So, the day of the opening and start of commercial work of the ONLINE platform for booking and selling charters on business aviation aircraft – the NAJETproject is approaching. In this regard, I would like to once again argue to discuss with the professional community about the place (or lack thereof) in the market for such technologies and products.
We will not focus on the ongoing crisis, mixed with epidemics, in the hope that it will someday end. Although at least two important conclusions can be drawn now:
any service that can be purchased online today is in an absolute trend;
colossal changes await our business aviation market. First of all, this is a massive transition to a cheaper segment of light jets, which are practically not represented today, and the emergence of a new “class” of customers who are ready to fly charters, but for less money than today;
While working on the project, we met with dozens and hundreds of participants in the sales market. These are representatives of airlines, direct users of the service (clients), the most numerous tribe of AVIABROKERS – “black cardinals” of the market. We tried to understand and combine different views, needs and wishes in one product. And, of course, we faced very fundamental disagreements and visions of market participants.
Air brokers roughly interpret the necessity, usefulness and necessity of their participation in the process:
Each charter is a “one off product” with its own characteristics. A lot of details have to be discussed with the client for a long time. Meals, possibility / prohibition of smoking, type and age of aircraft, reliability and reputation of the airline, method of payment.
Our clients very often postpone departure and generally make a lot of changes to the conditions of the planned departure, this requires constant participation in confirming the changes.
Our clients want to have several offers to choose from on different airlines.
Each time you need a different type of aircraft and only we know where to look for it.
This list can be continued, because, as Thomas Joseph Dunning said: “there is no such crime that capital would not go for the sake of 300% profit” 😊
But we will try to answer the aspirations and arguments of the public, so respected in the market.
Apparently, it is necessary to start the discussion by fixing the specifics of the current business aviation market in Russia.
Here are some approximate statistics for Vnukovo-3 (it is “pre-crisis” and we believe that it is close to reality):
68% of all domestic business aviation charters are operated at 24 airports in the Russian Federation;
In each of the 24 indicated airports, more than one percent of traffic is carried out (in the rest from a percentage and below);
The most popular destinations are St. Petersburg (almost 18% of all flights) and Sochi (9%);
Average flight time is approximately 2 hours 20 minutes;
With up to 4 passengers, about 80% of the charters are carried out.
As you can see, so far statistics indicate that the parameters of most of the flights are quite standard and, from a technical point of view, can be performed on light jets for a much lower cost than what the market offers today. It is according to the criterion of “the most popular aircraft” that our market radically differs from the same European one. There, up to 57% of all flights (according to EBAA) are carried out on light aircraft up to 5 tons MTOW, and we have LESS than 1% on these types. And the most popular type of aircraft (by the number of take-off / landing operations) is the Global Express of various modifications.
At the same time, it should be noted that more and more Russian airlines offer reliable and proven Hawker 125 of various modifications for domestic flights. It is this aircraft that today plays the role of light aircraft absent on the market.
But returning to the arguments of the air brokers and relying on the above statistics, we came to the following conclusions:
Most of the charters are not exclusive and are quite a standard product. This product may well be described and generated in the online system automatically.
Our platform will allow the client to instantly (online) after a request to see not one, but all offers on all aircraft of all airlines-partners of the NAJET project, subject to the following conditions:
the number of seats on the plane is greater than or equal to the requested one;
all flight options will be offered in the range from -12 to +24 hours from the time requested by the client, including empty leg options;
the declared transportation can be performed on the proposed aircraft without a technical landing for refueling;
IMPORTANT! For each aircraft, its side number is indicated, all data are presented, including the year of manufacture and photographs.
Thus, the client (customer) has all the necessary information. He can share with partners / fellow travelers a form with all the offers, or he can choose one and book it. Then the payment is made and you just need to come to the airport.
Of course, there will be complex and exclusive flights that will require manual work. But, again, for the most part, this is an absolutely typical charter.
Be careful, because the NAJET service can be used both to control pricing and to check the availability of free planes. Since an unlimited number of requests in the service to receive an offer is free and does not require registration before the booking stage, it is likely that the end consumer can quickly check the “honesty” of your offer and his staff from any mobile device.
And yes! Of course, there is a mechanism for making changes to an already confirmed charter.
We will be glad to cooperate with aviation brokers, since there are topics that are more convenient to solve together!
We will be happy to answer your doubts and well-reasoned questions as well as recommendations!
