 percent.

Jeweler Lester Lampert, the owner of a namesake boutique on Chicago’s tony Oak Street, said he has sold more bracelets and earrings priced above $100,000 in the first four months of this year than he can remember ever doing.

“Last year, they weren’t coming in,” Lampert said. “They held back because of the economy. I think now they have more confidence. They’re less hesitant.”

Luxury market expert Pam Danziger said it’s all well and good that the big spenders are back. But the more pressing problem is that aspirational shoppers – those consumers who are well-to-do but not quite wealthy – have yet to return to the luxury market and show no signs of coming back.

“They are missing in action,” said Danziger, owner of Unity Marketing, a Pennsylvania-based research firm. “They boosted the luxury economy so much in the pre-recession years because they were feeling affluent, and they don’t feel affluent anymore. They’re back to being middle-class consumers.”

Luxury sales peaked in 2007 at $228.5 billion, before dropping 2 percent in 2008 and falling 8 percent in 2009, according to Bain & Co. The Boston-based consulting firm forecasts luxury sales to rebound this year, gaining 4 percent, largely helped by growth in China.

But the luxury landscape won’t be like it was. The worldwide economic crisis of 2009 is “structurally” changing the luxury market, Bain said in an April report. There will be fewer brands and fewer stores targeting the superrich.

After years of calling everything from a Starbucks latte to a J. Crew sweater a “luxury,” experts predict the most powerful luxury firms will return to positioning themselves as out-of-reach for all but the elite.”

With 41 trips per year, including 11 intercontinental trips and 3+ principal residences, we know where you’ll find elite travelers: in their private jets and in private jet terminals. It’s why we’ve invested in providing BPA audited circulation to private jets and private jet terminals in over 100 countries.

2. Private Jet Travel Continues to Climb in April

Spotting Fakes: How can you be sure that a publisher is really sending out the number of copies he or she says? How can you make sure they are actually putting copies on private jets? Ask for the BPA or ABC audit statement. You can find our BPA statement here.

3. From EBACE in Geneva, European Private Jet Travel Is Back Big

Carrying the wealthiest Europeans from their yachts to ski chalets and between important meetings, flying on private jets is back to pre-Recession levels according to industry heads and analysts attending the recent EBACE private jet exhibition in Geneva.

According to the figures, private jet travel is recovering fast from the economic crisis of the past 2 years, growing 5.2 percent in Europe so far this year and 11 percent in March, according to Eurocontrol.

The figure, based on the number of flights by independent operators including firms flying their own aircraft, contrasted with a growth in regular commercial passenger and cargo airline flights of only 1.6 percent in March, Eurocontrol said.

Business aviation also suffered much less than commercial and cargo carriers from the six-day shutdown of European airspace last month over fears of the effect on jet engines of ash from the volcanic eruption in Iceland.

“We think we’ve seen the bad days behind us,” Brian Humphries, president and chief executive of the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) told journalists Monday on the eve of the sector’s annual showcase event, EBACE.

Business aviation, which accounts for some 8 per cent of all air traffic movement across Europe, declined by 14 percent in 2009 from 2008, leading to canceled or suspended plane orders, after booming since the start of the decade.

“With 66 percent of all business flights in 2009 between city pairs that have no daily scheduled service, it is clear that business aviation has refocused on its niche market,” said David Marsh, head of forecasting at Brussels-based Eurocontrol in a published report in the aviation trades.

The inter-governmental organization said business aviation was well positioned to take advantage of a recovery. According to EBACE officials it contributes some 20 billion euros or 0.2 percent of GDP to the European economy.

Would you buy a diamond without a certificate? Would you fly on a plane that hadn’t been certified as safe to fly? Would you buy milk in the supermarket that didn’t have a ‘sell by’ date? Before you buy advertising, next time a publisher says they have distribution on private jets or in private jet terminals, ask for their Circulation statement from ABC or BPA. Ask for them to show you the number of copies going to private jet travelers. You can find our BPA statement here.

4. Survey: Elite Traveler Remains The Top Player By “Wide Margin”

There is an old expression, ‘checking is better.’ So while we know Elite Traveler is the only publication focused on private jet travelers that has audited distribution, we always like to keep our fingers on the pulse of the market.

That means two to three times a year we formally ask private jet terminals what magazines they distribute. And as in the past, Elite Traveler remains the dominant title by a wide margin if you want to reach private jet travelers.

In fact, 36 percent of private jet terminals distribute Elite Traveler as the only consumer magazine they provide for this wealthy audience. Moreover, no other publication has more than 10 percent penetration of this market. Below are the results, which speak for themselves:

With 41 trips per year, including 11 intercontinental trips and 3+ principal residences, we know where you’ll find elite travelers: in their private jets and in private jet terminals. It’s why we’ve invested in providing BPA audited circulation to private jets and private jet terminals in over 100 countries.

All the best,

Douglas D. Gollan Group President and Editor-in-Chief Elite Traveler