flyExclusive’s Jet Club ad hoc charter ‘growing in popularity’

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A new ad hoc charter service by flyExclusive named, Jet Club, has seen strong member growth since its launch in early May. Brad Blettner, Senior Vice President of Jet Club, told Corporate Jet Investor (CJI) that Jet Club, a remodelled formula of the traditional jet card offering, was designed to fill a need in the market place.

The programme was launched in May, in the early phases of the global Covid-19 pandemic. flyExclusive has reported strong growth, both returning travellers and those new to the market seeking a safe alternative. The percentage growth in new members in June was 75% compared with May and July also posted positive returns for new member acquisition, according to the operator.

‘Taking complexity out the process’

Blettner told CJI: “Jet card memberships have been prevalent in private aviation for a while and, as a leading brand in the industry, we kept noticing how diluted and complicated the market had become. We decided to develop the Jet Club, providing direct access to our owned and operated fleet of 60-plus aircraft, and taking the complexity out of the process.”

Jet Club has two programmes: Exclusive Club provides “industry-best” hourly rates, guaranteed availability with a nominal annual fee and a recurring, non-expiring balance, as long as members stay current in the club, according to flyExclusive, The second offering, Fly Club, has no annual fee, provides two years of pre-funded access and the ability to rollover any unused funds.

In either programme, members will utilise flyExclusive’s fleet of Citation Encore, CJ3, Excel/XLS, Sovereign and Citation X aircraft. The fleet provides complimentary Wi-Fi and the flexibility of the programme is said to enable aircraft category selection on a trip-by-trip basis.

Blettner said: “Covid-19 continues to create anxiety for travellers. We are providing a solution to allow travellers to get to and from their destinations while mitigating exposure to risks that are prevalent in other modes of transportation. The Jet Club and ad hoc charter trips create controlled access to the aircraft and the ability to choose when they fly, eliminating concerns about traveling through crowded airports, or dealing with significantly reduced capacity from commercial operators. Members and guests travel on an aircraft that they know has been properly sanitised and cleaned.”

‘Mitigating exposure to risks’

The market place has created complexity, confusion and, in some cases, fraudulent or untrusted offerings when it comes to chartering flights, especially in the current climate, he added. However with Jet Club, Blettner said: “flyExclusive is making private travel more accessible, private jet travel does not just have to be for the very wealthy and we have already seen that in the early returns of the programme.

“We estimate that that consumers save as much as 40% with Jet Club over competitor offerings. The design of the programme and the ability to maximise the deposit for more hours is a significant benefit to members. As an example, compared with certain programmes , the hourly rate can convert to as many as nine additional hours of flying for the same deposit amount [based on Exclusive Club hourly rates],” Blettner concluded.

 

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