VistaJet announced recently that it has abolished hourly ferry flight fees for new Program customers globally. Uniquely in the industry, the commitment applies no matter where in the world a customer is flying to or from. The move signals a significant commitment to VistaJet’s mission to be the first operator to offer a truly global service. Its customers now have complete freedom when booking, without bearing the burden of paying a ferry flight hourly rate for an aircraft to return to a home base or service area, and enjoying truly transparent pricing.
Positioning fees have traditionally been a frustrating and unexpected cost for business aviation clients. Currently, most companies in the sector make their customers pay for the cost of returning the empty plane to its home airport or service area after a flight is completed. Depending on location, this can add tens of thousands to the overall cost of a flight. For example, if a customer stepped onboard a London based aircraft towards Australia, the cost of returning the aircraft to its home base could add more than $100,000 to the overall cost of the journey.
The revolutionary new offering has been made possible by the $2.5bn investment the company has made to grow its fleet to a global scale, as well as its effort to establish a global customer base through its 10 sales offices around the globe. The company’s unique business model, built on removing the notion of a home base for its aircraft, means customers only pay for the time they are in the air: when a VistaJet Program customer books a flight, VistaJet will simply move the nearest plane to pick them up.
Unlike business jet charter, VistaJet owns every one of the over 70 silver and red aircraft in its fleet, so customers know what will greet them on the tarmac anytime, anywhere in the world. The company has invested in an industry leading operations centre in the European country of Malta, and created an innovative infrastructure with the capacity to manage global flights 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It has also established offices on 5 continents, managing flights to over 1,600 airports in 187 countries to date.
“When you call a taxi, you don’t worry about paying for its journey to you,” said Chairman and Founder Thomas Flohr. “Today’s entrepreneur or business executive will be flying to America one week, Asia or South America the next, and Europe in between, so it’s become critical to offer them a truly global service. The sustained investment we’ve made for the past 13 years has been calculated to ensure we can offer our customers something completely ground-breaking: one way pricing around the globe.”
At VistaJet, Flohr continued, “We challenge ourselves every day to offer the best experience in the industry. So along with knowing that our customers will only pay for the time they are in the air, when they fly with us they know that they will receive the very best service, with everything tailored to their specific needs.”
