Speaker 1: Hello and welcome. Flying on private jets used to be
Speaker 1: just for the rich and famous. But the sector became
Speaker 1: one of aviation's growth spots during the pandemic and this
Speaker 1: trend looks set to continue. I'm Jonathan Perez from the
Speaker 1: money mine team and we're talking about the five things
Speaker 1: you didn't know about chartering a private jet.
Speaker 1: Joining me today is Ian moore, the chief commercial officer
Speaker 1: of Vista Jet, the world's largest operator of business jets.
Speaker 1: I Ian, thanks for joining us. Thank
Speaker 2: you, Jonathan. Thanks for having me
Speaker 1: on. Maybe we could start by telling us a little
Speaker 1: bit about vista Jet about the company and especially your
Speaker 1: presence in Asia and in particular, Singapore
Speaker 2: were really the first and only true global business aviation company.
Speaker 2: We entered into the Asian market with the acquisition of
Speaker 2: sky jet from Bombardier in 2008. We have a unique
Speaker 2: and innovative business model. We basically replicate aircraft ownership the
Speaker 2: advantages that you don't have to buy into an aircraft,
Speaker 2: it's an asset light model. You just buy the hours
Speaker 2: you need from us and get to use those hours
Speaker 2: wherever you are around the world.
Speaker 1: Now tell us a bit about how it works because
Speaker 1: do you have to be part of a club? Do
Speaker 1: you have to commit to a certain amount of hours
Speaker 1: a year? That kind of thing.
Speaker 2: We have multiple ways to enjoy our fleet. We started
Speaker 2: the VJ 25 level, which is a 25 hour commitment
Speaker 2: over a multiyear period. So you have three years, 25
Speaker 2: hours per year and then we really enter into our
Speaker 2: program which is our flagship product and that starts at
Speaker 2: 50 hours per year and that's a truly global offering.
Speaker 2: So you make one phone call and aircraft will pick
Speaker 2: you up, you only pay for the hours you're in
Speaker 2: the aircraft. So for example, if you're flying from Singapore
Speaker 2: Hong kong, you'd only
Speaker 2: be charged for Singapore Hong kong, not for any return
Speaker 2: travel or waiting time or pilots, hotels. You're only paying
Speaker 2: for the hours you're in the aircraft. So it's a
Speaker 2: very efficient and very transparent way to fly the efficiencies
Speaker 2: of being able to interchange between different aircraft types, larger
Speaker 2: aircraft for longer fly smaller aircraft for shorter flights. All
Speaker 2: creates an element of financial efficiency and operational efficiency to
Speaker 2: pass the benefits on to our clients.
Speaker 1: Now, you know, when you're talking about private jets immediately,
Speaker 1: you think of billionaires, you think of Elon musk or
Speaker 1: Jeff Bezos, but you know, what are some of the
Speaker 1: misconceptions that the general public has about chartering a private jet?
Speaker 2: Do you have to buy full aircraft to fly privately?
Speaker 2: That's a myth. Now there are multiple options to be
Speaker 2: able to enjoy to fly a consistent fleet. So you
Speaker 2: don't have to spend, say for example, the 75 million
Speaker 2: cost to buy a global 7500 to get a consistent
Speaker 2: flying experience with vista. You only have to pay for
Speaker 2: the hours you need. So it's a very easy and
Speaker 2: simple way to enter the market. And that's probably one
Speaker 2: misconception that you need to buy the entire aircraft for
Speaker 2: a multi-year period to have access.
Speaker 2: The second one is probably the extravagance of flying privately.
Speaker 2: What we've seen in north America and europe and I
Speaker 2: think that's moving across to the Middle East and Asia
Speaker 2: as well is that the private jet is less about
Speaker 2: the caviar and the strawberries, it's more about being an
Speaker 2: efficient business tool really being your own office in the sky.
Speaker 2: The ability to be able to fly to multiple cities
Speaker 2: in one day which is borderline impossible particularly now with
Speaker 2: the commercial routes
Speaker 2: means that you can be either more efficient with your
Speaker 2: c suite flying around the world or you can spend
Speaker 2: that extra day or extra 24 36 hours with your
Speaker 2: family members when you're on a leisure trip as well.
Speaker 2: So really what private jets give you less of an
Speaker 2: extravagant lifestyle and more about something that you can't really value.
Speaker 2: And that's getting some time and that's really what's been
Speaker 2: seen both in the business world but also in the
Speaker 2: leisure world as well.
Speaker 2: The other one is the private jets their size and
Speaker 2: I think large aircraft is perceived as being safer. That's
Speaker 2: probably one of the big misconceptions particularly people are entering
Speaker 2: into the aviation world for the first time in the
Speaker 2: private aviation world
Speaker 2: They see a smaller aircraft which is generally the entry
Speaker 2: point for private jets and make some direct relationship to
Speaker 2: the safety of the aircraft, which just isn't true. The
Speaker 2: ultimate thing about private jets is really that the safety
Speaker 2: standards of their, when you're flying in a commercial environment,
Speaker 2: the safety stands is exactly the same. If it's a
Speaker 2: 787 or a citation. XLs for example,
Speaker 2: the other thing I think is the safety that comes
Speaker 2: with being able to pick who you fly with, which
Speaker 2: obviously with Covid has been a big driver for our
Speaker 2: business model over the last two or three years
Speaker 1: now and in fact maybe you could share with us,
Speaker 1: you know how you guys have grown, especially in the
Speaker 1: last two years during the pandemic and what you've kind
Speaker 1: of seen as some of the trends in this space.
Speaker 2: Sure, well, first of all, some numbers, if we look
Speaker 2: at the Asia Pacific region were still up, the bigger
Speaker 2: trend for us is the real growth of Southeast Asia
Speaker 2: in Singapore. So we're up 46% of the region from
Speaker 2: 2019 in the first three quarters of this year and
Speaker 2: we're up 40% in Singapore alone,
Speaker 2: there's been growth in the region, but a majority of
Speaker 2: that double digit growth has come from the Southeast market.
Speaker 2: What's been driving that first of all, private jets have
Speaker 2: had a chance to really showcase themselves over the last
Speaker 2: three years with the pandemic. A lot of commercial routes
Speaker 2: rather shut down just weren't financially viable for commercial
Speaker 2: operations. So that gave the private jet industry in particular
Speaker 2: an easy transparent business model like vista a real chance
Speaker 2: to shine over that period and you can see that
Speaker 2: growth coming through even on a pre covid level you're
Speaker 2: looking at 40 to 45% increase in the region. So
Speaker 2: that's been one of the trends,
Speaker 2: a lot more of people flying now in a combination
Speaker 2: of business and leisure. I think that's what we're seeing
Speaker 2: more and more now individuals are buying and going to locations,
Speaker 2: taking their families with them. Also what we're seeing now
Speaker 2: is less volume of trips but more meaningful flights when
Speaker 2: they do them. So for example, we may be in
Speaker 2: the past pre covid people would fly regularly back and
Speaker 2: forth between say Singapore and Hong kong but only stay
Speaker 2: one or two nights now, they may be flying one
Speaker 2: time a month but staying
Speaker 2: 7 to 10 days. So that's been some of the
Speaker 2: trends we're seeing. Even pre Covid, we felt that our
Speaker 2: business model as simple and transparent way of flying was
Speaker 2: already resonating with a growing number of customers in the
Speaker 2: asian region. When you've looked at other asset light business
Speaker 2: models in different regions, different industries like transportation or hotels
Speaker 2: for example. So we've seen that trend really accelerate through
Speaker 2: the Covid period and I think that's really been the
Speaker 2: backbone to drive the numbers. I just spoke about earlier
Speaker 1: and the other interesting bit is like as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: it's not just a high net worth individuals flying. It's
Speaker 1: more and more companies, more and more business travelers, maybe
Speaker 1: you could share with us a bit about why businesses
Speaker 1: are choosing private jets as an option. And is this
Speaker 1: going to be a direct competition to the business class
Speaker 1: and the first class cabins in the commercial jet? I'm
Speaker 1: not
Speaker 2: sure if I see it as necessarily competition is complimentary.
Speaker 2: A lot of the routes that we're doing now,
Speaker 2: the commercial operations, scheduled airlines were doing before us, maybe
Speaker 2: we're on the edge of financial viability for the companies
Speaker 2: and that's the reason why those roots haven't come back.
Speaker 2: That didn't make financial sense. So we can complement that
Speaker 2: by ensuring that customers and business, particularly business executives or
Speaker 2: parts of the board for example are able to go
Speaker 2: see either their customers or their manufacturing plants or
Speaker 2: satellite offices. They're able to go see them where they
Speaker 2: wouldn't be able to do without relying on the commercial markets.
Speaker 2: That's what we're seeing more and more and again, a
Speaker 2: lot of the world now is going through significant geopolitical changes.
Speaker 2: You can see, we obviously have a war in europe,
Speaker 2: you have inflation going through the world. So now is
Speaker 2: the time to be in front of both your staff
Speaker 2: as well as your customers. The commercial travel just doesn't
Speaker 2: make that economically and really time
Speaker 2: efficient
Speaker 1: and in a way because of the nature of the
Speaker 1: plane itself, it's smaller. So you have a situation where
Speaker 1: it's almost like bespoke travel. You can travel to smaller
Speaker 1: locations that cannot take a jumbo jet, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: Is that also why the businesses are finding a lot
Speaker 1: more appealing? Yeah,
Speaker 2: definitely. You get to go when you want, where you
Speaker 2: want and with whom you want, right. And that provides
Speaker 2: extra flexibility, not just from the size of aircraft or
Speaker 2: whatever it may be, but it's
Speaker 2: scheduled airline takes a risk, right. They need to know
Speaker 2: that they're going to fly this route with this payload
Speaker 2: this regularly to make it financially viable and it just
Speaker 2: hasn't been that consistent demand from the broader public to
Speaker 2: fly those routes. So where it makes financial sense for
Speaker 2: a corporation to send their executives to a location, private
Speaker 2: jets of there to service that support. So getting back
Speaker 2: to the question earlier about is a competition. It's really
Speaker 2: complementary
Speaker 2: people who want to fly first or business to locations
Speaker 2: and they have the time and they are okay going
Speaker 2: through the main airport, there's a service for them, but
Speaker 2: really getting to those hard to reach locations. That's a
Speaker 2: big advantage of flying privately. You get to go there,
Speaker 2: do your business and be able to leave quickly and
Speaker 2: potentially go to another
Speaker 2: Far reaching destination and do two of them in a day.
Speaker 2: We just couldn't do that commercially even in 2019. So
Speaker 2: really where the industry had a real chance to put
Speaker 2: its best foot forward and showcase what it can do
Speaker 2: and it's done extremely well doing that over the last
Speaker 2: three years and we're really proud of both the company,
Speaker 2: but also the industry as a whole.
Speaker 1: So private jets did really well during the pandemic when
Speaker 1: the commercial aviation sector completely shut down.
Speaker 1: It's not just billionaires that are flying on private jets.
Speaker 1: The charter model is making private aviation an option for
Speaker 1: businesses to
Speaker 1: a big part of the appeal is that private jets
Speaker 1: can apply routes not served by commercial aviation and that
Speaker 1: saves time and ultimately money.
Speaker 1: Now Ian tell us a bit about this new trend
Speaker 1: called pleasure, where clients are sort of mixing business and
Speaker 1: pleasure into one charter and how your jets are able
Speaker 1: to accommodate that because of the features and so on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that
Speaker 2: the pleasure really took off during covid, a lot of
Speaker 2: people weren't going into offices. So we get asked a
Speaker 2: lot do you do a more leisure or business and frankly,
Speaker 2: the type of clientele that we have, always combining the
Speaker 2: two regardless of where they are maybe to the charge
Speaker 2: of their family members, but that's what they,
Speaker 2: the advantage is you get to go away with your
Speaker 2: parents and spend time with them in exotic locations. The
Speaker 2: downside is they may be on their phone or maybe
Speaker 2: doing business while they're there and having a private jet
Speaker 2: that enables you to get to a destination and get
Speaker 2: back from a destination is incredibly important. For example, you
Speaker 2: may decide to send
Speaker 2: the family to a one location, but you need to
Speaker 2: get to certain business opportunities whilst you out in that region.
Speaker 2: You know, the ability to call upon a private jet
Speaker 2: to do that and be back to your family potentially
Speaker 2: buy dinner creates a real opportunity for you to combine
Speaker 2: that business and leisure opportunity.
Speaker 2: The other thing is obviously connectivity when you're in the air,
Speaker 2: do you have access to your colleagues, to your customer base,
Speaker 2: to the markets for example? And we've invested heavily in
Speaker 2: our wifi to ensure that our customers wherever they are
Speaker 2: around the world are still connected
Speaker 2: doing there 456 hour flights. They want to make sure
Speaker 2: that they're in charge and that's what our cabin experience
Speaker 2: can do for them. So yeah, pleasure has been something
Speaker 2: that's continued since Covid. We're seeing more and more that
Speaker 2: we'll see more of it. Now. Private jets are perfectly
Speaker 2: placed for that pleasure trend.
Speaker 1: What are some of the secret perks of hiring a
Speaker 1: private jet that most people don't think about? You know,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking along the lines of clearing immigration quickly, maybe
Speaker 1: traveling with your pet, maybe even smoking on an aircraft.
Speaker 1: I mean some of the secrets you can share with
Speaker 1: us
Speaker 2: all of the above you just mentioned. Well I think
Speaker 2: the ability to go to a very easy, simple security
Speaker 2: clearance system. So you can go through either a different
Speaker 2: airport or a different entrance into a major airport. For example,
Speaker 2: you can save a huge amount of timing.
Speaker 2: This is your aircraft to take off at your time.
Speaker 2: So you're never really running late, which is a big advantage.
Speaker 2: I fly commercially a lot, constantly harassing my taxi driver
Speaker 2: to get me there quicker so I can make my flight.
Speaker 2: So again, being in complete control when you take off,
Speaker 2: being able to fly with whom you want to fly with,
Speaker 2: I think is an important element to. A lot of
Speaker 2: people ask whether or not the price changes on the
Speaker 2: number of passengers that come on board. It doesn't, you're
Speaker 2: in complete control. It's your aircraft to fly with whom
Speaker 2: you want to. I think the ability to fly with
Speaker 2: pets has been a big driver for our business over
Speaker 2: the last decade. We have a vista pets program based
Speaker 2: around our four legged travels.
Speaker 2: So our customers often will use a private jet for the,
Speaker 2: the experience to be able to take their beloved pets
Speaker 2: wherever they are around the world and a lot of
Speaker 2: them take them on holiday with them or they have
Speaker 2: multiple family homes and they'll take them to those destinations.
Speaker 2: So that's a big one. I think also to being
Speaker 2: able to combine your favorite restaurants and private dining experience
Speaker 2: on the ground and take that into a private jet.
Speaker 2: I think
Speaker 2: that's one of the things often operator organize your food
Speaker 2: for you, but we go one step further and ask
Speaker 2: you where your favorite restaurant is or we can suggest
Speaker 2: to you partners we have in the locations you're going
Speaker 2: to and really taylor and experience to the way you
Speaker 2: want to eat. And again it's not all caviar and champagne.
Speaker 2: A lot of people have very specific diets and they
Speaker 2: would like to have that continued when they're flying privately
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: So quite a lot of perks there and for those
Speaker 1: listeners who are wondering what it costs. Private jet charter
Speaker 1: flight prices start from $15,000. Now that's per hour now
Speaker 1: last question would be travelers come back in a big way.
Speaker 1: What is your forecast and your outlook for private jet travel. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think
Speaker 2: we're very excited about the asian region. Obviously there's been
Speaker 2: a lot more conservative approach to opening up the region
Speaker 2: compared to
Speaker 2: say for example, our north american or european friends. So
Speaker 2: that's coming across as being a real business opportunity when
Speaker 2: you consider just how much asian businesses influence the world
Speaker 2: over the last decade. The ability for markets to open
Speaker 2: up for executives to go to their satellite offices, whether
Speaker 2: that's traveling to Asia or Asian companies traveling from Asia.
Speaker 2: I think that's the area where most excited.
Speaker 2: The covid lockdowns had an impact on travel and trade
Speaker 2: and we're looking forward to reversing that in 2023 the
Speaker 2: asian region is probably my biggest driver for growth in 2023.
Speaker 1: Alright Ian moore thank you so much for your time
Speaker 1: and for joining us. Thanks Jonathan have a great day.
Speaker 1: So to recap private aviation really took off during the
Speaker 1: pandemic when commercial aviation shut down and this change in
Speaker 1: how people fly looks set to continue post pandemic.
Speaker 1: You don't need to own a private jet to fly
Speaker 1: in one subscription models have expanded the access to private
Speaker 1: aviation
Speaker 1: in a private jet you can go where you want
Speaker 1: when you want and that makes it an attractive option
Speaker 1: for businesses since time is money.
Speaker 1: It's also an increasingly popular option for high net worth
Speaker 1: clients as they're able to combine business and leisure travel.
Speaker 1: So ultimately it might be less about extravagance and more
Speaker 1: about efficiency and travel. And Asia looks set to be
Speaker 1: the big growth driver in this sector going forward
Speaker 1: and that's the five things you never knew about chartering
Speaker 1: a private jet
Speaker 1: catch money, mine on C. N. A. And online at
Speaker 1: me watch sienna dot Asia and Youtube