Charter business jet or Buying a private jet

Charter a Business jet or buying a private jet certainly sounds very prestigious, many people hear that owning an airplane is only belong to a wealthy individual or a large company.
However, prior COVID-19 era, the majority of assumptions passenger were easier to buy business or even first class business for their business or luxury travel, however after COVID-19 situation when the destinations permit and flight start getting difficult, more affordable public start looking at other alternative.

 

What is the cost of First Class commercial aircraft

To fly on a commercial aircraft, even with restrictions during COVID-19 era, still giving various options, for example using Emirates first class flights (First Class) with 14-16 hours of flying it will costs about USD 14 thousand, sounds cheap compare to charter business jet. If there are 19 people traveling for a business group, that means about 266 thousand US Dollars round trip, yes this sound expensive a quaerter million dollar for a big family holiday or white collar high official business processionals. Therefore we have to get another comparisons if we are chartering an aircraft.

Charter busines jet or fly first class commercial

Meanwhile, if the company uses private jets such as Boeing BBJ (Boeing Business Jet) or Airbus ACJ (Airbus Corporate Jet) which generally have a seat capacity of around up to 19 seats, the estimated cost required to fly in 14 hours one way is around 336 – 420 thousand US Dollars depending on the age of the aircraft, where the estimated flight hour is between 12-15 thousand US Dollars per hour.

In conclusion, the difference in costs between flying a first class airplane and a lease or air charter is only 30% more expensive than buying a first class plane ticket, but on charter planes passengers only wait in private lounges and vehicles from lounge to plane with limousine and in-flight services is included. Where the interior of the airplane is also first class interior including meals that can be ordered according to passenger requests, not to mention the privacy that you are having if the whole airplane is belong to your group.

What is the advantage of having a private airplane ?  The advantage of owning an airplane is primarily a privacy, besides it is prestigious where from a financial perspective it cannot be compared to chartering an airplane or buying first class tickets.

Because there are so many advantages of owning a private aircraft, from freedom of use whenever and wherever the readiness of the aircraft will always be guaranteed, with the intention of no interference from third parties.

Where when compared to buying a first class ticket, passengers have to wait according to the existing schedule, whereas to rent an airplane it often has limited readiness of the plane if it has been chartered by another party or if the passenger wants to extend the stay or their holiday,  for several days due to a delayed meeting or other interests its not very flexible. Meanwhile, accessibility using a private jet can already be determined when the owner or passenger wants to travel or whenever the owner wants to change the schedule and destination there are no restrictions.

How to choose to buy a private airplane and how much it cost

The decision to own or buy a private jet  must of course be proportional to its interests or its allocation, for example if the business or activities is only limited within your place of residence or business with couple of hours flight,  with an average family or passenger expectation of  5 people, it is enough to buy a VLJ very light jet such as Phenom500, and if on average it needs to be used for 9 people then you can use a small business jet such as a Cessna Citation or a Learjet while for a passenger capacity of around 13 passengers, the most popular aircraft is the Embraer Legacy 600 / 650 and for passengers over 13 and / or for long distance, there are many choices from the Gulfstream G450 / 550/650 or 700 or competitors such as the Bombardier Global 5000, 6000 or 7000.The design of these long range planes is given a number with an estimated distance in nautical miles, where the Gulfstream G500 series was originally designed with the ability mileage 5000 miles da n gulfstream G650 is designed with a range of about 6000 miles, as well as the Bombardier Global 5000 is designed with a range of about 5000 miles and so on.

How much does it cost to own a private airplane ?  The cost of owning a private airplane is very varied depending on the size of the aircraft as stated above, the distance traveled, and most importantly of course the age of the aircraft itself. However, in terms of age, it is not certain that older aircraft are cheaper, it really depends on the number of aircraft used.
The decision to own or buy a private jet  must of course be proportional to its interests or its allocation, for example if the business or activities is only limited within your place of residence or business with couple of hours flight,  with an average family or passenger expectation of  5 people, it is enough to buy a VLJ very light jet such as Phenom500, and if on average it needs to be used for 9 people then you can use a small business jet such as a Cessna Citation or a Learjet while for a passenger capacity of around 13 passengers, the most popular aircraft is the Embraer Legacy 600 / 650 and for passengers over 13 and / or for long distance, there are many choices from the Gulfstream G450 / 550/650 or 700 or competitors such as the Bombardier Global 5000, 6000 or 7000.The design of these long range planes is given a number with an estimated distance in nautical miles, where the Gulfstream G500 series was originally designed with the ability mileage 5000 miles da n gulfstream G650 is designed with a range of about 6000 miles, as well as the Bombardier Global 5000 is designed with a range of about 5000 miles and so on.

How much does it cost to own a private airplane ?  The cost of owning a private airplane is very varied depending on the size of the aircraft as stated above, the distance traveled, and most importantly of course the age of the aircraft itself. However, in terms of age, it is not certain that older aircraft are cheaper, it really depends on the number of aircraft used.

The price of Private jet short haul for a VLJ may cost as low as USD 2 million used price, the small business jet such as Cessna Citation jet may cost about USD 3-5 million used price while the long range business jet such as brand new Gulfstream or bombardier Global may cost you about USD 60ish million.

 

 Also read:Anatomy of air charter cost to own small jet

Variable and Fixed costs of private jet

The Gulfstream G650ER, which is offered for USD66.5 million, requires variable costs and fixed costs per year, where variable costs are hourly costs, including fuel, parking maintenance etc., around USD 4900 per hour.

What about Annual fixed cost of private aircraft ? for fixed costs, the biggest is of course a pilot salary of around USD 300 thousand 2 pilots per year and the training fee for the G 650 is one of the most expensive crew training with an annual training fee of around USD 110 thousand and maintenance and modernization of around USD 240 thousand, as well as other costs such as insurance, hangar, navigation (Chart) and management or AOC (Air Operating Certificate) which handles operations who handles aircraft operations, so this Gulfstream G650 ER requires at least USD 1.1 million per year.

From the above costs, the operation of a private aircraft can be compared to several hours of utilization per year, with the following ratio

 

ESTIMATED UTILIZATION

Assumed hours per year Variable costs USD 4900 / hour Fixed costs / year Charges per hour

Low utilization 200 $ 980,000 $ 1,100,000 $ 10,400

Medium utilization 500 $ 2,450,000 $ 1,100,000 $ 7,100

High utilization 900 $ 4,410,000 $ 1,100,000 $ 6,122

 

The table above is the operational costs of the aircraft, not including the price of the aircraft which is around USD 66.5 million. In general, aircraft owners buy aircraft through a financial institution or financing organization, where the price of the aircraft is paid with a deposit or down payment and monthly expenses such as home loans, of course there are calculations. others such as fixed depreciation as well as market depreciation.