According to Stefano Boscutti, the price per gallon for private jet fuel has quadrupled in the past eight years. While the impact on your wallet depends on your model, with many jets you’re paying for hundreds of gallons of fuel per hour. Even worse, J Mac McClellan of FlyingMag isn’t hopeful about it getting any better: “Nobody can predict future trends, but higher prices sure seem more likely than lower.”
So how can private jet owners combat already-high (and likely to rise) fuel costs? Now could be time to look for a more fuel-efficient model.
Since the fuel crises of the 1950s and 1970s, jet designers have been interested in working towards greater fuel efficiency. Lately, we’ve been seeing steady improvement in fuel usage in jets — through better engines and aerodynamics. Lower weight, less drag, and the ability to fly higher are allowing jets to make big strides in fuel efficiency. Jets are now available in a greater range of sizes and performance categories, too, so owners can match their mission and the plane’s required fuel to their needs more efficiently.
Which Jets are the Most Fuel Efficient?
McClellan recommends the Falcon 50 as a prime example of a jet design with emphasis placed on improvements in weight and drag to make long range flights more efficient. The Learjet 35 and 36 and Gulfstream models, also emphasize long range capability, as well as the ability to climb directly to 41,000 feet or higher. At those flight levels, fuel flow and drag were significantly reduced while range was increased.
The recently announced Eclipse 550 Jet from Eclipse Aerospace was a major effort to improve efficiency and has earned recognition as the most fuel-efficient twin-engine jet in production today. It consumes a mere 59 gallons per hour at cruising speeds.
An unusual aircraft project competed in NASA’s Green Flight Challenge of 2011 and showed us a personal plane with better fuel economy than most family cars: The “Synergy” aircraft can carry up to five people with a fuel efficiency of 40 miles per gallon and boasts 10 times the fuel economy of a small jet at 10% the usual cost. Not only that, but the design and production of this jet was crowdfunded, illustrating that the public is interested enough in fuel-efficient jets to put their money where their mouths are. John McGinnis, the team leader of Synergy, says “In this second century of flight, we believe that ordinary families should have fast options to travel where they want, when they want, in quiet safety, with better economy than a car.”
Of course, there’s also the perception factor that business owners and entrepreneurs must manage. While “save the earth” may not be your business slogan, companies that visibly work toward green initiatives typically see more positive brand recognition.
The next time you’re in the market for a jet, consider a fuel-efficient model to give your brand — and your pocketbook — a boost.
Are fuel prices weighing down your jet? Does your aircraft need to shave off a few pounds? Composites — fiber-reinforced polymers made of glass fiber or carbon fiber and fabricated using a heat or chemical reaction — might be the answer.
Cut pounds to save dollars
Composites are popular among aircraft owners and manufacturers for many reasons, but a major one is improved fuel efficiency. Industry experts predict fuel costs could comprise more than 50% of operating costs by 2022. In this regard, composites can make a big difference: Lightening a single-aisle aircraft by just one pound could save $150 per year in fuel costs.
In addition to cutting fuel costs, composites are also strong and durable and they can improve the corrosion and heat resistance of an aircraft’s interior. They’re also more wear-resistant than their metal counterparts, extending the life of a jet’s interior parts.
The aircraft interiors aftermarket is “really where composite materials have the opportunity to shine,” says composites market analyst Chris Red. Refurbishment with composites is a great way to update your aircraft with a modern, long-lasting interior that also reduces your fuel costs and adds value to your aircraft investment. A number of aircraft interior service providers are experienced with composites and can create a composite interior customized to your specifications.
Endless opportunities for upgrades
The opportunities for interior upgrades afforded by composites are bound only by your budget and imagination. You can improve seats, passenger cabin walls and ceilings, overhead stow bins, lavatories, interior panels, closets, galleys, floors, ducts, and many other cabin components with aftermarket composite parts.
Composites offer a way to increase the strength and durability of your aircraft while improving the look and feel of the interior — all while giving you considerable cost savings.
Contact L & L International if you need assistance in purchasing or selling a private jet. You can reach our sales specialists today at sales@L-Lint.com, call us any time at 877-453-8276 (+1.305.754.3313), or visit us online.
Very few meals come with the same level of leisurely indulgence as brunch — that’s probably why it’s a popular choice for Mother’s Day. Unlike the typical grab-and-run meal we’re used to on the weekdays, brunch is a time when we slow down, linger over the flavors and conversation, and share our stories.
Are you ready to serve your Mom a special Mother’s Day brunch this year? If you haven’t finalized your plans yet, consider spicing things up this year and treating Mom to a more exciting version of the classic Mother’s Day outing. Why not take Mom on a trip to have brunch at one of the most unique brunch places in the U.S.?
Here are some options to consider:
Boulette’s Larder — San Francisco, CA
With a community table and an open kitchen, Mom will have a great time chatting up the table and making new friends. Chef Amaryll Schwertner studied neuroscience before picking up the ladle, so you can be sure that the food coming out of her kitchen is designed to appeal to the brain as well as your taste buds. It’s classic gourmet with a unique twist, such as hot beignets with rosemary-scented raspberry sauce.
Locanda Verda — New York City, NY
Andrew Carmellini, the chef and owner of Locanda Verde, studied cooking in Italy and then used that education to create his own original style. This restaurant is located in Tribeca’s Greenwich Hotel and has celebrity backing from Robert De Niro. It’s an upscale-meets-casual design, so no one has to dress up much. Try their polenta waffles with marscarpone cheese and truffle honey and burnt orange toast for a unique brunch.
Beatrice & Woodsley – Denver, CO
This restaurant blends the whimsical and quirky with a whole lot of history and a love story. The story goes like this: a turn-of-the-century woodsman (Woodsley) settled in the Rocky Mountain wilderness now known as Denver with his French wife (Beatrice). Nestled in a grove of urban aspens is a restaurant that brings the story to life with birch-tree pillars, sculptured leather booths, and lantern lights that play out the rustic American charm. Beatrice’s Scrumptilicious Brunch menu features grapefruit crisp with sweet-salty almond crumbs, sunny eggs with mustard hollandaise, and of course, tasty bloody marys.
Gigi – Miami, FL
Forget the cutesy beach cottages and down-home dining that most brunch places offer; Gigi dishes out one of the best, most satisfying brunches in the nation. It serves Asian-inspired comfort food like rice-crusted French toast with banana compote and tantalizing honey butter. With the light streaming through floor-to-ceiling windows, this brunch will wake up even the sleepiest.
Is a simple local brunch really enough for everything your mother has done for you? This year, give her the brunch she’ll remember all year long!
Interest rates are low, but if you have the cash, does it make more sense to invest it in an aircraft purchase?
Cash vs. loan vs. lease
If you take a closer look at the current state of aircraft financing, you’ll see that the market is flush with cash. Industry experts think that in 2013, cash comprised about 65% of business jet purchases, 23% was debt financed, and 12% was comprised of leases.
On one hand, allotting cash to an aircraft purchase can be a sound, conservative investment. On the other hand, interest rates on private jet loans are still relatively low, ranging from around 2-3% for floating (LIBOR-indexed) rate to just under 7% for fixed-rate loans.
But to determine whether or not it’s worthwhile to take advantage of these low rates, one must consider the lenders’ mood in the current economic climate. Lenders today are cautious and typically require down payments of 10-15% on a loan. Thus, you’ll likely need to have some cash available, or have a guarantor who will put up the down payment. In addition, some lenders won’t finance older aircraft, so the make and model you’re shopping for might affect financing. Plus, closing on a loan takes time. Tasks such as title searches and documentation require a lot of effort. If you have an immediate need for a plane, a cash purchase can be much quicker.
If you’re hesitant to use cash, another option still is to lease a plane. However, this comes with its own set of hurdles: Many lenders are hesitant to or simply won’t do leases — or they will impose aircraft age restrictions.
The right choice
So what is the answer to the aircraft purchase quandary? Unfortunately the answer isn’t clear: Whether or not a cash purchase or financing is the best fit depends on your situation.
If you have the cash, now is a great time to invest it in an aircraft purchase. And if you still want to take advantage of the low interest rates, you have the option to make a large cash down payment and finance the rest of the purchase.
However, if you don’t have the cash, you must decide whether to go the route of the loan or the lease. Your needs will determine whether a loan or lease is right, taking into consideration tax depreciation, amortization, your preferred aircraft’s age, and what terms your lender is offering. Regardless of which direction you go, if you are facing a financing decision, keep in mind that pre-approval from a lender can shorten the closing process.
When in doubt, you can’t go wrong by turning to a trusted industry expert to guide you through the process. For more quick answers, check out our online Financing Questions resource. And when you’re ready to buy, give us a call. The experts at L & L International can help you ask the right questions to reach the ideal financing terms and ensure you get the best aircraft for your money — cash or financed.
Contact L & L International if you need assistance in purchasing or selling a private jet. You can reach our sales specialists today at sales@L-Lint.com, call us any time at 877-453-8276 (+1.305.754.3313), or visit us online.
There’s been a lot of noise in the private aviation industry about recent trends making private jet flight more flexible. Private jet clubs are springing up everywhere and have been growing in popularity, no doubt because of the indignities and discomfort people experience lately when taking commercial flights. Still, will these new trends focused on getting the most out of a single aircraft really make flying more flexible?
One of the most popular trends right now is chartering “empty leg” flights. These are last-minute deals on seats in empty planes that are being repositioned for someone else. Booking an empty leg flight means you are reducing the price of the plane’s transfer while saving big bucks on a regular charter flight.
There are some definite advantages to empty leg flights:
- You only pay for what you need (as opposed to buying a jet you only use some of the time).
- You don’t have to worry about jet upkeep or maintenance.
- You cut out the middle man and save money.
- You can reduce the costs even more by sharing the flight with other travelers.
The recent economic downturn certainly levied significant pressure on the business aviation market and surely contributed to the most recent innovations in terms of jet efficiency. However, chartering “empty leg” flights may not be for everyone.
There are some downsides:
- You have no control over the type of aircraft.
- You must adapt your schedule to the flight plan.
- You have no recourse if the original flight is delayed or cancelled.
- You may be flying into or out of an airport you wouldn’t have personally chosen.
- Some flights are more popular and thus more available than others (LA to Las Vegas, Boston to NY, DC to NY, for example).
- If you have a custom trip in mind, you might not be able to secure it —Italy to Saudi Arabia, for example.
Although chartering empty leg flights can fulfill some needs, for anyone who needs reliability, control over their schedule, or travel that is outside the standard routes, a private jet is still the best option.
Good news for aircraft owners who are looking to sell: JETNET’s year-end market report indicates that the inventory of preowned business jets for sale was down by almost 1% in 2013. In fact, 2013 year-end inventories of preowned business jets were at their lowest point since 2007.
Encouraging signs for sellers
It’s not quite a seller’s market yet, but for aircraft owners — especially owners of heavyweight aircraft — the signs are encouraging. In 2013, full-sale transactions for preowned business jets were up by 0.6% from 2012. In addition, these bizjets showed the largest gain in average asking prices, posting an increase of 10.7% year-over-year.
However, it took longer to sell these aircraft: The average days on the market for preowned business jets increased by 20 days to 391 days in 2013. Significantly, retail sales transactions increased only for some weight classes of preowned business jets: heavy and medium-weight, which grew by 5.7% and 2.3%, respectively. Lightweight preowned aircraft sales declined by 4.2%.
The decline in sales of smaller preowned business aircraft is consistent with the ongoing trend of the business jet market splitting into distinct, unequal segments. The market has seen considerable bifurcation in the past five years, with the very wealthy clamoring to purchase brand-new, large, luxury aircraft, leaving the small- and preowned-small jet market floundering. However, things are looking up for the preowned jet market as young, wealthy Chinese buyers are recognizing the value of used aircraft and are partially responsible for driving the increased demand.
What to expect
What do these trends mean for preowned jet owners, buyers, and sellers? For owners who are looking to sell heavy- and mid-weight-class business jets, the market is more favorable than it has been in several years. Large-cabin private jet owners are in an especially advantageous position, as demand for these aircraft continues to grow. However, sellers will need to remain patient, as sales could take a year or longer to close.
The bottom line is this: Even though the market is more amenable to sellers, it is still a buyer’s market, with inventories above 10% and preowned for-sale business jets staying on the market longer.
Contact L & L International if you need assistance in purchasing or selling a private jet.You can reach our sales specialists today at sales@L-Lint.com, call us any time at 877-453-8276 (+1.305.754.3313), or visit us online.
It used to be that the only alternative to flying commercially was to pay millions to purchase your own private jet. Now, there are more options and some innovative new ventures that make it easier for infrequent travelers who still want the freedom and flexibility a private jet provides.
Private flight alternatives
Up until recently, there were only a few options for flying privately without owning a jet:
- Jet chartering, which is popular, but has also proven to be financially inefficient due to empty return flights.
- Fractional ownership, which is another popular option but still ultimately expensive for the number of flight hours you get when maintenance and fuel costs are factored in.
- Jet cards, which are used to prepay for a set number of flight hours that can then be used at will.
Each of these options has its drawbacks, but during the recent economic crisis, less expensive alternatives to private flight were necessary. Many jet companies and corporate travelers tried to make the best of a bad situation by coming up with more creative options for flying private. As the industry tries to find ways to make private jet flight economical, we’re seeing a lot of innovation surface. Here are two recently launched ventures attempting to make private flight more flexible.
Brokering empty legs: Fresh Jets
Timmy Wozniak, who previously worked for a guest services company, estimates that 33% of charter jets are vacant for one leg of the flight. That’s why he and business partner Johnny Sengelmann launched Fresh Jets: a service that offers the available seating on empty flight legs to their website’s users.
About 410 companies and more than 1,400 individuals have signed up for the free website’s service so far, and jet operators pay the company a licensing fee to be listed on the site.
Cutting out the middlemen: Returnjet
In another creative move, Mark Blanchfield has launched Returnjet, which lets globetrotters search for and reserve private planes using a website that cuts brokers out of the equation and substantially reduces the cost of chartering a private jet. By connecting people who need to fly with already-scheduled flights, Returnjet helps customers save costs by sharing flights.
Taking advantage of the fact that 40% of private jet flights (an even higher number than the vacant legs on charter flights) are empty, this new UK-based business has already signed up two-thirds of the UK’s private jet operators and gives jet-setting customers more choices.
Despite the state of the economy, travelers still want to fly in private jets. Instead of crushing the private flight business, the economic downturn has spurred innovations that are making private flight more accessible.
Whether you enjoy the Easter holiday for its religious significance or simply for the eggs and bunnies, there are plenty of fun places to celebrate this iconic springtime holiday. Try one of these unique destinations for an Easter getaway.
Semana Santa in Madrid
The Semana Santa is Holy Week and one of the primary religious celebrations in Madrid, where Easter traditions have existed since the 15th century. There are many parades — as many as 20 in one week! — and traditional ceremonies that ensure you will have something to do every day that you’re there.
If you’re looking for Easter to be a cultural learning experience, Madrid’s Semana Santa is an excellent choice.
White House Egg Roll in Washington, D.C
This year will be the 136th annual White House Easter Egg Roll, a tradition since 1878. The Easter Egg Roll isn’t just a great event for the kids: 30,000 adults and children are expected to assemble on the south lawn to join in the fun.
The event features live music, storytelling, cooking stations, and more. You can also pick up a souvenir egg to prove you spent Easter hanging out on the President of the United States’ lawn!
Good Friday and Easter Week processions in Rome
The days leading up to Easter are often filled with religious ceremonies with longstanding traditions, rituals, and high-energy celebrations. If Easter is a religious holiday for you, consider spending it in Rome.
Dramatic processions are a highlight of Easter in Rome, including a 24-hour-long Good Friday procession known as Misteri di Trapani. Many towns hold live Easter plays, and the Pope celebrates mass in St. Peter’s Square.
Red Rocks Sunrise Service in Denver
Many places have sunrise services to celebrate Easter. One of those is perhaps most notable for its location: Red Rocks, the stunningly beautiful outdoor amphitheater near Denver, Colo. There’s free admission and parking, although a donation of non-perishable foods is requested.
The Reverend Dr. Jim Ryan has been holding this service for over 13 years, and this is to be his final Easter service. More than 10,000 people attend every year.
Whether you want a spiritual journey, a cultural and educational experience, or simply a fun trip this spring, a visit to one these destinations might be just the thing to help you shake off the winter blues and get ready for summer.
Some of the latest news from Washington is about recently revised security guidelines for private aircraft weighing more than 12,500 lbs (roughly the size of a Beechcraft King Air 250 turboprop): The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has proposed requiring all aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight above 12,500 pounds adopt a large aircraft security program based on the current protocols that apply to operators providing scheduled or charter services.
The reasons beyond the TSA proposed changes include the fact that even a plane of smaller weight could do a lot of damage if hijacked — especially if packed with explosives or other dangerous materials. According to Michal Morgan, the TSA head of general aviation security, “It’s the evolution of security into a new operating environment.”
The proposal is set to take effect next year and be phased in over the two following years with 85% of the costs being paid by jet owners. The changes are expected to affect approximately 15,000 corporate jets and 315 small airports across the country.
As may have been expected, the jet-owning community has responded with some backlash. When the TSA published Security Guidelines for General Aviation Airports in 2004, the general aviation trade associations willingly adapted to many of the recommendations and developed security programs for their members. Many private jet owners have spoken out, stating that not only does the TSA not understand their industry (with restrictions on carry-on items like golf clubs and tools) but also that they fail to recognize the self-policing efforts (including strict recordkeeping) already implemented.
In response to the backlash, the TSA has restarted the Aviation Security Advisory Committee it inherited from the FAA and members will vet policy changes. Indications are that the community can expect a decision soon.
In the meantime, it is important to pay close attention to security mandates, including researching your destination carefully, ensuring that passengers and crew have emergency numbers to call and that they check in at home regularly, and ensuring that security regulations regarding international travel are strictly adhered to.
Whether security regulations end up being adjusted or not, the aviation industry has the opportunity right now to demonstrate excellent security through our current systems.
An aircraft is a big ticket item, and the purchase of one involves a number of choices and decisions — each of which can make a big difference in your comfort and enjoyment of your private aircraft. Most experts say buying an aircraft is more like buying real estate than buying a car, even though a jet is a vehicle. This is because the process involves
- complicated negotiations,
- lots of necessary inspections, and
When you are ready to purchase a private aircraft, it’s a good idea to take full advantage of professional, experienced, knowledgeable brokers who understand the industry and can streamline the process for you.
How does a jet broker work?
One of the most important benefits of an experienced jet broker is that they have the right industry connections to get a good appraisal of a potential aircraft for you, your lender, and/or insurance company. They also have access to planes that are not yet on the open market, much like a good real estate agent knows what properties are likely to become available with the right incentives.
An experienced jet broker will ask the kinds of questions that reveal what type of jet you want and need — for instance, an entire jet is not always the right choice when a charter service or fractional ownership will work just as well. A jet broker will also know how to help you determine the size and type of aircraft that will best meet your needs. In addition, a jet broker’s goal is to ensure that your purchase is a good investment.
How do you choose a jet broker?
The best way to choose a jet broker who will do their best work for you is to start by finding one who
- has at least five years of experience in the industry,
- can clearly explain their process and their added value,
- has references they are willing to share with you, and
- can describe their brokerage fees willingly.
L&L International has all of the above, as well as the experience and drive to help make your aircraft purchase a smooth process.
