The Pandemic Has Created a Middle Class Private Jet Boom (wired.co.uk) 79
An anonymous reader shares a report: While the commercial airline industry has been largely grounded following various global lockdowns -- with outbound international travel from the UK set to be banned on Thursday -- private aviation has soared among new customers. Many of them are families. Once the preserve of millionaires and A-listers, business planes have been taken up by holidaying households looking to make quick, Covid-secure getaways. "We've flown more families than ever," explains Adam Twidell, CEO of jet booker PrivateFly. "Those who can afford have thought, 'This is the time to use wealth to travel safely.'" Despite aviation's ongoing gloom, Twidell says that PrivateFly is actually up over this time last year. Much of that has been driven by family bookings over the summer holidays, with 20 per cent of all passengers being children.
The fresh influx of jet-setting customers has also included the 'pet set.' Recent animals on board PrivateFly planes have included dogs, parrots and snakes -- while one recent flight saw a family fly with 13 cats. "Those who might have gone on holiday with friends are now doing so with extended family," Twidell says. It was in March, as most of the planet went into lockdown, that private aviation boomed. As more and more commercial airliners ceased routes around the world, families began booking business planes to rush them home. Alain Leboursier, managing director of Swiss charter LunaJets, says that such repatriation missions meant business tripled. "Our best period of the last decade came in the final ten days of March. We had flights around the world taking people home." With the new lockdown imminent, and much of Europe effectively closing its borders, Leboursier believes there'll be a further spike in demand. "However, it won't be as dramatic as what we saw in spring because local lockdowns and restrictions aren't as strict." But any surge in numbers will be very welcome in business aviation. "Usually, between September and Christmas, it's just corporate flights," adds Leboursier. "Those clients aren't flying at all now."
The fresh influx of jet-setting customers has also included the 'pet set.' Recent animals on board PrivateFly planes have included dogs, parrots and snakes -- while one recent flight saw a family fly with 13 cats. "Those who might have gone on holiday with friends are now doing so with extended family," Twidell says. It was in March, as most of the planet went into lockdown, that private aviation boomed. As more and more commercial airliners ceased routes around the world, families began booking business planes to rush them home. Alain Leboursier, managing director of Swiss charter LunaJets, says that such repatriation missions meant business tripled. "Our best period of the last decade came in the final ten days of March. We had flights around the world taking people home." With the new lockdown imminent, and much of Europe effectively closing its borders, Leboursier believes there'll be a further spike in demand. "However, it won't be as dramatic as what we saw in spring because local lockdowns and restrictions aren't as strict." But any surge in numbers will be very welcome in business aviation. "Usually, between September and Christmas, it's just corporate flights," adds Leboursier. "Those clients aren't flying at all now."
middle class huh (Score:5, Insightful)
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the middle class will sit with the lower classes.
the upper class will not.
and the upper class.
have through out time.
been willing to pay for it
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I spent about ten years of my career as a road warrior making over 20 round trips a year, typically four flights per round trip. Rarely did I see a kid in first class, although it does occasionally happen. I don't ever remember seeing a family of five there, although families that size are common enough in economy.
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When I used to fly back and forward to the Middle East from London, it was very common to see mum and dad in first class whilst the maid/nanny sat in Economy looking after myriad brats.
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Let's do the math. First Class Round-trip tickets to Europe next Summer are currently running about $3,500 R/T per person. So that's $7,000 RT, versus about $30,000 RT for that private jet. Let me know when those prices intersect.
When you have 5 passengers on that private jet.
Re:middle class huh (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's do the math. First Class Round-trip tickets . . .
I don’t know what middle class exists in your mind but middle class does not buy First Class tickets to Europe for $3000 each. They might trade in years of points to get First Class tickets at a reduced fare.
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Economy tickets are like $500/RT. That is what "middle class" buy. Not very clear what "middle class" people you are familiar with.
It is true they will sit in Business class or even First Class but this is either when they dupe their job into subsidizing the trip or they cash in their points from the hundred economy tickets they bought over the previous years.
Me and my two buddies (Score:3)
One place I worked recently, two other people I worked with also had family in the same place my family lives. So at Christmas we'd all three take our families to Northwest Arkansas.
With nine to twelve people, some private planes aren't terribly expensive. Costs more than a ticket on a Greyhound bus, but 10 airline tickets plus taxes and fees isn't cheap either.
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Re:middle class huh (Score:5, Insightful)
To me, this reads more like a thinly-disguised PR piece being pushed by the private aviation industry in hopes of creating said "middle class private jet boom".
The Wired article gives no supporting evidence that the middle-class is anywhere near this uptick in private plane use.
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It is in the range for a Middle Class Family to pay for this if they do see it as a priority. So for some it may be the difference between getting a new Car, or going on vacation.
While 30K is a major expense for the Middle Class, it won't bankrupt them.
Middle Class for the Average American are families that make more than 50k-100k (This is average American, not people who may live in an expensive city) So 30k can be saved up by the Upper end of middle class without major sacrifice.
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It is in the range for a Middle Class Family to pay for this if they do see it as a priority. So for some it may be the difference between getting a new Car, or going on vacation.
While 30K is a major expense for the Middle Class, it won't bankrupt them.
Middle Class for the Average American are families that make more than 50k-100k (This is average American, not people who may live in an expensive city) So 30k can be saved up by the Upper end of middle class without major sacrifice.
People making 50-100k may have 30k in the bank but they aren't spending it on a flight. If the choice was a 30k flight or staying home they are staying home.
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People don't spend willy-nilly. If it's $30K to go on a once in a lifetime vacation, a middle class family who saves for it can save for it in about 10 years.
It doesn't mean though that they can't have some vacations, they just put away a few thousand dollars a year into saving for a nice vacation. Thus instead of spending $10,000 on a family vacation e
Re:middle class huh (Score:4, Insightful)
If I've been saving for a once in a lifetime trip for 10 years, then I'm almost surely budgeting for economy, not first class. A private jet would be nowhere near my budget. Plus if it took 10 years to save for, just wait an extra year and it would be half price compared to the private jet. Sorry, I don't see a private jet in this theoretical family's future.
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People don't spend willy-nilly. If it's $30K to go on a once in a lifetime vacation, a middle class family who saves for it can save for it in about 10 years.
If you are saving 10 years for a $30k vacation, you will not blow the entire amount on the plane trip. This would be a trip that had been budgeted for over years, and if they had planned on spend $5k of that for airfare they wouldn't just switch the entire budget to a private plane. They would wait another year or two to take the vacation instead.
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$5k vacation? Private plane? What world are you living in? Trump land, I can only assume. No...just no. Even adjusting dollars to early 90's worth. $200 on gas (at most), staying at a relatives house in whatever state (for myself, as a kid, it would be ky. pa, or fl driving from nj or ct or va (dependent upon where we lived at that time)), and leaving the house at 3 or 4am to beat the traffic. Granted, this was the late 80's, early 90's, my dad was in the navy and the military pay was nowhere near as ge
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A car is something you would drive for the next 5-10 years and then resell for the residual value when you are done with it. A vacation only lasts a week or two, and then it's over. Very few people would equate a car purchase to traveling.
Sure this amount could be saved up by someone who is middle class, but it would be irresponsible of most of them to spent that money all at once on a vacation, which probably won't be that fun because of all the restrictions. The amount of time to save up that amount of mo
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How many middle class have $30k laying around they can drop? Not many.
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How many middle class have $30k laying around they can drop? Not many.
Especially if they are "families of five" like TFA mentions.
Food, housing, education, and healthcare for 3 kids + 2 parents doesn't leave much for savings. What is saved is going into an ESA or 401k, not a gold-plated vacation on a private jet.
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How many middle class have $30k laying around they can drop? Not many.
I'm guessing a large percentage of us could. The reason we're middle class is that we don't spend it like that, though.
For a large part of the Western middle class, $30k isn't that much for something they feel is important and of long term value. They can raise it if they need to. It is far too much to spend on something like a couple of hours travel, a bottle of wine or something else of a very short term value.
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Did you mean between 50k and 100k or more? Because 100k is definitely more than the Average American earns.
According to HUD, the median family income in 2019 was $75,500, and that's with a lot of 2-earner families in the mix. Very few families with that income will be able to save up $30k for an airplane flight, and those that can will spend it on something more useful.
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Wow this really is a horrible piece of reporting. Not a single bit of information validating that the middle class is paying for these private jet trips. I was expecting at least a couple anecdotes but didn't even get that. Each of the families mentioned in the article could have $500k+ yearly incomes for all we know after reading the article. One example was a father of two spending £10,000 for a two hour flight from Spain to England. It's as if the author thought calling him a father of two was all
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Median family income in the US was $75,500 in 2019. $500k is more than upper middle class - wealthy, but not yet filthy rich ruling class.
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Median family income in the US was $75,500 in 2019. $500k is more than upper middle class - wealthy, but not yet filthy rich ruling class.
I think we mostly agree with each other, since I stated $250-500k is where the border between upper middle class and wealthy sits. I may think the border is closer to $500k and you may think it is closer to $250k, but that is why I gave a large range.
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Came here to say this, the middle class can't drop 5~6 digits on a flight, these people are not middle class by any stretch of the imagination. Even Joe the Plumber would think long and hard about paying for one of these flights.
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Exactly, my wife and I have a single child. I make well over the median income in the town where we live (which matters because it determines what housing etc costs, and a whole lot of other things)
The idea of 6-digit vacation price tag sounds to stupid to me to even think about seriously. For that kind of money we and I certainly think most of the 'middle class' could probably get a bridge loan, buy a significantly upgraded new home, and sell our existing to retire the debt. We would certainly get a lot mo
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Middle class families generally don't drop fifteen grand on plane tickets for a one way flight.
No they don't but that's entirely beside the point. They could, if they are in fact "middle class." However, the reason it's said that the "middle class is shrinking" is precisely because there are fewer and fewer who can afford such a thing.
Also, if you think fifteen grand* is a lot, you're simply not middle class, perhaps culturally but certainly not financially.
Only an idiot believes the official numbers on inflation.
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Also, if you think fifteen grand* is a lot, you're simply not middle class, perhaps culturally but certainly not financially.
Very true and this is should really inform the thinking of a lot politics in this country but everone wants to believe they are middle class. Here is a real definition that is historically accurate. "I could quit my job today and move my family to some place where I could find other before my savings run out without sacrificing our current life style." If you can answer that question with "yes" you are middle class.
If your answer is "No", you are something closer to a serf.
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Also, if you think fifteen grand* is a lot, you're simply not middle class
The median household income in America is about $64k. Figure 30% goes to federal, state, and local taxes. The average mortgage payment in America is $1300/mo. Perhaps $800 per month for health insurance. The put away some money in a pension and an ESA for the kids' college.
So what's left? $15k is likely way more than a family in the middle can save in a year. So, yeah, it is "a lot".
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Also, if you think fifteen grand is not a lot, you're simply not middle class, perhaps culturally but certainly not financially.
FTFY
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I suspect there is a surcharge if your starting or ending point is at a "smaller closer airport". There is a non-zero cost in flying the plane from where they keep it to that airport.
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I've read all the responses to your "that's not middle class!" post and I'm surprised that no one (so far) has pointed out that "middle class" doesn't mean what you think it means in this case.
This is a UK publication. In the UK the term "middle class" can mean roughly "not of the elite." Basically if you're not part of the landed, enobled gentry but you still have means you're "middle class."
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"middle class" and "private jet" don't go together (Score:5, Insightful)
The only way you can combine "middle class" and "private jet" is by redefining "middle class" to mean "multimillionaires"
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The only way you can combine "middle class" and "private jet" is by redefining "middle class" to mean "multimillionaires"
Well, with the inflation that's going to hit once the QE all starts to fall apart, that'll probably be about right.
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The only way you can combine "middle class" and "private jet" is by redefining "middle class" to mean "multimillionaires"
Well, with the inflation that's going to hit once the QE all starts to fall apart, that'll probably be about right.
Perhaps, but they still wont be able to afford private jet travel
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The muppets don't have a choice unless they can time stock market crashes. There is no where else to save for retirement.
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Hey, well, the lockdowns were an easy call. Even I got out of the market before this crash.
Been there (Score:3)
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done that [freethoughtblogs.com]
That's pretty funny
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Is that for real? That has got to be a joke. The WSJ is not that clueless, are they?
It's real alright (Score:2)
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It is Merz all over again - our wannabe future chancellor thinks himself a middle class guy, despite earning a over million per year.
Most concerning aspect (Score:4, Insightful)
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I actually checked this out. Here in the States, a round-trip from Portland to New Orleans started at around $35K. I don't know of many "middle class" travelers who have this kind of money.
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Lol I can buy a brand new car for that much and drive there myself. The best part is I get to keep the car!
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Unfortunately people don't account for Carbon Pollution as part of their decisions. Even for people who consider themselves pro-environment.
My main driver a Prius, my Next car will probably be a Tesla. My decision isn't based on how much carbon it produces, but how much I pay at the pump. As my Commute to work and back is about 60 miles, So Fuel costs (especially when gas prices are high) take a hit out of my budget. I also have an SUV for my wife, who drives less, and we normally take the SUV on tr
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Unfortunately people don't account for Carbon Pollution as part of their decisions. Even for people who consider themselves pro-environment.
Just remember: Greta flew two yacht crews across the Atlantic so she could make her trip by sailboat.
what a disconnect (Score:1)
Middle class??? (Score:4, Insightful)
So I checked out PrivateFly just to see what these things are going for. A flight at the end of this month from CVG to MSP starts at $12000. If I change it to CVG to LAs Vegas it starts at $25000. And they think middle class people are doing this, really? This is WAY outside what middle class people are doing, especially in a time of volatility like a pandemic.
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Nothing in the Article About Income (Score:3)
The headline says "Middle Class", but my (admittedly quick) read of the article mentions diddly about the household income of any of the passengers.
It was a mid-size Cessna Citation Excel jet – and the two-hour flight cost him a cool £10,000. John believes it was worth the expense
That's not a very middle class expenditure.
I wonder if msmash knows any (Score:2)
There are other things to consider (Score:2)
If the travel is within the US (excluding Hawaii)
How much would an Uber/Lyft ride cost in comparison?
How much does it cost to rent a dirigible for the flight?
How much does it cost to just buy a car and drive to the destination? /s
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That is a good point, a one-way private car (where you just leave the car in a parking lot when your trip is done) would be cheaper than this.
Accident statistics vs COVID risk (Score:3, Informative)
Glider and single-engine piston pilot speaking.
Somehow I doubt that the perceived benefit of reduced virus exposure compensates the increased risk of flying in small planes.
https://www.ntsb.gov/investiga... [ntsb.gov]
Climate (Score:2)
Have we given up on 1.5, 2, and maybe 2.5 degrees warming?
I wouldn't mind sacrificing bringing snakes on vacation in favor of saving hundreds of millions or billions from becoming climate refugees, but maybe I'm just funny that way.
If Massachusetts can legislate a right to repair and Oregon can legislate psychedelic mushrooms, maybe we can limit not everyone who can afford it to fly when they want, where they want without having to pay the cost including environmental damage?
"Boom" is a relative term. (Score:3)
Before the pandemic, the total number of operational private jets in the world was fewer than 20,000, with sales projected to increase that number by 8000 over the following decade. The total carrying capacity of the worldwide private jet fleet is dwarfed by the number seats just on operational A320s.
As the volume of commercial air travel drops you get funneled through ever-more inconvenient itineraries to maximize the utilization rate of the remaining flights. So in a pandemic you end up with lousier itineraries and probably greater exposure. It's hardly surprising that demand for private jet hire has gone up, but it's not a trend that affects most people; it couldn't be. There just isn't enough capacity.
Upper Class PRETENDING to themselves. (Score:3)
If you are not a millionaire, and you have spent more than $20k for air travel, let alone the rest of the vacation, then you are what I call "FINACIALLY MORONIC UPPER CLASS", aka the the guy that makes >$100k and saves nothing.
$20k for travel means the housing and food should also cost at least $20k, so you have a total of $40k a year for discretionary spending.
If you have $40k a year of discretionary, then you should a) own a home and b) have at least $400k in the bank. Your home equity should also be > $600k, so you are a millionaire.
Is it possible to say screw that shit, I am going on a $40k vacation even though I do not own my own home and do not have anything in the bank? Yes - but only if you are financially stupid.
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If you are not a millionaire
.
.
then you should a) own a home and b) have at least $400k in the bank.
All things that the IRS tracks. So I tell my friends I'm going camping for two weeks. But I head to the airport, jump on a plane owned by some shell corporation, fly to some island retreat owned by an offshore trust, party with a bunch of artificially enhanced blond bimbos, who will know?
I am not a millionaire.
Not yet (Score:1)
Private Pilot here with my thoughts (Score:5, Interesting)
"private jet" travel is not priced for the middle-class.
However, "private air" travel is. Replace "jet" with "plane" and the economics change dramatically. For example, booking 4 people on a private jet from Denver to the Caribbean will cost you $25k. But swap the jet with Piper Malibu (propeller) and the price will drop to probably $8-10k.
If you travel a lot and want to fly even cheaper, get a pilot certificate. Instead of buying a plane, rent one or buy fractional ownership in a plane and your costs will plummet even more. Factional ownership is a group of people sharing ownership & costs of a single plane. It is still not cheap, but there are benefits.
Benefits of flying yourself include:
* Leave and return whenever you please.
* Want to make a pitstop halfway home to visit a friend or go sight-seeing at a national park? No problems.
* Want to bring your pets? Not a problem.
* Feel like bringing along an AR-15, a few ammo boxes and your machete - absolutely fine.
* Best of all, airport parking, no airport lines, no airport waiting, and best of all no TSA!
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You only say that because you're already a pilot.
Re: Private Pilot here with my thoughts (Score:2)
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I have my own plane, (baron) and I often lie to myself about what it costs to fly. I know its a lie.
That doesn't keep me from flying, but private plane is almost never an economical way to get anywhere
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Best of all, airport parking, no airport lines, no airport waiting, and best of all no TSA!
some years ago talking with someone that served on a airport commission, also a PP himself. The airline side of airport has TSA all over it, the GA side does not. However, there was for a few years after 9-11 TSA was pushing to include their jurisdiction on the GA side and GA in general. Many in the GA (and several have a lot of money and influence) put a stop to that. Speaking of private jets, talking with another who got to go on a trip with a friend that has a jet said it was great. Show up at the airpo
mis-ledeing (Score:2)
Middle Class Private Clinics Boom (Score:1)
In fear of the virus, middle-class people now have their own physicians at home.
Wear a p100 mask,goggles and wash your hands. (Score:1)