The Economic Sense of Charter Flights

While casual travelers may (and do) charter privatea smaller community such as Yakima Washington,
aircraft for transportation, the choice is more typicallyOgden Utah or even Rochester New York,
based on questions of time versus money. Charteringyou’ll be forced to take connecting flights that
a private aircraft is by no means inexpensive, butcan add time and inconvenience to your itinerary.
while money may be in abundant supply, time is a(We won’t even go into the issue of lost and
finite resource. For example, if $10,000 spent on amisdirected luggage.)
charter flight results in closing a deal in which time isA privately chartered aircraft can take you to any of
of the essence, and that deal is worth several million,over 13,500 airports and fields worldwide –
than the $10,000 charter fee is money well spent.directly from any location you choose. Since the
This is perhaps the primary benefit of chartering acompanies that provide charter flight services are
private aircraft. Whereas with commercial airlines youunder private ownership, they are exempt from
must show up two hours in advance of yourmany burdensome regulations to which commercial
departure time, stand in line for security checks thencarriers are subject. This is not to imply that safety is
stand in line again for check-in, that is two hours thatcompromised; quite the contrary. This freedom from
might have been better spent planning and preparingregulation allows air charter companies to be far
for that important meeting. In addition, commercialmore discriminating in their hiring practices, being able
airlines are severely limited as to the airports to whichto conduct the most rigorous background checks on
they have access. In fact, altogether the commercialall personnel. In addition, many private charter
airlines of the world have access to no more thancompanies provide their own trained security and
500 airports across the globe. It is also highlyscreeners. Since these people are dealing with far
improbable that any given airline with have direct,smaller numbers of people, they are able to be much
non-stop flights from any given airport to any specificmore thorough in their jobs – meaning greater
destination. If you live in Los Angeles and need to flysecurity and peace of mind for you as the traveler.
to New York – or you’re going fromPrivate air travel is not for everyone. If you are
Seattle to Tokyo – then you won’tamong those for whom time is money however, it
have many difficulties, albeit on the airline’scan very well be the most economical choice for all
schedule – which may or may not beyour travel requirements.
convenient for you. On the other hand, if you live in