Business Jets See Drop In U.S. Demand

by Tracy Chait (RSS feed)
Jul 22nd 2008 at 8:02AM

At the recent Farnborough International Air Show, usually abuzz with the latest in jet envy, market experts were instead agreeing that the U.S. demand for business jets has softened considerably. And some companies are pulling the plug on private jet travel unless the circumstances truly justify it. Supposedly due to the current economic downturn and not a response to surging fuel costs, the decrease in U.S. demand for corporate jets is in stark contrast to burgeoning sales in Russia and the Middle East, whose new moguls are shelling out between $3 and $40 million for aircraft ordered at the air show.

It's not that execs are flying commercial -- the rough equivalent of trading in your Lamborghini for a used minivan full of crying babies -- but they are chartering flights instead of buying their own wings. Business jetsetters are turning more frequently to NetJets fractional ownership or a Marquis jet card, a kind of jet use debit card. Not exactly the Greyhound of the skies just yet, a Marquis jet card starts at $126,900 for 25 hours of flight time. And you won't have the joy of pimping out your cabin like that renowned Airbus A380, whose on-board hot tub and "desert oasis" tacked on an additional $150 million to the aircraft's pricetag.

Tags: airbus a380, AirbusA380, bombardier, business jets, BusinessJets, marquis jet card, MarquisJetCard, netjets, private jet, PrivateJet

Filed under: Wings

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michael tamzil Jul 22nd 2008 5:44PM

charter jets will be a growing business soon..
check out the piece we just did for qjets at: http://qjets.com/

Gon205 Aug 10th 2008 2:55AM

Definitely, there's a big market now. 'Time' (or lack of it) is driving the market coupled with ever rising service levels- for all the latest fractional ownership news including fractional jets and jetcards click here http://www.fractionallife.com/fractional_aircraft_jets.asp

CitationXfan Aug 12th 2008 12:15PM

Check out the Velocity Jet Card program-

They offer guarenteed (all inclusive) one-way hourly rates on light, mid, super mid and heavy jets.

http://www.velocityjets.com/JetCard/jetcard.html