Stratajet

[Reverserbucket]

I've been introduced to Stratajet and have had a look at their website.
Does anyone here have any experience of them and how the service works? I see references to them recruiting pilots (I'm not looking) but I'm under the impression they provide a booking service - is this correct? CEO and founder, Jonathon Nicol states he is a former RAF trained FJ pilot then served ten years as an Officer in the British Army then got into computers and is now an entrepreneur...an enigmatic chap and an interesting background. They seem highly professional and as mentioned, just interested to know if anyone here knows much more about them?

[Cecilie]

Hi,
I work for them and can confirm that they are not recruiting pilots. We are indeed a booking platform for private jets. What more specifically were you wondering about?

[jonnyn]

Not sure about enigmatic but the rest is true enough. Stratajet is the only accurate, real-time online private jet booking system in the world. It works by operators setting up their pricing structure and then Stratajet adding 14 other fees (landing, handling, parking, OOH etc) to come to the true price which is then instantly bookable. Schedules are handled by either third party integration or using the Stratafleet software package.

Stratajet also looks at available empty legs and re-purposes them to the clients needs. This system is called adaptive empty legs and lowers cost to travellers whilst increasing margins for operators without detracting from the privacy or flexibility of private aviation.

We are currently 48 people strong and based in Farringdon road in the center of London, just near St Pauls. Pop in and say hi next time you are passing. I spend most of my time in the US at the moment in preparation for our launch there in a couple of months but I'm sure someone will show you around!

[Journey Man]

What percentage is their fee for this service?

[Delta12]

What about safety records of the contracted companies ? There is plenty of operators out there I would not set a foot on board of their aircraft.

Do the contracted companies adhere to flight duty and rest limitations or are the pilots on the broadly used GA style 24/7/365 on call duties ?

How do I know about the training standards, eg simulator recurrent or done 'on type' ?

Maybe those informations would be more important than knowing the type of toilet door installed at the aircraft ?

[noneya]

I agree with Delta12....

How about IS-BAO status... Stage 1, Stage 2, or Stage 3?
Are they Wyvern approved?
etc...

I like the site, however, safety is my primary concern with setting up alternate travel for my principles. If we could get better operator details I would be more likely to use this site to book charters.

J

[sangiovese.]

Can he just clarify fully trained FJ pilot (completion of OCU) and then an Army officer?

Hope the idea works though even just for environmental reasons!

[jonnyn]

Sorry about late response.

Fee: We take a percentage of booking fee. I'd rather not say what it is online but it's a fraction of what brokers charge as standard.

Safety: All except one of our US operators have Wyvern, Argus or both. In Europe it isn't that simple since EASA regulations have meant that there is little point in operators paying for the accreditation so there are only a handful that have it. When an operator does not have affiliation we do our own checks. We are not open to all but rather every single operator we work with has been vetted and has endured an onsite visit from the team. I don't think there is any other broker out there who has actually visited every company they use. I might be wrong though...

The reason we do not provide the operator details online is that we would have created a too good tool for bedroom brokers (or even the large ones) to be able to give real-time pricing which has always been the holy grail of brokerage. The development of Stratajet has so far cost $10M over 5 years (the level of tech in the pricing engine is insane) and therefore I am reluctant to give it to middlemen for free!

Finally, 56 Sqn then 7th Armd Bde.