Block hour purchase

[jamesarmstrong]

I have been asked to look into evaluating the purchase of a block of hours for my employer, can anyone offer any advice? NetJets immediatly jump to mind but I am open to advice to help me start off my searches.

[CPTVOR]

I think a little more info may be required to get a full answer. Type of trips, range, no of pax, ball park budget etc. This would then help point you in the right direction.
Cheers

[jamesarmstrong]

Thanks for the feedback. Basically there will be several trips a year, flights to Portugal and Greece with stays of 7-14 days, so one way flights and numerous day returns to European Cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, Geneva. Probably all with 8 or less passengers.

Hope this helps?

[jamesarmstrong]

You could try Club328 at Southampton 02380 629800

I think some a/c based in europe too.

I don't work for them so call them to check if you are interested.
Thanks for the replies and all the PM's. I have been given various suggestions; netjets, skyjet, european skytime, air partner and club 328. If anybody else can offer impartial advice on this list it would be greatfully received.

Thanks again.

[Bumz_Rush]

So all trips will be one way.

I assume the South West is your location ie perhaps Exeter, or even deeper.?

Unless you have a local charter operator, then you will have two ferry legs to one revenue leg.

Up to 8 pax with 14 days baggage is actually a large payload for most "small" jets.

Net Jets would be a logical start, but beware they are very expensive.

A conventional operator closer to home would be the best bet, and arrange a price, with them.

As several have already suggested more details are needed, and yes feel free to PM me, also....

Bumz

[Phil Brockwell]

Why a block hour programme over chartering?

Does he currently fly privately?

Phil

[jamesarmstrong]

Good question, we are looking for guaranteed availability as often need short notice flights and charter can be hit or miss. I guess this is leading us to a company that have direct access to a fleet.

[Phil Brockwell]

Then you have 2 choices.

1.. Netjets who will guarantee availability
2.. A good broker who will find an aircraft by hook or crook.

When you say short notice are you talking 24-48 hrs or 3-4 hours.

Phil

[lisa humphries]

Hi we are based in exeter with King Airs, you could pm me and we can discuss further

[jamesarmstrong]

Thanks for the note. From my first few looks, netjets, skyjet, european skytime and air partner all offer guaranteed availability of around 24 hours which would work well for us.

Guess it just a case of ironing out the differences between these ones. Have read in various places that nj are v expensive!?

[Pace]

send me a private E mail and I can help you at a fraction of the cost


pace

[Looooong haul]

Forget NetJets - expensive, inflexible and totally uninterested in anyone's business. Wonder how they fill the 30 new aircraft they got this year if that was the case? We do a lot of subs for them on busy days and they get busier all the time.

Isnt SkyJet the way that Bombardier is using to hide the fact that they lost the plot in Europe with Flexjet... so they started their own brokerage... What they do is sell somebody an aircraft and tell you that they will sell the hours for you. However they do not guarantee a thing. We looked at a Global at some point and the main selling point it seemed to be the ability to sell through SkyJet. The terms where however such that we went for a G V and commercialise it now by subbing it to three large operators and make more out of it..

Agree with Phil
Then you have 2 choices.
1.. Netjets who will guarantee availability
2.. A good broker who will find an aircraft by hook or crook.
When you say short notice are you talking 24-48 hrs or 3-4 hours.
Phil
Combine the two: Go with a good charter however if the price of a specific flight is too high or the quality too low use use NetJets :ok:

[Looooong haul]

FS

If they have such a great product why are they not able to sell it? :hmm:

[SiTurn]

In my opinion skytime offer a better product than either netjets or skyjet, Admittedly they are a smaller and that may always be a problem for them but they do offer the benefits of both the larger companies but with the added benefits of charter, i.e. you get your guaranteed availability at a fixed from 'anywhere' which is ideal for one-way flights but if you perform a round-trip, you get a true 'charter' price.

The comp i am employed by have a contract with skytime as a back up to our aircraft and the service is spot on.

This comes after the boss was a direct netjet customer who is more than happy with what we now get.

It might not work for everyone and other people may have their own ideas or agendas but skytime work for us.

Not a definitive answer but an opinion none the less.

Cant comment on 328 from a customer point of view.

[jimbob69]

jamesarmstrong,

From the exposure we have had - used to have a nj card, chartered from most companies listed above - we narrowed the service down to 2 - LEA and European Skytime.

Both offering different things, LEA tend to be good if all your flying is out of one of the london airports they are based at but there are so many other operators in the area, there are usually good offers from elsewhere - the drawbacks my boss commented on with them were the general standard of service and dreadful catering - before i say any more, i must stress he is not a difficult man to please and not a nightmare like some of the chaps we have to fly!

skytime are able to offer us guaranteed availability - meaning the boss doesnt get stung with cancellation fees up to 24 hours before departure and although acting as a broker, they do offer some great deals. I have been involved in the booking of the aircraft with netjets, lea and skytime and skytime have taken it every time.

Like SiTurn stated, this may not suit everyone but we switched last year from LEA and took 25 hours with skytime and use them for a range of flying and i have not been able to fault the service.

Hope that helps..!:O

[Looooong haul]

They're still in business That is the suprising bit!and, whilst Bombardier support them, that should be because Bombardier supports themthey are still taking business from NJ. I think AIN disagrees with you Regarding market share, NetJets remains the big dog on the porch with a 52.2-percent piece of the pie, up 1 percent from last November. (Market share is derived from the number of aircraft sold into service, meaning a 12-month comparison is not possible as explained previously.) According to AvData, next is Flight Options at 19.6 percent (down 2.6 percent); Flexjet, 11.0 percent (up 0.4 percent);
So if they take business from NJ then NJ is creating business I guess :D

[jamesarmstrong]

Thought I would take this chance of giving an update now that we have actually sorted our deal. For those who are interested, after much deliberation we have decided on a deal with European Skytime.

Feel free to PM if you would like a more detailed explanation of the reasoning.

Thanks to everyone for their advice, it was certainly beneficial. :D