The Empty-Leg Syndrome
Interesting aviation week article on trends in the biz jet industry.
its a decently long article, but the bottom line is that new charter models including floating fleets and one-way pricing seem to be much more efficient than the current dominant models of managed charter planes and fractional.
The article profiles a couple companies who claim success with the model of owning their own jets and completely floating their fleet. Where the plane lands, it stays, until it makes sense for them to pick up another mission. They sell a precise combination of guaranteed hours, roundtrip charter, and one way charter. Supposedly they have been able to cut deadhead down to the lowest levels yet. XOjet claims only 3% nonrevenue legs.
It would be interesting to see if this model catches on and begins to control the market. How would you pilots feel about being about being floated constantly? If the model could increase utilization to 1500+ hours a year, that could drastically reduce prices and help grow the business.