market500 - private jets.

This article was first published in Market500 Winter 2007

Private Jets: No Plane, No Gain

Tom Armitage - Zurich

Global Jet Concept has established itself as one of the leading private aviation companies in Europe in just eight years by offering top-quality service, a first-class fleet and convincing customers that private jets can be a viable proposition. In today’s business world, time is of the essence. Executives need to be able to cross the continent at short notice. They require fast, flexible and safe transport. And they want to organise their schedules with the minimum risk of delays.

Global Jet Concept, a Geneva-based company, addresses their needs by offering jets for charter in addition to a range of other services designed to make even the busiest executive’s life easier. “Our customers are mainly European entrepreneurs,“ says Richard Cocu, chief operating officer at Global Jet Concept. “We know their expectations by heart: they need to fly with the utmost comfort, safety and reliability. These businessmen and -women are flying with us because they appreciate our responsiveness, our flexibility and our professionalism.”

For executives like these, time is money and chartering a private jet can become a viable option if they are suddenly required to attend an important engagement or if they need to drop into several European capitals in the space of one day. “The typical passenger needs from us reactivity, flexibility, reliability and of course the highest quality of service and comfort,” Cocu told Market500.eu. “A typical example could be a flight with three or four destinations on the same day, which is practically impossible to perform with the regular airlines.”

Virtually all of Global Jet Concept’s customers are international companies. An important part of the firm’s success in recent years has been its ability to build a strong relationship with these customers, establishing itself as a reliable and efficient partner. “We try to be very close to our customers and especially to their personal assistants,” said Cocu. “We need to anticipate their requirements or expectations as much as we can in order to make the flight as smooth and stress-free as possible.”

Global Jet Concept was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Geneva, whose airport is a strategically important hub for Europe’s private jet network. The company operates 50 jets, more than half of which are available for charter under the European flag. The private jet business has been revolutionised in recent years as more companies realise that chartering a plane for a day or more to fly between European cities can been cheaper, more flexible and more convenient than using scheduled flights. Previously, private jets had been seen as something that only the rich and famous could afford. Companies like Global Jet Concept have been instrumental in bringing about this shift in perceptions.

“When we began, the market was down and not looking very healthy,” said Cocu. “At this time, the ‘charter market’ was still suffering from a negative image of ‘luxury’ and everybody believed that this business was reserved for a certain elite in the world.” At present, the firm operates eight jets from Geneva, including three brand-new planes, three from Paris, and six each from Moscow and London. The fleet includes machines built by Dassault, Bombardier and Boeing, and spans from a small Learjet, that can carry a maximum of six passengers, to a luxuriously equipped Boeing Business Jet with capacity for up to 18 people.

“Thanks to the great diversity and the high quality of the aircraft in our fleet, Global Jet Concept has rapidly established itself as one of the major companies for private aviation in Europe,” the chief operating officer said. All the jets in Global Jet Concept’s fleet are new or very young pre-owned aircraft with approved or factory maintenance records, which ensures high quality, safety and reliability. The firm also sets great store by the quality of its offering and of its workforce: it employs 400 people and the hiring process for pilots, flight crew and operations staff is, according to Cocu, rigorous. It is followed up with annual training for key staff.

Global Jet Concept also works with caterers, restaurants and wine cellars globally to provide passengers with the best on-board service: a necessity when dealing with such discerning clients. Beyond offering its own jets for charter, Global Jet Concept has an active aircraft sales and acquisition division that can advise companies who wish to purchase their own jet and let Global Jet Concept manage it for them. “Our strategy is to educate our customers that a private jet under our management programme could be a very interesting productivity tool and a profitable investment,” Cocu said.

In return, they get 24-hour, 7-days-a-week service and they can also use Global Jet Concept’s contacts to charter the jet out at other times, thus increasing its utilisation and making it cheaper to run in the long-term. “We have helped a significant number of charter customers who decided to buy a new or pre-owned aircraft and put it in our management organisation,” said Cocu. “Some of course want to keep it and fly only for their personal use but half of the owners prefer to increase their financial return by making it available for charter.”

Both the charter business and the acquisition and sale of private jets are growing sectors, says Cocu, noting that the major manufacturers of business and private jets are now quoting up to three years delivery time for newly-ordered aircraft. With the demands of globalisation and healthy economic growth dictating that executives and entrepreneurs will need to travel more and more, the outlook for the charter market and the private jet industry in Europe looks rosy. Those harried businessmen and women would do well to remember one of the industry’s sayings: “No plane, no gain.”

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